Pauline Typology

Stephen Finlan (Problems With Atonement, 30-31) observes that “Paul not only interprets OT types, he sometimes sees the antitype in the type.” The Rock that followed Israel was not simply a pointer to Christ but was Christ. Israel already experienced baptism and enjoyed spiritual feasts in the wilderness. Typology here depends on the presence of the future in the past.

When Paul brings his typological readings to bear on the church, Finlan recognizes that this is not mere rhetoric: “Paul does not break with the past but transforms it and lets it speak for the present. His metaphors are more than just vehicles for a message, they provide content to the message as well. Even if he means to say that the whole purpose of the sacrificial and scapegoat cults was to prefigure the death of Christ, people will then conceptualize the significance of Christ’s death in terms of their concept of what these rituals accomplished” (31).