Analogy & Revelation

It is quite in keeping with the intent of the apostle Paul to render Romans 12:6  “If prophecy, according to the analogy of the faith” for the following reasons:

1. This is the only New Testament occurrence of the Greek noun analogia;
2. the transliteration of the Greek analogia into the English “analogy” works quite easily;
3. the English meaning of analogy coheres with the meaning of its classical Greek antecedent;
4. the apostle Paul would have been quite conversant with its classical meaning;
5. and the apostle’s letters, indeed the entire Old and New Testaments, abound with analogy.

Webster defines analogy as “an inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some respects they will probably agree in others” or a “resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike.”  The history of redemption, set forth in the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is so replete with analogy that the biblical canon itself may properly be considered “the analogy of the faith.”   Indeed the only way in which the eternal God could communicate with finite humans is by way of analogy.  The analogy of the faith, accordingly, represents a sound biblical hermeneutic imperative, i.e. one who purports to speak God’s Word must conform his message to the whole of Scripture, with proper regard for its grammatical-historical context.  Those who listen must evaluate the message by applying the same standard (Acts 17:11).

Analogy jumps out at us in the creation:

 The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

Day unto day uttereth speech,

and night unto night sheweth knowledge (Psalm 19:1-2 KJV).                                 ,

Citing this passage, the apostle Paul compares the universality of the gospel proclamation to the universal witness of the heavens (Rom. 1:18).  The cosmos, and everything within it, attest to the nature and attributes of the invisible God rendering men inexcusable for failing to worship their Maker (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 1:19-20).  The entrance of sin into the human race (Rom. 5:12-21), however, has impaired men’s ability to think analogically.  In his gracious Self-Disclosure, the eternal God addresses men in terms of the analogy which men are able to grasp through faith.  Describing His own grace in terms analogous to objects of creation itself, God declares to us that He covers us “with his feathers,” and that “under his wings” we “find refuge” (Psalm 91:4).

Christ’s redemptive act is antithetically analogous to Adam’s rebellious act in pristine Eden (Rom. 5:12-21), and his resurrection analogous, by way of profound  transcendence, to Adam’s creation (1 Cor. 15:48).  Christ’s body is analogous to the physical Jewish temple (John 2:19-22) and Heaven itself analogous to the tabernacle, particularly the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:11-12), and the church, in turn, both to the temple and Christ’s physical body (1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21; 4:4; 5:28-32). Christ’s high priestly office is analogous to that of Melchizedek who met and blessed Abraham after he rescued Lot (Gen. 14:17-20; Ps. 110:4; Heb. 6:19-7:28).

Christian baptism is analogous to the waters of the great flood through which Noah and his family were saved and to Israel’s passing through the Red Sea to be baptized into Moses (1 Pet. 3:21f.; 1 Cor. 10:1f.).  Faith in Christ is analogous to being a son of Abraham (Luke 19:8-9; Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:29).  Spiritual regeneration is analogous to physical male circumcision (Rom. 2:29; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11-12).  Heaven is analogous to the promised land and earthly Jerusalem to the heavenly Zion (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22).  Christ’s death and subsequent session at God’s right hand must be understood against the typical/analogical background of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and his entry into Heaven in terms of the Old Testament priest’s entry into the earthly tabernacle (Heb. 8:1-6; 9:11-26).  Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon each bear an analogical relationship to Christ (Gal. 3:16; Heb. 3:2-6; 4:8-10; Acts 13:23).

The relationship between Christ and the church is analogous to the institution of marriage (1 Cor. 11:3-16; Ephes. 5:22-24).  Biblical analogy establishes church order (1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-15; 3:2).

Analogy and the Incarnation

The Incarnation itself is analogical.  In the Incarnate Son we discover from what mankind has fallen, what mankind should be and what through Him mankind can become.  When Pilate announced, “Behold the man!” (John 19:5), he was speaking the truth while scoffing at the very concept (John 18:38).  The one who stood before him was the epitome of true manhood, the representative man, undergoing inhuman abuse and ultimate rejection.  This was the perfect man bearing the imperfections of Adam’s offspring, suffering, dying, and destroying sin, death, and hell in the process.  The miracles of Christ, and of the apostles, were signs analogically attesting to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Heaven is like that–a place where demons have no place or power, where there is no sickness, disease, deformity, disorder, heartache, terror, governmental tyranny, moral imperfection, suffering, or death.

But there is another sense in which the Incarnation is analogical.  Jesus came to reveal the Father (John 1:18).  To be sure, Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15); yet the first order of things is not to say that Jesus is like God, for we have never seen God.  Rather we say that God is like Jesus for Jesus has made the Father known.  The Holy Spirit applies the analogy of this great mystery of the Godhead (2 Cor. 3:17-18).

About the Writer

David Clark Brand is a retired pastor and educator with missionary experience in Korea and Arizona.  He and his wife reside in Wooster, Ohio.  They have four grown children and seven  grandchildren.  With a B.A. in the Liberal Arts, an M. Div., and a Th.M. in Church History, Dave continues to enjoy study and writing.  One of his books, a contextual study of the life and thought of Jonathan Edwards, was published by the American Academy of Religion via Scholars Press in Atlanta.