Valiant for Truth - Hermeneutics

One of the definitions of typology is “that form of biblical interpretation which deals with the correspondence between traditions concerning divinely appointed persons, events, and institutions, within the framework of salvation history” (E. Achtemeier, IDBSup, 926-27.) A common example of biblical typology with respect to divinely appointed persons is the correspondence between Adam and Christ (Rom. 5:14).

E. J. Young (1907-68), Professor of Old Testament and founding faculty member at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, once wrote the following about the importance of knowing the biblical languages

J. Nelson Kraybill thinks that you can understand the Book of Revelation—not necessarily that it is easy to understand every symbol in the book, but that the average Christian can understand the main points of the book and their application...

I once preached through the book of Hebrews. When I arrived at the end of the book I was very excited about preaching on the benediction in Heb. 13:20-21. I love benedictions. If you study the ‘mother of all benedictions,’ that of Aaron in Num. 6:22-27, you find that God views the benediction not as a prayer...

We’ve already looked at two things that will be further illustrated here. First is that we have to be very careful with the whole notion of a “literal” translation. Literal does not necessarily mean more accurate. The other thing is the difference between a gloss (i.e., an English word substitute for a Greek word) and description of a word’s meanings. Both of these will come into play when we examine the use of the phrase “do truth” in 1 John 1:6.