Book of Rules

Contents

Reading pages: 0–2 · 3 · 4 · 5–6 · 7

1. 0Tyconius introduces his seven rules for interpreting Scripture, calling them keys and lamps for its hidden meaning, and lists them.
2. 1Tyconius’s first rule: Scripture often passes without notice from Christ the head to the church his body, and reason (and grace) must discern which is meant; the coming of the Son of Man, for example, includes the continual coming of his body.
3. 2Tyconius’s second rule: the Lord’s body is twofold, containing both true and false members, so that Scripture addresses the one body now as blessed and now as condemned; he illustrates this from Isaiah, the Song of Songs, the Apocalypse, and Romans.
4. 3Tyconius’s third rule: the promise (given by faith) and the law (given to multiply sin and drive men to grace) never contradict each other; the righteous of old were justified by faith through the Spirit, and the promises to Abraham’s seed are firm because God foreknew those who would believe, while the church contains both sons of promise and sons of the slave woman.
5. 4Tyconius’s fourth rule: Scripture speaks of a species (a particular city or person, such as Jerusalem, Solomon, Nineveh, Egypt, Tyre, Babylon) while meaning the genus (the whole church, good and bad), passing back and forth between them; he illustrates this at length from the prophets.
6. 5Tyconius’s fifth rule: numbers and times in Scripture are often figurative, by synecdoche (part for whole) or by “legitimate” numbers such as seven, ten, and twelve, which signify perfection or the whole time from Christ’s passion to the end; he applies this to the sojourn in Egypt, the three days of the burial, the Sabbath, and the flood.
7. 6Tyconius’s sixth rule: Scripture often recapitulates, telling of the same whole time again in parts, or describing a present event as the likeness of a future one; and he warns that the Antichrist is recognized by works, not words, since denying Christ in the flesh means hating his members.
8. 7Tyconius’s seventh rule: as with Christ and his body, Scripture passes from the devil to his body (the wicked, within and without the church); he illustrates this from the fall of the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and of the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28, and ends with the coming departure of the church from the mystery of iniquity.