Saints LightReading the Old Testament with Christ in View
God shaped real people and events in the Old Testament to point ahead to Christ, so we read the Old in the light of the New without ever discarding the Old.
What this lesson teaches
- Typology sees Old Testament persons and events as real foreshadowings of Christ.
- The New Testament itself uses typology, for example Adam, the Passover lamb, manna and Noah's ark.
- The New lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is made plain in the New.
- The Old Testament keeps its own lasting value and is never to be discarded.
Catechism paragraphs this lesson cites
- CCC 128-130
- CCC 122-123
CCC means the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Saints Light teaches it in its own words and never quotes it. Look up any paragraph in a printed copy or at vatican.va. See every lesson by paragraph in the Catechism index.
Scripture read in this lesson: Luke 24:27; John 3:14; 1 Peter 3:20-21.
A sample question from this lesson
What is a 'type' in Bible reading?
- A made up symbol a reader invents for devotion
- A copying mistake in an ancient manuscript
- A kind of literary genre, like poetry
- A real Old Testament person or event that God used to foreshadow the New
Show the answer
A real Old Testament person or event that God used to foreshadow the New. The lesson defines a type as a real person, event or thing shaped by God to foreshadow its fulfillment in the New Testament (CCC 128).
The lesson in the app has three questions, each with an explanation.
Words to know
- Typology
- Reading the Old Testament as containing real foreshadowings of Christ and the Church.
- Type and antitype
- The Old Testament foreshadowing (type) and its New Testament fulfillment (antitype).
More terms in the Catholic glossary. More passages in the Scripture index.
Read the full lesson in the app
"Reading the Old Testament with Christ in View" is lesson 6 of The Bible, the Catholic Way. In Saints Light you get the whole teaching, the Scripture quoted in full, all three questions and a step to live it this week.
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