ANTITYPE, a Greek word, properly signifying a type or figure corresponding to some other type.
The word antitype occurs twice in the New Testament; viz. in the epistle to the Hebrews, ix. 24. and in St Peter, 1 Eph. iii. 21. where its genuine import has been much controverted. The former says, that "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are, αυτοματα, the figures or antitypes of the true—now to appear in the presence of God for us." Now αυτοματα signifies the pattern by which another thing is made; and as Moses was obliged to make the tabernacle, and all things in it, according to the pattern shown him in the mount; the tabernacle so formed was the antitype of what was shown to Moses: any thing, therefore, formed according to a model or pattern,
Antinum term, is an antitype. In the latter passage, the apostle speaking of Noah's flood, and the deliverance only of eight persons in the ark from it, says, Ω μοι γάρ ηντι νησος υαρου βαπτισμου, Baptism being an antitype to that, now saves us; not putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God, &c. The meaning is, that righteousness, or the answer of a good conscience towards God, now saves us by means of the resurrection of Christ, as formerly righteousness saved these eight persons by means of the ark, during the flood. The word antitype, therefore, here signifies a general similitude of circumstances; and the particle ω, whereunto, refers, not to the immediate antecedent, υαρος, water, but to all that precedes.