Chapter Seventh. The Place Due to The Subject of Typology as A Branch of Theological Study, and The Advantages Arising from its Proper Cultivation.
제7장 요약: 신학 연구의 한 분야로서의 모형론의 위치와, 그 적절한 연구가 주는 이점
1. 모형론의 역사적 위치와 기존 문제점
- 오랫동안 모형론(Typology)에 대한 잘못된 이해와 제한적인 적용이 이루어져 왔다.
- 특히 최근까지도 구약의 모형을 최소한으로 축소하고, 그 중요성을 경시하는 경향이 있었다.
- 신학적 논의에서 모형론은 부차적인 주제로 취급되었으며,
신학자들은 모형론의 장점을 탐구하기보다는
오용을 경계하고 오류를 지적하는 데만 집중했다. - 그러나 모형론을 올바르게 이해하면,
하나님의 계시의 질서를 파악하고 성경 해석의 통찰을 제공하는 중요한 도구가 될 수 있다.
2. 모형론과 예언의 연관성
- 모형론과 예언은 서로 밀접하게 연결되어 있으며,
특히 구약과 신약의 관계를 명확하게 해석하는 데 도움을 준다. - 구약의 사건과 인물들은 신약에서 성취될 더 큰 실체를 예표하고 있으며,
이를 제대로 이해하면 성경 전체의 연속성과 목적을 파악하는 데 큰 도움이 된다. - 예언적 모형(Prophetical Types)은
단순한 상징을 넘어서 하나님의 구속 계획을 점진적으로 계시하는 방식이다.
3. 하나님의 교육 방식에 나타난 모형론의 역할
- 구약과 신약의 가르침 방식에는 유사한 원리가 적용되었다.
- 구약에서는 상징과 역사적 사건을 통해 진리를 전달했으며,
- 신약에서도 예수님은 제자들에게 직접적인 교훈보다는 비유와 행동을 통해 가르치셨다.
- 구약에서 사용된 교육 방식은 신약에서 예수님이 제자들을 가르치는 방식과 일맥상통한다.
- 구약의 율법과 제사는 신약의 복음을 위한 예비적 역할을 했고,
- 예수님의 기적과 비유도 제자들에게 복음의 실체를 가르치는 도구였다.
- 이는 하나님의 계시 방법이 일관되게 적용되었음을 보여준다.
4. 신앙과 실천에서의 일관성
- 구약과 신약은 겉보기에는 차이가 있지만 본질적으로 같은 신앙 원리를 공유한다.
- 구약의 백성들은 율법을 따랐고, 신약의 성도들은 그리스도를 따른다.
- 그러나 둘 다 하나님을 믿는 믿음과 순종의 삶을 기반으로 한다.
- 구약과 신약의 공통된 원칙
- 구원의 길: 구약의 성도들도 믿음으로 구원을 받았으며, 신약에서도 동일한 원리가 적용된다.
- 하나님의 통치: 구약에서는 이스라엘을 통한 하나님의 왕국이 강조되었고, 신약에서는 교회를 통한 하나님의 왕국이 강조된다.
- 미래 소망: 구약과 신약 모두 하나님의 궁극적인 구속 계획을 기다리는 믿음을 강조한다.
- 이러한 원리는 모형론을 통해 더욱 명확하게 드러난다.
5. 구약에서 미래 세계(천국)에 대한 개념
- 구약에는 분명한 형태로 천국과 영생에 대한 가르침이 드러나지 않는다.
- 신약에서는 천국과 영생이 주요한 주제이지만,
구약에서는 직접적으로 언급되지 않고 암시적으로만 등장한다. - 그러나 구약의 신자들은 하나님의 정의로운 심판과 상급을 기대하며 신앙을 지켰다.
- 신약에서는 천국과 영생이 주요한 주제이지만,
- 이는 하나님의 계시 방식이 점진적이며,
구약에서는 상징적인 형태로, 신약에서는 완전한 형태로 드러나는 것을 보여준다.
6. 성경의 역사 기록의 가치
- 구약의 역사 기록은 단순한 과거 사건이 아니라,
하나님의 구속 계획을 단계적으로 계시하는 역할을 한다. - 많은 사람들이 구약의 특정 사건들이 신학적으로 큰 의미가 없다고 생각하지만,
모형론적 관점에서 보면 모든 사건이 복음의 그림자로서 중요한 의미를 가진다. - 예를 들어,
- 아브라함의 여정은 신자의 믿음의 여정을 예표하고,
- 출애굽 사건은 신약에서 죄에서 해방되는 구원의 과정과 연결된다.
- 따라서, 구약의 역사는 단순한 과거 이야기가 아니라, 신약의 복음을 미리 보여주는 예표적 역할을 한다.
7. 모형론이 신앙생활에 주는 실제적 유익
- 추상적인 신앙 개념을 구체적으로 이해할 수 있도록 도와준다.
- 예를 들어, 예수님의 속죄 사역을 이해할 때 구약의 제사 제도를 참고하면 더욱 명확해진다.
- 모형론은 추상적인 개념을 구체적인 사건과 연결하여 신앙을 더 깊이 이해하도록 돕는다.
- 신자들에게 확신과 소망을 준다.
- 구약의 모형을 보면 하나님께서 구원 역사를 어떻게 이루어 가시는지 알 수 있다.
- 이는 신자들이 미래에 대한 확신을 가지고 믿음을 지키는 데 도움을 준다.
- 신약의 예언을 이해하는 데 중요한 기준을 제공한다.
- 신약의 예언적 사건들(예: 예수님의 재림, 최후의 심판)은 구약의 사건들과 연결하여 해석할 때 더 명확해진다.
- 예를 들어,
- 다윗의 왕국이 점진적으로 확장된 것처럼,
- 그리스도의 왕국도 점진적으로 확장될 것이다.
- 따라서, 구약의 역사적 모형은 신약의 예언을 이해하는 중요한 열쇠가 된다.
8. 결론: 모형론의 중요성과 올바른 적용
- 모형론은 성경 해석에 있어 부차적인 것이 아니라, 성경 전체를 올바르게 이해하는 핵심적인 도구이다.
- 구약과 신약의 연속성을 이해하고, 하나님의 구속 계획이 어떻게 단계적으로 성취되는지 알기 위해 필수적이다.
- 올바른 모형론적 해석을 통해,
- 구약의 사건과 인물들이 신약에서 어떻게 성취되었는지를 정확히 이해할 수 있으며,
- 신약의 복음이 단순한 새로운 가르침이 아니라, 구약에서부터 이어진 하나님의 계획임을 확인할 수 있다.
- 신앙의 확신을 가지고, 하나님께서 이루실 미래의 구원을 더욱 굳건히 믿을 수 있다.
THE loose and incorrect views which so long prevailed on the subject of Typology, and which, till recently, had taken a direction tending at once to circumscribe their number and lessen their importance, have had the effect of reducing it to little more than a nominal place in the arrangement of topics calling for exact theological discussion. For any real value to be attached to it in the order of God's revelations, or any light it is fitted to throw, when rightly understood, on the interpretation of Scripture, we search in vain amid the writings of our leading hermeneutical and systematic divines. The treatment it has most commonly received at their hands is rather negative than positive. They appear greatly more concerned about the abuses to which it may be carried, than the advantages to which it may be applied. And were it not for the purpose of exploding errors, delivering cautions, and disowning unwarrantable conclusions, it is too plain the subject would scarcely have been deemed worthy of any separate and particular consideration.
If the discussion pursued through the preceding chapters has been conducted with any success, it must have tended to produce a somewhat different feeling upon the subject. Various points of moment connected with the purposes of God and the interpretation of Scripture must have suggested themselves to the reflective reader, as capable both of receiving fresh light, and of acquiring new importance from a well-grounded system of Typology. One entire branch of the subject its connection with the closely related field of prophecy-has already, on account of the principles involved in it, been considered in a separate chapter. At present we shall look to some other points of a more general kind, which have, however, an essential bearing on the character of a Divine revelation, and which will enable us to present, in a variety of lights, the reasonableness and importance of the views we have been endeavouring to establish.
모형론(Typology)에 대한 느슨하고 부정확한 이해가 오랫동안 지속되었으며, 최근까지도 그 범위를 제한하고 중요성을 축소하는 방향으로 진행되었다. 그 결과, 모형론은 신학적으로 정확한 논의를 요구하는 주제들 사이에서 거의 명목상의 위치만을 차지하게 되었다. 하나님의 계시 질서에서 모형론이 지니는 실질적인 가치나, 올바르게 이해될 때 성경 해석에 던질 수 있는 빛을 찾기 위해 주요 성경 해석학자들과 조직 신학자들의 저서를 뒤져보아도 거의 찾기 어려운 실정이다.
이 주제에 대한 그들의 접근 방식은 긍정보다는 부정에 가깝다. 그들은 모형론을 연구하면서 그것이 올바르게 적용될 수 있는 유익보다는 오히려 남용될 위험성과 오용될 가능성에 더 신경을 쓰는 듯하다. 만약 오류를 바로잡고, 주의를 환기하며, 부당한 결론을 배격하는 목적이 아니었다면, 모형론이라는 주제 자체가 독립적인 연구 대상으로 다뤄지지 않았을 것이다.
그러나 앞선 장에서 논의한 내용이 어느 정도 성공적으로 수행되었다면, 이에 대한 새로운 시각을 제공했을 것이다. 신중한 독자라면 하나님의 목적과 성경 해석과 관련된 여러 중요한 논점들이 새로운 빛을 받을 수 있으며, 모형론이 체계적으로 정립될 때 새로운 중요성을 획득할 수 있다는 사실을 깨닫게 되었을 것이다.
우리는 이미 모형론과 예언이 밀접하게 연관된 한 분야를 별도의 장에서 다룬 바 있다. 이제 우리는 보다 일반적인 측면에서 몇 가지 핵심 논점을 살펴보려 한다. 이는 하나님의 계시의 본질과 직결되는 요소들이며, 우리가 지금까지 확립해 온 모형론의 타당성과 중요성을 다양한 각도에서 입증해 줄 것이다.
I. We mark, first, an analogy in God's methods of preparatory instruction, as adopted by Him at different but somewhat corresponding periods of the Church's history. In one brief period of its existence, the Church of the New Testament might be said to stand in a very similar relation to the immediate future, that the Church of the Old Testament generally did to the more distant future of Gospel times.
It was the period of our Lord's earthly ministry, during which the materials were in preparation for the actual establishment of His kingdom, and His disciples were subjected to the training which was to fit them for taking part in its affairs. The process that had been proceeding for ages with the Church, had, in their experience, to be virtually begun and completed in the short space of a few years.
And we are justly warranted to expect, that the method adopted during this brief period of special preparation toward the first members of the New Testament Church, should present some leading features of resemblance to that pursued with the Old Testament Church as a whole, during her immensely more lengthened period of preparatory training. Now, the main peculiarity, as we have seen, of God's method of instruction and discipline in respect to the Old Testament Church, consisted in the use of symbol and action. It was chiefly by means of historical transactions and symbolical rites that the ancient believers were taught what they knew of the truths and mysteries of grace. For the practical guidance and direction of their conduct they were furnished with means of information the most literal and express; but in regard to the spiritual concerns and objects of the Messiah's kingdom, all was couched under veil and figure. The instruction given addressed itself to the eye rather than to the ear.
It came intermingled with the things they saw and handled; and while it necessarily made them familiar with the elements of Gospel truth, it not less necessarily left them in comparative ignorance as to the particular events and operations in which the truth was to find its ultimate and proper realization. How entirely analogous was the course pursued by our Lord with His immediate disciples during the period of His earthly ministry! The direct instruction He imparted to them was, with few exceptions, confined to lessons of moral truth and duty-freeing the law of God from the false glosses of a carnal and corrupt priesthood, which had entirely overlaid its meaning, and disclosing the pure and elevated principles on which His kingdom was to be founded. But in regard to what might be called the mysteries of the kingdom,—the constitution of Christ's person, the peculiar character of His work as the Redeemer of a sinful and fallen world, and the connection of all with a higher and future world,-little instruction of a direct kind was imparted up to the very close of Christ's earthly ministry. On one or two occasions, when He sought to convey more definite information upon such points, the disciples either completely misunderstood His meaning, or showed themselves incapable of profiting by His instructions (Matt. 16:21-23; Luke 18:34; John 2:19-22, ch. [[6 >> Bible:Jn 6]] ). So that in the last discourse He held with them before His death, He spoke of the many things He had yet to say to them, but which, as they still could not bear them, had to be reserved to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, who should come and lead them into all the truth. Were they, therefore, left without instruction of any kind respecting those higher truths and mysteries of the kingdom? By no means; for throughout the whole period of their connection with Christ, they were constantly receiving such instruction as could be conveyed through action and symbol; or more correctly, through action and allegory, which was here made to take the place of symbol, and served substantially the same design. The public life of Jesus was full of action, and in that, to a large extent, consisted its fulness of instruction. Every miracle He performed was a type in history; for, on the outward and visible field of nature, it revealed the Divine power He was going to manifest, and the work He came to achieve in the higher field of grace. In every act of healing men's bodily diseases, and supplying of men's bodily wants, there was an exhibition to the eye of sense at once of His purpose to bring salvation to their souls, and of the principles on which that salvation should proceed. In like manner, when He resorted to the parabolic method of instruction, it was but another employment of the familiar and sensible things of nature, under the form of allegory, to convey still farther instruction respecting the spiritual and Divine things of His kingdom. The procedure, no doubt, involved a certain exercise of judgment toward those who had failed to profit, as they ought, by His more simple and direct teaching (Matt. 13:11-15).
But for His own disciples it formed a cover, through which He could present to them a larger amount of spiritual truth, and impart a more correct idea of His kingdom, than it was possible for them, as yet, by any other method to obtain. Every parable contained an allegorical representation of some particular aspect of the kingdom, which, like the types of an earlier dispensation, only needed to be illuminated by the facts of Gospel history, to render it a clear and intelligible image of spiritual and Divine realities. In all, the outward and earthly was made to present the form of the inward and heavenly. Thus, the special training of our Lord's disciples very closely corresponded to the course of preparatory dispensations through which the Church at large was conducted before the time of His appearing. Such an analogy, pursued in circumstances so altered, and through periods so widely different, bespeaks the consistent working and presiding agency of Him "who is the same yesterday, to- day, and for ever." It furnishes also a ready and effective answer to the Socinian argument against the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, on account of the comparative silence maintained respecting them in the direct instructions of Christ. "Can such doctrines," they have sometimes asked, "enter so essentially, as is alleged, into the original plan of Christianity, when its Divine author Himself says so little about them—when in all He taught His disciples there is at most but a limited number of passages which seem even to point with any definiteness in that direction?" Look, we reply, to the analogy of God's dealings with His Church, and let that supply the answer. Christ and the mysteries of His redemption were the end of all the earlier proceedings of God, and of the institutions of worship He gave to His Church; and yet many centuries of preparatory instruction and discipline were permitted to elapse before the objects themselves were brought distinctly into view. Should it then be deemed strange or unaccountable that the persons immediately chosen by Christ to announce them, were made to undergo a brief but perfectly similar preparatory course, under the eye of their Divine Master? It could not have been otherwise.
The facts of Christianity are the basis of its doctrines; and until those facts had become matter of history, the doctrines could neither be explicitly taught nor clearly understood. They could only be obscurely represented to the mind through the medium of typical actions, symbolical rites, or parabolical narratives. And it results as much from the essential nature of things as from the choice of its Divine Author, that the mode of instruction, which was continued through the lengthened probation of the Old Testament Church, should have found its parallel in "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." II. But there is an analogy of faith and practice which is of still greater importance than any analogy that may appear in the methods of instruction. However important it may be to note resemblances in the mode of communicating Divine truth, at one period as compared with another, it is more so to know that the truth, however communicated, has always been found one in its tendency and working; that the earlier and the later, the Old and the New Testament Churches, though differing widely in light and privilege, yet breathed the same spirit, walked by the same rule, possessed and manifested the same elements of character.
A correct acquaintance with the Typology of Scripture alone explains how, with such palpable differences subsisting between them, there should still have been such essential uniformity in the result. In the writings of the New Testament, especially in the epistles, it is very commonly the differences between the Old and the New, rather than the agreements, that are pressed on our notice. A necessity for this arose from the abuse to which the Jews had turned the handwriting of ordinances delivered to them by Moses. In the carnality of their minds, they mistook the means for the end, embraced the shadow for the substance, and so converted what had been set up for the express purpose of leading them to Christ, into a mighty stumbling-block to obstruct the way of their approach to Him. On this account it became necessary to bring prominently out the differences between the preparatory and the ultimate schemes of God, and to show that what was perfectly suited to the one was quite unsuited to the other. But there were, at the same time, many real agreements of a most essential nature between them, and these also are often referred to in New Testament Scripture. Moses and Christ, when closely examined and viewed as to the more fundamental parts of their respective systems, are found to teach in perfect harmony with each other. The law and the prophets of the Old Testament, and the gospels and epistles of the New, exhibit but different phases of the same wondrous scheme of grace. The light varies from time to time in its clearness arid intensity, but never as to the elements of which it is composed. And the very differences which so broadly distinguish the Gospel dispensation from all that went before it, when taken in connection with the entire plan and purpose of God, afford evidence of an internal harmony and a profound agreement.
The truth of what we say, if illustrated to its full extent, would require us to traverse almost the entire field of Scripture Typology. We shall therefore content ourselves here with selecting a single point, which, in its most obvious aspect, belongs rather to the differences than the agreements between the Old and the New dispensations. For in what do the two more apparently and widely differ from each other than in regard to the place occupied in them respectively by the doctrine of a future state? In the Scriptures of the New Testament, the eternal world comes constantly into view; it meets us in every page, inspirits every religious character, mingles with every important truth and obligation, and gives an ethereal tone and an ennobling impress to the whole genius and framework of Christianity. Nothing of this, however, is to be found in the earlier portions of the Word of God. That these contain no reference of any kind to a future state of rewards and punishments, we are far from believing, as will abundantly appear in the sequel. But still the doctrine of such a state is nowhere broadly announced, as an essential article of faith, in the revelations of Old Testament Scripture; it has no distinct and easily recognised place either in the patriarchal or the Levitical dispensations; it is never set forth as a formal ground of action, and is implied, rather than distinctly affirmed or avowedly acted on, excepting when it occasionally appears among the confessions of pious individuals, or in the later declarations of prophecy; so that, though itself one of the first principles of all true religion, there yet was maintained respecting it a studied caution and reserve in the revelations of God to men, up to the time when He came who was to "bring life and immortality to light.[1]
This obvious difference between the Old and the New Testament revelations, in respect to a future state, has been deemed such a palpable incongruity, that sometimes the most forced interpretations have been resorted to with the view of getting rid of the fact, while, at other times, extravagant theories have been proposed to account for it. But we have no need to look farther than to the typical character of God's earlier dispensations for a satisfactory explanation of the difficulty and we shall find it in nothing else. For, leave this out of view suppose that God's method of teaching and training the Old Testament Church was not necessarily formed on the plan of unfolding Gospel ideas and principles by means of earthly relations and fleshly symbols, then we see not how it could have consisted with Divine wisdom to keep such a veil hanging for so many ages over the realities of a coining eternity. But let the typical element be duly taken into account; let it be understood that inferior and earthly things were systematically employed of old to image and represent those which are heavenly and Divine; and then we shall be equally unable to see how it could have consisted with Divine wisdom to have disclosed the doctrine of a future state, otherwise than under the figures and shadows of what is seen and temporal. For this doctrine, in its naked form, stands inseparably connected with the facts of Christ's death and resurrection, on which it is entirely based as a ground of consolation, and an object of hope to the believer. And if the one had been openly disclosed, while the other still remained under the veil of temporary shadows, utter confusion must necessarily have been introduced into the dispensations of God: the Old Covenant, with ordinances suited only to an inferior and preparatory course of training, should have possessed a portion of the light properly belonging to a complete and finished revelation. The ancient Church, with her faith in that case professedly directed on the eternal world, must have lost her symbolical relation to the present; her experiences must have been as spiritual, her life as hidden, her conflict with temptation, and victory over the world, as inward as those of believers under the Gospel. But then the Church of the Old Testament, being without the clear knowledge of Christ and His salvation, still wanted the true foundation for so much of a spiritual, inward, and hidden nature; and it must have been next to impossible to prevent false confidences from mingling with her expectations of the future, since she had only the shadowy and carnal in worship with which to connect the real and eternal in blessing. Is this not what actually happened in the case of the later Jews? In the course of that preparatory training through which they were conducted, an increasing degree of light was at length imparted, among other things, in respect to a future state of reward and punishment; the later Scriptures contained not a few quite explicit intimations on the subject (as in Hos. 13:14; Dan. 12:2; Isa. 26:19); and by the time of Christ's appearing, the doctrine of a resurrection from the dead to a world of endless happiness or misery, formed nearly as distinct and prominent an article in the Jewish faith as it does now in the Christian.—(Acts 23:6, 26:6-8; Matt. 5:29, 10:28, etc.) Now, this had been well, and should have only disposed the Jews to give to Jesus a more enlightened and hearty reception, had they been careful to couple with the clearer view thus obtained, and the more direct introduction of a future world, the intimations that accompanied it of a higher and better dispensation—of the old things, under which they lived, being to be done away, that others of a nobler description might take their place. But this was what the later Jews, as a class, failed to do. Partial in their knowledge of Scripture, and confounding together the things that differed, they took the prospect of immortality as if it had been directly unfolded, and ostensibly provided for in the shadowy dispensation itself. The result necessarily was, that that dispensation ceased in their view to be shadowy; it contained in itself, they imagined, the full apparatus required for sinful men, to redeem them from the curse of sin, and bring them to eternal life; and whatever purposes the Messiah might come to accomplish, that He should supplant its carnal observances by something of a higher nature, and more immediately bearing on the immortal interests of man, formed no part of their expectations concerning Him. Thus, by coming to regard the doctrine of a future state of happiness and glory, as, in its naked or direct form, an integral part of the revelations of the Old Covenant, they naturally fell into two most serious mistakes.
They first overlooked the shadowy nature of their religion, and exalted it to an undue rank by looking to it for blessings which it was never intended, unless typically, to impart; and then, when the Messiah came, they entirely misapprehended the great object of His mission, and lost all participation in His kingdom. So much, then, for the palpable difference in this respect between the Old and the New. There was a necessity in the case, arising from the very nature of the Divine plan. So long as the Church was under symbolical ordinances and typical relations, the future world must fall into the background; the things concerning it could only appear imaged in the seen and present. But that they did appear so imaged— in this, with all the outward diversity that prevailed, there still lay an essential agreement between the Old dispensation and the New. The minds of believers under the former neither were, nor could be, an entire blank in regard to a future state of being. From the very first— as we shall see afterwards, when we come to trace out the elements of the primeval religion—there was in God's dealings and revelations toward them, what in a manner compelled them to look beyond a present world; it was so manifestly impossible to realize here, with any degree of completeness, the objects He seemed to have in view. And the under-current of thought and expectation thus silently awakened toward the future, was continually fed by everything being arranged and ordered in the present, so as to establish in their minds a profound conviction of a Divine retribution. The things connected with their relation to a worldly sanctuary, and an earthly inheritance of blessing, were one continued illustration of the principle so firmly expressed by Abraham, "that the Judge of all the earth must do right;" and, consequently, that in the final issues of things, "it must be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked." The bringing distinctly out of this present recompense in the Divine administration, and with infinite variety of light and vividness of colouring, impressing it on the consciences of God's people, was the peculiar service rendered by the ancient economy in respect to a coming eternity; and the peculiar service which, as a preparatory economy, it required to render. For the belief of a present retribution must, to a large extent, form the basis of a well-grounded belief in a future one. And for the believing Israelite himself, who lived under the operation of such strong temporal sanctions, and who was habituated to contemplate the unseen in the seen, the future in the past, there was everything in the visible movements of Providence around him, both to confirm in him the expectation of a coming state of reward and punishment, and to form him to the dispositions and conduct which might best prepare him for meeting it. His position so far differed from that of believers now, that he was not formally called to direct his views to the coming world, and he had comparatively slender means of information concerning its realities. But it agreed in this, that he too was a child of faith, believing in the retributive character of God's administration; and in him, as well as in us, only in a more outward and sensible manner, this faith had its trials and dangers, its discouragements, its warrings with the flesh and the world, its times of weakness and of strength, its blessed satisfactions and triumphant victories. In short, his light, so far as it went, was the same with ours; it was the same also in the nature of its influence on his heart and conduct; and if he but faithfully did his part amid the scenes and objects around him, he was equally prepared at its close to take his place in the mansions of a better inheritance, though he might have to go to them as one not knowing whither he went.[2] Thus it appears, on careful examination, that all was in its proper place. A mutual adaptation and internal harmony binds together the Old and the New dispensations, even under the striking diversity that characterizes the two in respect to a future world. And the further the investigation is pursued, the more will such be found to be the case generally. It will be found that the connection of the Old with the New is something more than typical, in the sense of foreshadowing, or pre-figurative of what was to come; it is also inward and organic. Amid the ostensible differences, there is a pervading unity and agreement—one faith, one life, one hope, one destiny. And while the Old Testament Church, in its outward condition and earthly relations, typically shadowed forth the spiritual and heavenly things of the New, it was also, in so far as it realized and felt the truth of God presented to it, the living root out of which the New ultimately sprang. The rude beginnings were there, of all that exists in comparative perfection now. III. Another advantage resulting from a correct knowledge and appreciation of the Typology of ancient Scripture, is the increased value and importance with which it invests the earlier portions of revelation. This has respect more especially to the historical parts of Old Testament Scripture; yet not to these exclusively. For the whole of the Old Testament will be found to rise in our esteem, in proportion as we understand and enter into its typological bearing. But the point may be more easily and distinctly illustrated by a reference to its records of history. Many ends, undoubtedly, had to be served by these; and we must beware of making so much account of one, as if it were the whole. Even the least interesting and instructive parts of the historical records, the genealogies, are not without their use; for they supply some valuable materials both for the general knowledge of antiquity, and for our acquaintance, in particular, with that chosen line of Adam's posterity which was to have its culmination in Christ. But the narratives in which these genealogies are imbedded, which record the lives of so many individuals, portray the manners and customs of such different ages and nations, and relate the dealings of God's providence and the communications of His mind with so many of the earliest characters and tribes in the world's history—these, in themselves, and apart altogether from any prospective reference they may have to Gospel times, are on many accounts interesting and instructive. Nor can they be attentively perused, as simple records of the past, without being found "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." Yet when viewed only in that light, one-half their worth is still not understood; nor shall we be able altogether to avoid some feeling of strangeness occasionally at the kind of notices embraced in the inspired narrative. For whatever interest and instruction may be connected with it, how trifling often are the incidents it records! how limited the range to which it chiefly draws our attention! and how easy might it seem, at various points, to have selected other histories, which would have led the mind through scenes more obviously important in themselves, and less closely, perhaps, interwoven with evil! Unbelievers have often given to such thoughts as these an obnoxious form, and have endeavoured by means of them to bring sacred Scripture into discredit. But in doing so, they have only displayed their own onesidedness and partiality; they have looked at this portion of the Word of God in a contracted light, and away from its proper connection with the entire plan of revelation.
Let the notices of Old Testament history be viewed in their subservience to the scheme of grace unfolded in the Gospel—let the field which it traverses, however limited in extent, and the transactions it describes, however unimportant in a political respect, be regarded as that field, and those transactions, through which, as on a lower and common stage, the Lord sought to familiarize the minds of His people with the truths and principles which were ultimately to appear in the highest affairs of His kingdom—let the notices of Old Testament history be viewed in this light, which is the one that Scripture itself brings prominently forward, and then what dignity and importance is seen to attach to every one of them! The smallest movements on the earth's surface acquire a certain greatness, when connected with the law of gravitation; since then even the fall of an apple from the tree stands related to the revolution of the planets in their courses. And, in like manner, the relation which the historical facts of ancient Scripture bear to the glorious work and kingdom of Christ, gives to the least of them such a character of importance, that they are brought within the circle of God's highest purposes, and are perceived to be in reality "the connecting links of that golden chain which unites heaven and earth." This, however, is not all. While a proper understanding of the Typology of Scripture imparts an air of grandeur and importance to its smallest incidents, and makes the little relatively great, it does more. It warrants us to proceed a step farther, and to assert, that such personal narratives and comparatively little incidents as fill up a large portion of the history, not only might, without impropriety, have been admitted into the sacred record, but that they must to some extent have been found there, in order to adapt it properly to the end which it was intended to serve. It was precisely the limited and homely character of many of the things related, which rendered them such natural and easy stepping-stones to the discoveries of a higher dispensation. It is one thing that an arrangement exists in nature, which comprehends under the same law the falling of an apple to the ground, and the vast movements of the heavenly bodies; but it is another thing, and also true, that the perception of that law, as manifested in the motion of the small and terrestrial body— because manifested there on a scale which man could bring fully within the grasp of his comprehension—was what enabled him to mount upwards and scan the similar, though incomparably grander, phenomena of the distant universe. In this case, there was not only a connection in nature between the little and the great, but also such a connection in the order of man's acquaintance with both, that it was the knowledge of the one that conducted him to the knowledge of the other. The connection is much the same that exists between the facts of Old Testament history and the all-important revelations of the Gospel—with this difference, indeed, that the laws and principles developed amid the familiar objects and comparatively humble scenes of the one, were not so properly designed to fit man for discovering, as for receiving when discovered, the sublime mysteries of the other. But to do this, it was not less necessary here than in the case above referred to, that the earlier developments should have been made in connection with things of a diminutive nature, such as the occurrences of individual history, or the transactions of a limited kingdom. A series of events considerably more grand and majestic could not have accomplished the object in view. They would have been too far removed from the common course of things; and would have been more fitted to gratify the curiosity and dazzle the imagination of those who witnessed or read of them, than to indoctrinate their minds with the fundamental truths and principles of God's spiritual economy. This result could be best produced by such a series of transactions as we find actually recorded in the Scriptures of the Old Testament—transactions infinitely varied, yet always capable of being quite easily grasped and understood. And thus, what to a superficial consideration appears strange, or even objectionable, in the structure of the inspired record, becomes, on a more comprehensive view, an evidence of wise adaptation to the wants of our nature, and of supernatural foresight in adjusting one portion of the Divine plan to another. It will be readily understood, that what we have said of the purpose of God with reference more immediately to those who lived in Old Testament times, applies, without any material difference, to such as are placed under the Christian dispensation. For what the transactions required to be for the accomplishment of God's purpose in regard to the one, the record of these transactions required to be for the accomplishment of His purpose in regard to the other. Whatever confirmation such things may lend to our faith in the mysteries of God—whatever force or clearness to our perceptions of the truth whatever encouragement to our hopes or direction to our walk in the life of holiness and virtue, it may all be said to depend upon the history being composed of facts so homely in their character and so circumscribed in their range, that the mind can without difficulty both realize their existence and enter into their spirit. IV. Another service, the last we shall notice, which a truly Scriptural Typology is fitted to render to the cause of Divine knowledge and practice, is the aid it furnisher to help out spiritual ideas in our minds, and enable us to realize them with sufficient clearness and certainty. This follows very closely on the consideration last mentioned, and may be regarded rather as a further application of the truth contained in it, than the advancement of something altogether new. But we wish to draw attention to an important advantage, not yet distinctly noticed, connected with the typical element in Old Testament Scripture, and on which to a considerable extent the people of God are still dependent for the strength and liveliness of their faith. It is true, they have now the privilege of a full revelation of the mind of God respecting the truths of salvation; and this elevates their condition as to spiritual things far above that of the Old Testament believers. But it does not thence follow, that they can in all respects so distinctly apprehend the truth in its naked spirituality, as to be totally independent of some outward exhibition of it. We are still in a state of imperfection, and are so much creatures of sense, that our ideas of abstract truth, even in natural science, often require to be aided by visible forms and representations. But things strictly spiritual and divine are yet more difficult to be brought distinctly within the reach and comprehension of the mind.—It was a relative advantage possessed by the Old Testament worshipper, in connection with his worldly sanctuary, and the more fleshly dispensation under which he lived, that spiritual and divine things, so far as they were revealed to him, acquired a sort of local habitation to his view, and assumed the appearance of a life-like freshness and reality. Hence chiefly arose that "impression of passionate in individual attachment," as it has been called, which, in the authors of the Old Testament Scriptures, appears mingling with and vivifying their faith in the invisible, and which breathes in them like a breath of supernatural life. What Hengstenberg has said in this respect of the Book of Psalms, may be extended to Old Testament Scripture generally: "It has contributed vast materials for developing the consciousness of mankind, and the Christian Church is more dependent on it for its apprehensions of God than might at first sight be supposed. It presents God so clearly and vividly before men's eyes, that they see Him, in a manner, with their bodily sight, and thus find the sting taken out of their pains. In this, too, lies one great element of its importance for the present times. What men now most of all need, is to have the blanched image of God again freshened up in them. And the more closely we connect ourselves with these sacred writings, the more will God cease to be to us a shadowy form, which can neither hear, nor help, nor judge us, and to which we can present no supplication."[3] Besides, there are portions of revealed truth which relate to events still future, and. Do not at all come within the range of our present observation and experience, though very important as objects of faith and hope to the Church. It might materially facilitate our conception of these, and strengthen our belief in the certainty of their coming existence, if we could look back to some corresponding exemplar of things, either in the symbolical handwriting of ordinances, or in the typical transactions of an earthly and temporal kingdom. But this also has been prepared to our hand by God in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And to show how much may be derived from a right acquaintance, both in this and in the other respect mentioned, with the typical matter of these Scriptures, we shall give here a twofold illustration of the subject—the one referring to truths affecting the present state and condition of believers, and the other to such as respect the still distant future. 1. For our first illustration we shall select a topic that will enable us, at the same time, to explain a commonly misunderstood passage of Scripture. The passage is [[ >> Bible:1 Pet. 1:2]] 1 Pet. 1:2, where, speaking of the elevated condition of believers, the Apostle describes them as "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." The peculiar part of the description is the last—"sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ—"which, being represented along with obedience as the end to which believers are both elected of the Father and sanctified of the Spirit, seems at first sight to be out of its proper place. The application of the blood of Christ is usually thought of in reference to the pardon of sin, or its efficacy in the matter of the soul's justification before God; when, of course, its place stands between the election of the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit. Nor, in that most common reference to the effect of Christ's blood, is it of small advantage for the attainment of a clear and realizing faith, that we have in many of the Levitical services, and especially in those of the great day of yearly atonement, an outward form and pattern of things by which more distinctly to picture out the sublime spiritual reality.
It is plain, however, that the sprinkling of Christ's blood, mentioned by St Peter, is not that which has for its effect the sinner's pardon and acceptance (although Leighton and most commentators have so understood it); for it is not only coupled with a personal obedience, as being somewhat of the same nature, but the two together are set forth as the result of the electing and sanctifying grace of God upon the soul. The good here intended must be something inward and personal; something not wrought for us, but wrought upon us and in us; implying our justification, as a gift already received, but itself belonging to a higher and more advanced stage of our experience—to the very top and climax of our sanctification. What, then, is it? Nothing new, certainly, or of rare occurrence in the Word of God, but one often described in the most explicit terms; while yet the idea involved in it is so spiritual and elevated, that we greatly need the aid of the Old Testament types to give strength and vividness to our conceptions of it. The blood of the sacrifices, by which the covenant was ratified at the altar in the wilderness, was divided into two parts, with one of which Moses sprinkled the altar, and with the other the people (Ex. 24:6-8). A similar division and application of the blood was made at the consecration of Aaron to the priesthood (Ex. 29:20, 21); and though it does not appear to have been formally, it was yet virtually, done on the day of the yearly atonement, since all the sprinklings on that day were made by the high priest, for the cleansing of defilements belonging to himself, his household, and the whole congregation. "Now" (says Steiger on 1 Pet. 1:2), "if we represent to ourselves the whole work of redemption, in allusion to this rite, it will be as follows:—The expiation of one and of all sin, the propitiation, was accomplished when Christ offered His blood to God on the altar of the accursed tree.
That done, He went with His blood into the most Holy Place. Whoso ever looks in faith to His blood, has part in the atonement (Rom. 3:25); that is, he is justified on account of it, receiving the full pardon of all his sins (Rom. 5:9). Thenceforth he can appear with the whole community of believers (1 John 1:7), full of boldness and confidence before the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16), in order that he may be purified by Christ, as high priest, from every evil lust." It is this personal purifying from every evil lust, which the Apostle describes in ritual language as "the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," and which is also described in the Epistle to the Hebrews, with a similar reference to the blood of Christ, by having "the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience," and again, "by having the conscience purged from dead works to serve the living God." The sprinkling or purging spoken of in these several passages, is manifestly the cleansing of the soul from all internal defilement, so as to dispose and fit it for whatever is pure and good, and the purifying effect is produced by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, or its spiritual application to the conscience of believers, because the blessed result is attained through the holy and divine life, represented by that blood, becoming truly and personally theirs. Now, this great truth is certainly taught with the utmost plainness in many passages of Scripture,—as, when it is written of believers, that "their hearts are purified by faith;" that they "purify themselves, even as Christ is pure;" or when it is said, that "Christ lives in them," that "their life is hid with Him in God," that "they are in Him that is true, and cannot sin, because their seed (the seed of that new, spiritual nature, to which they have been quickened by fellowship with the life of Jesus) remains in them;" and, in short, in every passage which connects with the pure and spotless life-blood of Jesus an impartation of life-giving grace and holiness to His people. I can understand the truth, even when thus spiritually, and, if I may so say, nakedly expressed. But I feel that I can obtain a more clear and comforting impression of it, when I keep my eye upon the simple and striking exhibition given of it in the visible type. For, with what effect was the blood of atonement sprinkled upon the true worshippers of the Old Covenant? With the effect of making whatever sacredness, whatever virtue (symbolically) was in that blood, pass over upon them: the life, which in it had flowed out in holy offering to God, was given to be theirs, and to be by them laid out in all pure and faithful ministrations of righteousness. Such precisely is the effect of Christ's blood sprinkled on the soul; it is to have His life made our life, or to become one with Him in the stainless purity and perfection which expressed itself in His sacrifice of sweet-smelling savour to the Father. What a sublime and elevating thought! It is much, assuredly, for me to know, that, by faith in His blood, the crimson guilt of my sins is blotted out, Heaven itself reconciled, and the way into the holiest of all laid freely open for my approach. But it is much more still to know, that by faith in the same blood, realized and experienced through the power of the Holy Spirit, I am made a partaker of its sanctifying virtue; the very holiness of the Holy One of Israel passes into me; His life-blood becomes in my soul the well- spring of a new and deathless existence. So that to be sealed up to this fountain of life, is to be raised above the defilement of nature, to dwell in the light of God, and sit as in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
And, amid the imperfections of our personal experience, and the clouds ever and anon raised in the soul by remaining sin, it should unquestionably be to us a matter of unfeigned thankfulness, that we can repair to such a lively image of the truth as is presented in the Old Testament service, in which, as in a mirror, we can see how high in this respect is the hope of our calling, and how much it is God's purpose we should enter into the blessing. 2. There are revelations in the Gospel, however, which point to events still future in the Messiah's kingdom; and in respect to these, also, the typical arrangements of former times are capable of rendering important service: a service, too, which is the more needed, as the things indicated, in regard to these future developments of the kingdom, are not only remote from present observation, but also in many respects different from what the ordinary course of events might lead us to expect. We do not refer to the last issues of the Gospel dispensation, when the concerns of time shall have become finally merged in the unalterable results of eternity; but to events, of which this earth itself is still to be the theatre, in the closing periods of Messiah's reign. This prospective ground is in many points overlaid with controversy, and much concerning it must be regarded as matter of doubtful disputation. Yet there are certain great landmarks, which intelligent and sober- minded Christians can scarcely fail to consider as fixed. It is not, for example, a more certain mark of the Messiah who was to come, that He should be a despised and rejected man, should pass through the deepest humiliation, and, after a mighty struggle with evil, attain to the seat of empire, than it is of the Messiah who has thus personally fought and conquered, that He shall totally subdue all the adversaries of His Church and kingdom, make His Church co- extensive with the boundaries of the habitable globe, and exalt her members to the highest position of honour and blessing.
For my own part, I should as soon doubt that the first series of events were the just object of expectation before, as the other have become since, the personal appearing of Christ; and for breadth and prominence of place in the prophetical portions, especially of New Testament Scripture, this has all that could be desired in its behalf. But how far still is the object from being realized? How unlikely, even, that it should ever be so, if we had nothing more to found upon than calculations of reason, and the common agencies of providence. That the progress of society in knowledge and virtue should gradually lead, at however distant a period, to the extirpation of idolatry, the abolition of the grosser forms of superstition, and a general refinement and civilisation of manners, requires no great stretch of faith to believe. Such a result evidently lies within the bounds of natural probability, if only sufficient time were given to accomplish it. But, suppose it already done, how much would still remain to be achieved, ere the glorious King of Zion should have His promised ascendancy in the affairs of men, and the spiritual ends for which He especially reigns should be adequately secured! This happy consummation might still be found at an unapproachable distance, even when the other had passed into a reality; nor are there wanting signs in the present condition of the world to awaken our fears lest such may actually be the case. For in those countries where the light of Divine truth and the arts of civilisation have become more widely diffused, we see many things prevailing that are utterly at variance with the purity and peace of the Gospel—numberless heresies in doctrine, disorders that seem to admit of no healing, and practical corruptions which set at defiance all authority and rule. In the very presence of the light of Heaven, and amid the full play of Christian influences, the god of this world still holds possession of by far the larger portion of mankind; and innumerable obstacles present themselves on every side against the universal diffusion and the complete ascendancy of the pure principles of the Gospel of Christ. When such things are taken into account, how hopeless seems the prospect of a triumphant Church and a regenerated world! of a Saviour holding the undivided empire of all lands! of a kingdom, in which there is no longer anything to offend, and all appears replenished with life and blessing! The partial triumphs which Christianity is still gaining in single individuals and particular districts, can go but a little way to assure us of so magnificent a result. And it may well seem as if other influences than such as are now in operation, would require to be put forth before the expected good can be realized. Something, no doubt, may be done to reassure the mind, by looking back on the past history of Christianity, and contrasting its present condition with the point from which it started. The small mustard- seed has certainly sprung into a lofty tree, stretching its luxuriant branches over many of the best regions of the earth. See Christianity as it appeared in its Divine Author, when He wandered about as a despised and helpless individual, attended only by a little band of followers as despised and helpless as Himself; or again, when He was hanging on a malefactor's cross, His very friends ashamed or terrified to avow their connection with Him; or even at another and more advanced stage of its earthly history, when its still small, and now resolute company of adherents, unfurled the banner of salvation, with the fearful odds everywhere against them of hostile kings and rulers, an ignorant and debased populace, a powerful and interested priesthood, and a mighty host of superstitions, which had struck their roots through the entire framework of society, and had become venerable, as well as strong, by their antiquity. See Christianity as it appeared then, and see it now standing erect upon the ruins of the hierarchies and superstitions which once threatened to extinguish it—planted with honour in the regions where, for a time, it was scarcely suffered to exist—the recognised religion of the most enlightened nations of the earth, the delight and solace of the good, the study of the wise and learned, at once the source and the bulwark of all that is most pure, generous, free, and happy in modern civilisation. Comparing thus the present with the past—looking down from the altitude that has been reached upon the low and unpromising condition out of which Christianity at first arose, we are not without considerable materials in the history of the Gospel itself, for confirming our faith in the prospects which still wait for their fulfilment. On this ground alone it may scarcely seem more unlikely, that Christianity should proceed from the elevation it has already won to the greatly more commanding attitude it is yet destined to attain, than to have risen from such small beginnings, and in the face of obstacles so many and so powerful, to its present influential and honourable position. But why not revert to a still earlier period in the Church's history?
Why withhold from our wavering hearts the benefit which they might derive from the form and pattern of divine things, formerly exhibited in the parallel affairs of a typical and earthly kingdom? It was the Divine appointment concerning Christ, that He should sit upon the throne of David, to order and to establish it. In the higher sphere of God's administration, and for the world at large, He was to do what had been done through David in the lower and on the limited territory of an earthly kingdom. The history of the one, therefore, may justly be regarded as the shadow of the other. But it is still only the earlier part of the history of David's kingdom which has found its counterpart in the events of Gospel times. The Shepherd of Israel has been anointed King over the heritage of the Lord, and the impious efforts of His adversaries to disannul the appointment have entirely miscarried. The formidable train of evils which obstructed His way to the throne of government, and which were directed with the profoundest cunning and malice by him who, on account of sin, had been permitted to become the prince of this world, have been all met and overcome —with no other effect than to render manifest the Son's indefeasible right to hold the sceptre of universal empire over the affairs of men. Now, therefore, He reigns in the midst of His enemies; but He must also reign till these enemies themselves are put down till the inheritance has been redeemed from all evil, and universal peace, order, and blessing have been established. Is not this also what the subsequent history of the earthly kingdom fully warrants us to expect? It was long after David's appointment to the throne, before his divine right to reign was generally acknowledged; and still longer before the overthrow of the last combination of adversaries, and the termination of the last train of evils, admitted of the kingdom entering on its ultimate stage of settled peace and glory. The affairs of David himself never wore a more discouraging arid desperate aspect, than immediately before his great adversary received the mortal blow which laid him in the dust. After this, years had to elapse before the adverse parties in Israel were even externally subdued, and brought to render a formal acknowledgment to the Lord's anointed. When this point again had been reached, what internal evils festered in the kingdom, and what smouldering fires of enmity still burned! Notwithstanding the vigorous efforts made to subdue these, we see them at last bursting forth in the dreadful and unnatural outbreak of Absalom's rebellion, which threatened for a time to involve all in hopeless ruin and confusion. And with these internal evils and insurrections, how many hostile encounters had to be met from without! some of which were so terrible, that the very earth was felt, in a manner, to shake under the stroke (Ps. 60).
Yet all at length yielded; and partly by the prowess of faith, partly by the remarkable turns given to events in providence, the kingdom did reach a position of unexampled prosperity, peace, and blessing. But in all this we have the development of a typical dispensation, bringing the assurance, that the same position shall in due time be reached in the higher sphere and nobler concerns of Messiah's kingdom. The same determinate counsel and foreknowledge, the same living energy, the same overruling Providence, is equally competent now, as it is alike pledged, to secure a corresponding result. And if the people of God have but discernment to read aright the history of the past, and faith and patience to fulfil their appointed task, they will find that they have no need to despair of a successful issue, but every reason to hope that judgment shall at length be brought forth into victory. This one illustration may meanwhile be sufficient to show (others will afterwards present themselves), how valuable an handmaid to the unfulfilled prophecies of Scripture may be found in a correct acquaintance with its Typology. Its province does not, indeed, consist in definitely marking out before hand the particular agents and transactions that are to fill up the page of the eventful future. It performs the service which in this respect it is fitted to accomplish, when it enables us to obtain some insight—not into the what, or the when, or the instruments by which—but rather into the how and the wherefore of the future,—when it instructs us respecting the nature of the principles that must prevail, and the general lines of dealing that shall be adopted, in conducting the affairs of Messiah's kingdom to their destined results. The future here is mirrored in the past; and the thing that hath been, is, in all its essential features, the same that shall be.
I. 하나님의 점진적인 계시 방식과 모형론
우선, 우리는 하나님께서 서로 다른 시대에 걸쳐 교회를 준비시키기 위해 사용하신 교육 방식에서 하나의 유사성을 발견할 수 있다.
신약 교회의 역사에서 한 짧은 시기를 보면, 당시의 교회가 가까운 미래에 대한 관계에서, 구약 교회가 보다 먼 미래의 복음 시대를 준비했던 것과 유사한 역할을 했다는 점을 알 수 있다. 그것은 바로 예수님의 지상 사역 동안의 시기였다. 이 기간 동안 예수님의 제자들은 앞으로 설립될 하나님의 나라를 위해 준비되었고, 그들은 그 나라의 사역에 동참할 수 있도록 훈련을 받았다.
하나님께서 구약 교회를 오랜 세월 동안 준비시키셨던 과정이, 예수님의 제자들에게는 단 몇 년의 짧은 기간 동안 집약적으로 이루어졌다고 볼 수 있다. 그렇다면 이 짧은 준비 기간 동안 구약 시대와 마찬가지로 하나님께서 사용하신 교육 방식이 유사한 특성을 띠었으리라 기대할 수 있다.
우리가 앞서 보았듯이, 하나님께서 구약 교회를 교육하시고 훈련시키신 주요 방식은 상징과 행위를 통한 가르침이었다. 구약의 신자들은 대부분 상징적인 사건과 의식을 통해 은혜의 신비에 대해 배웠다. 도덕적인 삶과 실천적인 행동에 대해서는 직접적인 계명이 주어졌으나, 메시아 왕국의 영적인 본질과 목적에 관한 가르침은 주로 은유와 상징을 통해 전달되었다.
이것이 바로 예수님께서 지상 사역 동안 제자들에게 교육하셨던 방식과 놀랍도록 유사하다.
예수님께서 제자들에게 직접적으로 가르치신 내용은 주로 도덕적 교훈과 하나님 나라의 원칙들이었다. 그는 하나님의 율법을 잘못 해석하고 있던 부패한 제사장들의 잘못을 바로잡으며, 그의 왕국이 세워질 토대에 대해 가르치셨다. 그러나 그의 신성, 대속 사역, 그리고 이 모든 것이 궁극적으로 어떻게 하늘과 연결되는지는 제자들에게 명확하게 가르쳐지지 않았다.
예수님이 이 주제들에 대해 직접적으로 말씀하셨을 때조차도 제자들은 거의 이해하지 못했으며, 오히려 혼란스러워했다(마태복음 16:21-23; 누가복음 18:34; 요한복음 2:19-22, 6장). 결국 예수님은 마지막 설교에서, 아직 그들이 감당할 수 없는 많은 가르침이 남아 있지만, 후에 성령께서 오셔서 모든 진리 가운데로 인도할 것이라고 말씀하셨다(요한복음 16:12-13).
그렇다면 제자들은 이 높은 영적 진리들에 대해 어떤 방식으로 교육을 받았는가?
그것은 상징과 비유를 통해서였다. 예수님의 공생애는 역사적 사건들의 연속이었으며, 그 사건들이 그 자체로 중요한 가르침을 내포하고 있었다. 예수님이 행하신 모든 기적들은 역사 속의 모형이었다. 그것들은 단순한 기적이 아니라, 하나님의 은혜가 어떻게 구원의 역사를 통해 나타날 것인지를 상징적으로 보여주는 사건들이었다.
예수님의 모든 치유 사역, 기적적인 공급 사역, 그리고 죽은 자를 살리시는 행위는 단순한 기적이 아니라, 더 높은 영적인 구원을 이루시는 메시아의 사역을 예표하는 사건들이었다. 또한 예수님께서 비유로 가르치신 방식도 모형적인 방식과 유사했다. 그는 자연 속에서 친숙한 요소들을 사용하여 하나님의 나라에 대한 진리를 상징적으로 가르치셨다.
구약 시대의 상징적 예표와 신약 시대의 예수님의 가르침 간의 유사성은 매우 분명하다. 하나님께서 오랜 시간 동안 구약 교회를 준비시키셨던 방식이, 예수님이 그의 제자들을 가르치실 때 사용하신 방식과 일치한다.
이러한 유사성은 하나님께서 변함없는 방식으로 일하신다는 사실을 강력하게 입증해 준다. 또한, 그리스도의 복음에서 우리가 기대할 수 있는 가르침의 방식이 무엇인지도 보여준다.
II. 신앙과 실천에서의 일관성
모형론이 제공하는 더 중요한 유익 중 하나는, 구약과 신약 교회 간의 신앙과 실천에서 본질적인 일관성을 확인하는 데 있다.
구약과 신약의 신자들은 빛과 특권의 수준에서 차이가 있었지만, 같은 영을 받았으며, 같은 믿음을 가졌고, 같은 규범을 따라 살았다.
신약 성경, 특히 서신서에서는 구약과 신약 사이의 차이점이 자주 강조된다. 왜냐하면 유대인들이 구약의 의식을 절대적인 것으로 여기면서 메시아를 거부했기 때문이다. 하지만 차이점뿐만 아니라 중요한 일관성도 존재하며, 이는 신약 성경에서도 여러 번 강조된다.
모세와 그리스도는 서로 조화를 이루는 가르침을 전했고, 율법과 선지자들은 복음과 동일한 은혜의 계획을 나타냈다.
우리가 예표론을 올바르게 이해할 때, 구약의 기록이 단순한 역사적 서술이 아니라, 신약의 영적인 진리를 준비하기 위한 하나님의 신성한 방식이었다는 사실을 깨닫게 된다.
이로 인해 구약 성경 전체가 신약의 빛 아래에서 더욱 풍성하고 의미 있는 메시지를 전달하게 된다.
III. 모형론이 구약 성경의 가치를 높이는 역할
올바른 모형론의 이해는 구약 성경, 특히 역사적 기록들의 가치를 더욱 높여준다. 물론 구약 성경의 기록은 다양한 목적을 가지고 있다. 각종 족보 기록조차도 아담의 후손 가운데 선택된 계보가 그리스도에게까지 이어진다는 점에서 역사적, 신학적 가치를 지닌다. 하지만 구약 성경이 단순한 역사적 기록에 그치는 것이 아니라, 신약의 영적 진리를 예표하는 기능을 가지고 있다는 점에서 더욱 높은 가치를 갖는다.
구약의 사건들을 단순한 과거의 역사로만 볼 때, 우리는 때때로 그 기록이 불완전해 보이거나, 왜 어떤 특정한 사건들이 성경에 포함되었는지 의문을 가질 수 있다. 그러나 그것이 신약의 영적 진리를 준비하기 위한 하나님의 계시적 방식임을 이해하면, 가장 미세한 사건 하나도 중요한 의미를 갖게 된다.
예를 들어, 구약의 아브라함, 이삭, 야곱, 요셉, 다윗 등 많은 인물들의 삶이 그리스도의 사역과 교회의 본질을 예표하는 요소들을 담고 있다는 점에서, 그들의 생애는 단순한 역사적 기록이 아니라 하나님의 구속 계획을 설명하는 살아있는 모형이었다.
이러한 관점에서 볼 때, 구약 성경의 역사적 사건들은 신약의 복음적 진리를 예표하기 위한 하나님의 섭리 속에서 선택되고 기록되었음을 알 수 있다.
IV. 모형론이 신앙을 생생하게 하는 역할
구약의 모형은 신약 성도들에게 신앙적 개념을 더욱 명확하고 실질적으로 이해하는 데 도움을 준다. 우리는 영적 개념을 이해하는 데 있어 한계를 가진 존재이기 때문에, 구체적인 형상과 사건을 통해 진리를 배우는 것이 유익하다.
예를 들어, 그리스도의 피로 우리가 정결하게 된다는 개념은 추상적인 개념으로 들릴 수 있다. 그러나 구약에서 속죄의 날에 대제사장이 희생제물의 피를 성소에 뿌리는 장면을 생각하면, 이 개념이 훨씬 더 실감 나게 다가온다.
베드로전서 1:2에서 신자들이 "예수 그리스도의 피 뿌림을 받기 위해 선택되었다"고 말할 때, 이는 단순히 죄 사함을 의미하는 것이 아니라, 그리스도의 피가 우리 삶에서 실제적으로 정결함을 이루고 거룩한 삶을 살게 한다는 뜻이다.
또한, 구약에서 제사장이 피를 백성들에게 뿌리는 의식은 단순한 종교적 행위가 아니라, 피의 생명을 통해 백성들이 하나님께 속한 자로 구별되는 것을 의미했다.
이러한 구약의 모형들은 신약의 영적 개념들을 보다 명확하고 구체적으로 이해하도록 돕는다.
V. 모형론이 미래 예언을 이해하는 데 도움을 줌
구약의 모형들은 단순히 신약의 사건들을 설명하는 데 그치지 않고, 아직 이루어지지 않은 미래의 예언을 이해하는 데도 중요한 역할을 한다.
예를 들어, 성경은 장차 메시아 왕국이 완전히 확립되고 온 세상이 하나님을 경배하는 날이 올 것이라고 가르친다. 그러나 현재 세상의 상태를 보면, 그것이 현실화될 가능성이 멀어 보인다.
이럴 때 구약의 모형을 보면, 하나님께서 이미 이와 같은 방식으로 역사하셨다는 사실을 발견할 수 있다.
- 다윗 왕국의 형성 과정은 초기에 많은 어려움과 대적을 겪었지만, 결국 이스라엘 역사상 가장 강력하고 평화로운 왕국이 되었다.
- 마찬가지로, 그리스도의 왕국도 지금은 많은 대적과 장애물에 직면해 있지만, 결국은 온 세상을 통치하는 하나님 나라가 될 것이다.
이처럼 구약의 모형을 보면, 아직 이루어지지 않은 미래의 예언도 하나님께서 반드시 성취하실 것이라는 확신을 가질 수 있다.
이것이 바로 성경의 모형론이 신자들에게 신앙적 확신과 소망을 주는 중요한 이유 중 하나이다.
결론: 모형론의 중요성
모형론이 성경 해석에서 차지하는 위치는 단순히 과거의 사건들을 신약과 연결 짓는 것에 그치지 않는다. 그것은 신자들이 성경을 이해하고, 신앙을 생생하게 유지하며, 미래에 대한 소망을 갖도록 돕는 중요한 도구이다.
- 하나님께서 구약과 신약을 통해 일관된 방식으로 교육하셨음을 보여준다.
- 구약과 신약 사이의 본질적인 신앙적 일치를 증명한다.
- 구약 성경의 가치를 더욱 높여준다.
- 영적인 개념을 구체적이고 생생하게 이해할 수 있도록 돕는다.
- 미래의 예언을 이해하는 데 도움을 준다.
이러한 이유로, 우리는 모형론을 성경 연구의 핵심적인 분야로 받아들이고, 그것을 통해 하나님의 구속 계획을 더 깊이 이해해야 한다.
마무리하며
이제 우리는 구약 성경이 단순한 역사적 기록이 아니라, 신약의 복음적 진리를 준비하기 위한 하나님의 신적 설계였음을 이해할 수 있다.
구약의 사건들은 우연히 일어난 것이 아니라, 신약의 그리스도와 그분의 구속 사역을 예표하기 위해 하나님께서 의도적으로 계획하신 것들이었다.
이와 같은 모형론적 이해를 바탕으로, 우리는 성경 전체를 하나의 통일된 이야기로 바라볼 수 있으며, 이를 통해 우리의 신앙도 더욱 깊어질 것이다.
[1] A clear proof in a single instance of what is here said of the Old Testament in respect to an eternal world, may be found in what is written of Enoch, "He was not, for God took him," and this because he had walked with God. A causal connection plainly existed between his walk on earth and his removal to God's presence; and yet this is so indicated as clearly to show that it was the Divine purpose to spread a veil of secrecy over the future world, as if the distinct knowledge of it depended on conditions that could not then be formally brought out.
[2] See Appendix B.
[3] Supplem. Treatises on Psalms, § 7.