The Relationship between Old and New Testaments

The relationship between the OT & NT in terms of the Divine Economy, Typology and Mystagogy

In his preface to the Pontifical Biblical Commission document of 2001 The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the then Prefect of the Congregation of faith said “The Document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission introduced by this Preface declares: Without the Old Testament, the New Testament would be an unintelligible book, a plant deprived of its roots and destined to dry up and wither (no. 84).” Now I make a very brief study on the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament in terms of the Divine Economy, Typology and Mystagogy.


What is Divine Economy? The ‘divine economy’ is “the divine order of history as presented in the canonical text”. The Economy of salvation deals with God’s revelation and communication to mankind throughout history, for the sake of the salvation of all; hence the term “economy of salvation”. The economy of salvation, refers to God's activity “ad extra” (external): creating and governing the world, particularly with regard to God’s plan for the salvation of the world in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a plan which is being accomplished through his Body the Church, in its life and sacraments; hence, the "sacramental economy. God accomplishes His salvation for us in Jesus Christ, His son, our Saviour. In the letter to the Hebrews we find a God who communicates. God who has spoken through the Prophets come to an apex of this communicative process in Jesus Christ, the incarnated word of God in the sacred history of salvation. This plan of salvation for mankind is unified and strengthens all of Sacred Scripture, thus ensuring the unity between the Old and New Testaments. The Second Vatican Council pointed out the importance of being aware of this unity and identified attentiveness to the unity within the Bible as one of the characteristics of authentic interpretation. At the heart of the Scripture is Christ and it is through his passion, death and resurrection that God’s redemptive plan is fulfilled in a particular way. Therefore, the Paschal mystery sheds light on all Sacred Scripture. This does not mean that the Old Testament has no intrinsic value or that the New Testament should not be read in light of the Old, rather “the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New”.


Now let us examine what Typology is: Typology in the exegetical sense is a principle for interpreting all of history in light of its fulfillment in Christ. We recognize it at work in those texts which found “shadows” of New Testament truth in Old Testament events. Hence Israel’s exodus from Egypt is a “type” of humankind’s deliverance from sin and death in Christ. As an exegetical mode typology incorporates the old into the new and thereby helps to constitute a tradition. The old truth is not rejected as false in light of the new truth. Typology could be defined in a brief way as “the study of persons, places, events, and institutions in the Bible that foreshadow later and greater realities made known by God in history”. Typology essentially sets forth a metaphysical point of correspondence between type and antitype, although occasionally, as in the typological link between Adam and Christ in 1 Cor. 15:22, the connection is a point of contrast. The NT at times invites typological interpretation by employing the words “type” (e.g., 1 Cor. 10:6; “example”), “antitype” (e.g., 1 Pet. 3:2; “figure”), “shadow” (e.g., Heb. 10:1), “mystery” (e.g., Eph. 5:32), and “allegory” (Gal. 4:24). In the typological approach there is a movement from the “type” to the “antitype” which is always greater than the “type” that it was signified by. Thus the typological approach can also reveal a certain discontinuity because the “antitype” both fulfills and surpasses the “type” that foreshadowed it.


While speaking on the Liturgical catechesis, the CCC mentions the idea of Mystagogy as follows “Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ ( It is "mystagogy." ) by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the "sacraments" to the "mysteries." Such catechesis is to be presented by local and regional catechisms.” The mystagogical approach also sheds light on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments for it shows how in a typological sense the sacraments are foreshadowed by events/things in the Old Testament. The sacrament of Baptism was prefigured in the Old Testament through the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites when God saved them from slavery in Egypt. In this sacrament the candidate is freed from sin and enters into the life of the Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery. In the gospel of John this mystagogical approach is evident in the way Jesus tried to lead people from the ‘signs’ (the physical miracles that he performed) to the heavenly realities that they pointed to. For example, in the dialogue with Nicodemus Jesus attempted to provide an explanation of the sacrament of Baptism, by which one is “born anew” through “water and the Spirit”, and without which one “cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn.3:5,7).


The topics of exegesis like Divine Economy, Typology and Mystagogy are connected to an interpretative approach that is supported on a liturgical and sacramental hermeneutic. It takes into account the important concepts of ‘canon’ and ‘covenant’. The books in both the Old and New Testaments were established as part of the canon. They were being read during liturgical celebrations. The liturgical celebrations themselves were acts of worship in response to God’s covenants. These covenants were foundational to both Israel (the covenant at Sinai) and the Church (the New and Eternal Covenant established in the Blood of Christ). Reading the bible from a liturgical perspective highlights the importance of the divine economy, typology and mystagogy for an authentic interpretation of the Scriptures.