The church through most of history did not view typology as a feature of literary texts. We viewed typology as a feature of history that is reflected in literary texts.
That sounds like a small difference; it’s not.
There is really only one true Story, and God is telling it. It starts with “In the beginning, God created…,” continues through the Deluge, Abraham offering Isaac, Moses breaking the tablets, Jesus touching the lepers, your breakfast this morning, and right on until the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven…and then it gets really good! This genius Story has themes and motifs running through it that happen in your life just as surely as they happen to anybody else.
Understood that way, the Bible is not just a storehouse of theological knowledge or moral directions for living your life; it’s the Rosetta Stone. The Bible doesn’t contain the whole Story (what book could?), but it contains key parts, told by God Himself. Understood rightly, the parts of the Story contained in the Bible don’t just teach us what sort of story we’re in; they teach us how to read all the rest. Particularly the part we happen to be living in.
New Testament authors read the Hebrew Bible this way. In fact, later Old Testament writers read earlier ones this way as well. If we can be taught by them, then we can read, not just the OT, but our own lives.
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