mrtumnus said:
Is it common for you guys to take references to known Biblical people and interpret them as being 'representative' of something other than themselves? Are there other cases where this occurs?
For example, there are those who make a similar claim regarding Adam and Eve -- that they are 'representative' of a first group of people, and the reference to them is not actually to 2 distinct individual people.
If this is the question that you want answered (I am not sure) I will attempt to do so for you.
There are types in the Bible. But they are almost always identified by the Bible itself. For example.
Adam is the first "Adam"; Christ is the second (or last) "Adam". (1Cor.15:45)
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the
last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Elijah was a picture of John the Baptist, but also is a picture of one of the two witnesses in Rev.11
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
--This is the prophecy recorded in the OT about 450 years before Christ was born.
--Then Jesus said:
Matthew 17:12-13 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
--This was only a partial fulfillment. For John the Baptist came only in the spirit of Elijah.
Notice that Jesus puts a difference between the two different comings of Elijah:
Matthew 17:11-12 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. 12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
--Elijah will come and will restore all things. But Elijah has not done that. That is a future event.
--Then he says that Elijah has come already--in the person of John the Baptist. He came in the spirit of John the Baptist. He foretold the way of the Messiah. John the Baptist was the last of the OT prophets. He was much like the prophet, Elijah.
There are other parallels that the Bible gives. All of them are substantiated in the Bible.
Paul talks of Sara and Hagar as types.
Galatians 4:24-25 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Melchizedek is used as a type of Christ. You can find the NT reference in Hebrews chapter 7.
And thus there are many more, all verified by the NT.
But mark this
Mary is never referenced as the mother of God, nor is ever referenced as a type of Eve. She isn't a type of Eve. There is no NT reference to refer to her as such, no Biblical evidence to make that inference. It is pure speculation, and unbiblical speculation at that.
I hope that helps.