Cryptic sayings of Jesus
a) John's gospel 5, 45-46
Do not imagine that I shall be your accuser at the Father's tribunal. The accuser is Moses, the very Moses on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses you would believe what I tell you, for it was about me that he wrote.
b) St Paul's letter to the Colossians 2, 16-17
Allow no one therefore to take you to task about what you eat or drink, or over the observance of festival, new moon, or sabbath. These are no more than a shadow of what was to come; the solid reality is Christ's.
These 'shadows' here (skía in Greek) are elsewhere called typoi (imprints). One may therefore speak of a typology, or simply of allegory (St Paul's letter to the Galatians 4, 24: 'This may be interpreted allegorically') before speaking of (in Latin) “figuras”.
Source: The New English Bible`
In the City of God (18,46), St Augustine gives a reading of this belief which would be retained in the history of Christianity until the 20th century.
But the Jews who slew Him, and would not believe in Him, because it behooved Him to die and rise again, were yet more miserably wasted by the Romans, and utterly rooted out from their kingdom, where aliens had already ruled over them, and were dispersed through the lands (so that indeed there is no place where they are not), and are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ........ For a prophecy about this thing was sent before in the Psalms, which they also read, where it is written, My God, His mercy shall warn me. My God has shown me concerning mine enemies, that You shall not slay them, lest they should at last forget Your law: disperse them in Your might. Therefore God has shown the Church in her enemies the Jews the grace of His compassion, since, as says the apostle, their offence is the salvation of the Gentiles. Romans11:11 And therefore He has not slain them, that is, He has not let the knowledge that they are Jews be lost in them, although they have been conquered by the Romans, lest they should forget the law of God, and their testimony should be of no avail in this matter of which we treat. But it was not enough that he should say, Slay them not, lest they should at last forget Your law, unless he had also added, Disperse them; because if they had only been in their own land with that testimony of the Scriptures, and not every where, certainly the Church which is everywhere could not have had them as witnesses among all nations to the prophecies which were sent before concerning Christ.
