What is an antitype in the Bible?

Answer

In the Bible, an antitype represents the fulfillment or completion of a previous truth revealed in the Scriptures. An antitype in the New Testament is prefigured by a type, its equivalent in the Old Testament.

The terms type and antitype in this context mainly derive from the word “tupos” in the Greek New Testament. “Tupos” originally denoted the mark of a blow, like a stamp, and was later used to signify a copy, image, pattern, or, frequently, a type. It could be said that types bear the mark of the antitype.

An illustration of type and antitype in the Bible is evident in the theme of the two Adams. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” «For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. », (1 Corinthians 15:22). Here, Christ serves as the antitype, while Adam is the type. Just as death entered the world through one man, Adam, affecting all of humanity, life entered through another man, Jesus, offering salvation to all who believe. The first Adam is the type fulfilled by the second Adam, Jesus.

Another instance of type and antitype is seen in the bronze serpent in the wilderness and the cross. When the Israelites rebelled against God in the desert, He sent venomous snakes among them, causing many to be bitten and die. However, in response to Moses’ prayers, the Lord provided deliverance. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Numbers 21:8-9). This incident parallels and foreshadows the crucifixion. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up

Lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

Sometimes in the Bible, types are referred to as “shadows” of antitypes «For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. », (Hebrews 10:1). In this way, one might think of the types in the Old Testament as shadows cast by their antitypes in the New Testament—sometimes distorted in scope and shape, but an indication of something to come.

One can find dozens of types and antitypes in the Scriptures. Often, New Testament writers point out these correlations with language we typically translate into English as “just as” paired with “so.” For example, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” «for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. », (Matthew 12:40). Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish was a type of Jesus’ time in the tomb. Jesus is again the antitype of something in the Old Testament.

Types and antitypes can be people, events, ceremonies, objects, positions (e.g., the priestly office), or even places. The sacrificial lamb foreshadowed Jesus’ sacrifice, bondage in Egypt mirrored bondage to sin, and the flood of Noah is used by Peter as a metaphor for the waters of baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21). Not all things in the Old Testament can be construed as a type, but the Bible does reveal that many elements in the Old Testament are types that point to something greater in the New Testament.

Old Testament prophecies were intended as a prophetic foreshadowing of the future antitypes.