WG: Typology (Figure, Type, Shadow, Antitype)¶

Overview¶

This word group covers the NT vocabulary of typological correspondence — how a historical person, event, or cultic institution points beyond itself to a heavenly or eschatological reality. The group centers on Louw-Nida subdomain 58.010 (Archetype/Antitype) with secondary ties to 33.003 (Discourse Types) via παραβολή. Its home is the Epistle to the Hebrews, where typos/hypodeigma/skia/antitypon/parabolē form an interwoven terminology; supporting occurrences appear in Paul (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 10:6; Gal 4:24) and 1 Peter (3:21).

Companion group: WG-figurative-speech.md handles the wisdom-speech / parable-proverb side of παραβολή. This group handles the figure-pattern-shadow-antitype side.

Word Group Members¶

Strong's	Word	Transliteration	POS	Occurrences	Role in Concept	Library Entry
G3850	παραβολή	parabolḗ	feminine noun	48	The figure-form itself — comparison, parable, typological figure	G3850-parabole.md
G3942	παροιμία	paroimía	feminine noun	4	The dark/oblique saying — Johannine alternative to parabolē	TODO(need G3942 study)
G5179	τύπος	týpos	masculine noun	15	The pattern / prefigurative mold stamped by event or object	G5179-typos.md
G499	ἀντίτυπον	antítypon	adjective/noun	2	The corresponding counterpart (the answering reality)	TODO(need G499 study)
G4639	σκιά	skiá	feminine noun	7	The shadow cast ahead by a coming reality	G4639-skia.md
G238	ἀλληγορέω	allēgoréō	verb	1	The act of reading/speaking allegorically (Gal 4:24)	G238-allegoreo.md
G5262	ὑπόδειγμα	hupódeigma	neuter noun	6	The copy / specimen / admonitory example	TODO(need G5262 study)

Relationships¶

Shared Roots¶

τύπος (G5179) and ἀντίτυπον (G499) — same root τυπ-; antitypon = ἀντί ("against/corresponding") + typos, expressing the correlate pair.
παραβολή (G3850) from παραβάλλω (G3846) — παρά ("alongside") + βάλλω ("throw"); a setting-side-by-side. The related NT noun παροιμία (G3942) uses παρά + οἶμος ("way") — "that which runs alongside the road," a wayside saying.
ὑπόδειγμα (G5262) from ὑποδείκνυμι ("show under, exhibit") — a specimen displayed for imitation or warning.
ἀλληγορέω (G238) from ἄλλος ("other") + ἀγορεύω ("speak in assembly") — "say one thing and mean another."

Co-occurrence (appear in same verses)¶

Word A	Word B	Shared Verses	Typical Context
τύπος (G5179)	σκιά (G4639)	1x	Heb 8:5 — Moses shown the pattern (typos); earthly priests serve "the example (hypodeigma) and shadow (skia) of heavenly things"
τύπος (G5179)	ὑπόδειγμα (G5262)	1x	Heb 8:5 — typos = the heavenly original shown to Moses; hypodeigma = the earthly copy
σκιά (G4639)	ὑπόδειγμα (G5262)	1x	Heb 8:5 — paired terms for the sanctuary as derivative copy of the heavenly reality
παραβολή (G3850)	others	0x	parabolē never co-occurs with the typology cluster — but Heb 9:9 uses parabolē within the same discourse (immediately after Heb 8:5), extending the group

Note on zero co-occurrence: the Synoptic parable vocabulary (parabolē, paroimia, allēgoreō) and the Hebrews typology vocabulary (typos, antitypon, skia, hypodeigma) occupy different NT books, so they never share a verse. But Hebrews ties them together: Heb 9:9 calls the first-tabernacle arrangement a parabolē in the same rhetorical movement where 8:5 calls it hypodeigma kai skia, and 9:24 calls heaven's realities antitypa of the holy places. Hebrews treats parabolē as a member of this typological family.

LXX Overlaps¶

Hebrew Source	Greek Members It Feeds	Notes
מָשָׁל (māshāl, H4912)	παραβολή (primary), παροιμία (secondary)	See TR-mashal-parabole.md
צֵל (tsel, H6738)	σκιά	Shadow/protection imagery; see TR-tsel-skia.md
תַּבְנִית (tabnît, H8403)	τύπος, ὑπόδειγμα, παράδειγμα	"Pattern" shown to Moses (Exod 25:9, 40) — the Heb 8:5 citation

Roles in the Concept¶

The verbal figure (spoken/told): παραβολή, παροιμία, ἀλληγορέω — language that means more than it says.
The prefigurative pattern (historical): τύπος — a past event or person that stamps a forward-casting shape.
The corresponding reality (the answer): ἀντίτυπον — that which τύπος pointed toward.
The derivative copy (spatial/cultic): ὑπόδειγμα, σκιά — earthly institutions as shadow-copies of heavenly originals.
The bridge: παραβολή in Heb 9:9; 11:19 — the Synoptic word for verbal figure is redeployed in Hebrews for historical/cultic figure, linking the two registers.

Key Passages Where Multiple Group Words Appear Together¶

Heb 8:5 — "Who serve unto the example (ὑπόδειγμα) and shadow (σκιά) of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern (τύπος) shewed to thee in the mount." Three group members in one verse — the programmatic statement of Hebrews' typology.
Heb 9:9 — "Which was a figure (παραβολή) for the time then present" — parabolē joins the typological cluster.
Heb 9:24 — "figures (ἀντίτυπα) of the true" — Christ has entered the original, not the antitype-copy.
Heb 10:1 — "For the law having a shadow (σκιά) of good things to come, and not the very image (εἰκών)" — skia contrasted with the substance.
Heb 11:19 — "from whence also he received him in a figure (παραβολή)" — Isaac's return as figure of resurrection.
Rom 5:14 — "Adam, who is the figure (τύπος) of him that was to come."
1 Pet 3:21 — "The like figure (ἀντίτυπον) whereunto even baptism doth also now save us."
Gal 4:24 — "Which things are an allegory (ἀλληγορούμενα)."