The Tabernacle and Christ in Early Christian Writings
Early Christians often read the tabernacle as a sign that pointed to Christ, his priesthood, and the church. Writers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and Hippolytus treated Moses' tabernacle as a pattern, shadow, or type that found its fuller meaning in Jesus. Hebrews 8–9 gives the main Bible frame for this reading, while the veil and holy place were also taken as signs of deeper spiritual truths.
119 early-church witnesses · 186 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Tabernacle and Christ?
Early Christian writers taught that the tabernacle pointed to Christ, his priesthood, and the church, not just to Israel's wilderness worship. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Hippolytus, and the Apostolic Constitutions all use the tabernacle as a pattern, shadow, or type that finds its true meaning in Christ. They also read the veil, the holy place, and the holy of holies as signs of spiritual realities, with some writers applying the image to Christ's body, the church, or the soul.
The witness is broad and early, though a few cards are only background detail or use tabernacle language in a more figurative way. The Bible passages selected here also anchor that reading, especially Hebrews 8–9 and Acts 7:44. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians commonly said the tabernacle pointed forward to Christ.
- Hebrews 8–9 was the main Bible text behind this reading.
- Some writers also used the veil and holy place to talk about spiritual meaning, the church, or the soul.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians teach that the tabernacle pointed to Christ?
The supplied sources repeatedly say the tabernacle was a type, pattern, or shadow that pointed beyond itself. Christ is described as the true priestly fulfillment, and several writers connect the tabernacle’s structure to his coming, dwelling, or work.
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Hebrews 9:11 Direct teaching
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
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Hebrews 9:24 Direct teaching
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
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Hebrews 8:2 Direct teaching
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
...lchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.” Genesis 14:18. Now he was a priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abraham. And that Melchizedek bore a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, speaking from the person of the Father to the Son: “Before the morning star I begot You; You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” This order surely comes from that sacrifice and descends from there: that Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, that he offered wine and bread, and that he blessed Abraham. For who is more a priest of the Most High God than our Lord Jesus Christ? He offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and He offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, namely, His body and blood. And with respect to Abraham, that blessing which came first belonged to our people. For if Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, then surely whoever believes God and lives by faith is found righteous, and is already blessed in faithful Abraham, and is shown to be justified, as the blessed Apostle Paul proves when he says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteo
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Direct teaching
Now, because Christ rather than any other was to build the temple of God, that is to say, a holy manhood, wherein God's Spirit might dwell as in a better temple, Christ rather than David's son Solomon was to be looked for as the Son of God.
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Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Typology
For by this was signified the imperishable and incorruptible tabernacle of (the Lord) Himself, which gendered no corruption of sin.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Typology
...odies. What comes later cannot produce what came earlier. These things also contain the pattern and type of a great mystery. The sun is a type of God, and the moon is a type of man. And just as the sun greatly surpasses the moon in power and glory, so God greatly surpasses man. And just as the sun always remains full and never becomes less, so God always remains perfect, being full of all power, understanding, wisdom, immortality, and every good thing. But the moon decreases each month, and in a way dies, being a type of man. Then it is born again and becomes a crescent, as a pattern of the future resurrection. In the same way, the three days before the heavenly lights are types of the Trinity: God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, so that there may be God, the Word, wisdom, and man. Therefore the lights were also made on the fourth day. The arrangement of the stars also contains a type of the arrangement and order of the righteous and godly, and of those who keep the law and commandments of God. For the shining and bright stars are an image of the prophets, and so they remain fixed, not turning aside or moving from place to place
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Typology
...urch of God, should eat from the Church. This was also the case with the Levites, who served in the tabernacle of testimony, which was in every way a type of the Church. Indeed, even its very name showed that the tabernacle was appointed beforehand as a testimony of the Church. Therefore, the Levites who served at the tabernacle shared in the things offered to God by all the people: gifts, offerings, firstfruits, tithes, sacrifices, and oblations. They did this without disturbance, they and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. Since their work was ministry at the tabernacle, they had no lot or inheritance in the land among the children of Israel, because the oblations of the people were Levi's lot and the inheritance of their tribe. Therefore, O bishops, you are to your people priests and Levites, ministering in the holy tabernacle, the holy Catholic Church. You stand at the altar of the Lord your God, and offer to Him reasonable and unbloody sacrifices through Jesus the great High Priest. To the laity you are prophets, rulers, governors, and kings; mediators between God and His faithful people, who receive and declare His word, and are well acquainted with the Scriptur
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Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Typology
And the Lord, the Word, he represented as upon a light cloud, referring to that most pure tabernacle, in which setting up His throne, our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to shake error.
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Typology
For since it is the function of a tabernacle to overshadow him who is in it, and to shelter him, and the bright cloud overshadowed them, God made, as it were, a diviner tabernacle, inasmuch as it was bright, that it might be to them a pattern of the resurrection to come;
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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching
...r the order of Melchizedek,' God has declared Him with an oath (because of your unbelief) to be the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek; that is, just as Melchizedek was described by Moses as the priest of the Most High, and he was a priest for those who were uncircumcised, and he blessed the circumcised Abraham who brought him tithes, so God has shown that His everlasting Priest, also called Lord by the Holy Spirit, would be the Priest of those who were uncircumcised. Those among the circumcised who approach Him, that is, by believing in Him and seeking blessings from Him, He will accept and bless. And that He will first be humble as a man and then exalted, these words at the end of the psalm show: 'He shall drink from the brook along the way,' and then, 'Therefore He shall lift up the head.'"
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
...al temple, He also had to have an everlasting priesthood in it. And there can be no approach to the sanctuary of the temple, and to the sight of God, except through Him who built the temple. David also teaches the same thing in Psalm 110, saying, "Before the morning star I begot You. The Lord has sworn, and will not repent: You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." Also in the first book of Kings, 1 Samuel 2:35: "And I will raise up for myself a faithful Priest, who shall do all things that are in my heart; and I will build Him a sure house; and He shall walk in my sight all His days." But Zechariah teaches most plainly who this was to be, the one to whom God promised an everlasting priesthood, even mentioning His name, in Zechariah 3:1-8: "And the Lord God showed me Jesus the great Priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and the adversary was standing at His right hand to resist Him. And the Lord said to the adversary, 'The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you.' And behold, a brand plucked out of the fire. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments, and He was standing before the angel. And He answered and spoke to those who stood around before Him, s
How did early Christians explain the veil and holy place of the tabernacle?
Several writers say the tabernacle’s veil and inner sanctuary signified hidden or spiritual realities, and that Scripture’s forms needed mystical or spiritual interpretation. The Bible cards on the veil and the holy place provide direct background for that reading.
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Hebrews 9:3 Direct teaching
and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
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Exodus 26:33 Background
And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.
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Exodus 26:31 Background
“You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching
...h we also call spiritual. The apostle, moreover, says, "Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart: nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." For as long as anyone is not converted to a spiritual understanding, a veil is placed over his heart. With this veil, that is, a gross understanding, Scripture itself is said or thought to be covered. And this is the meaning of the statement that a veil was placed over the countenance of Moses when he spoke to the people, that is, when the law was publicly read aloud. But if we turn to the Lord, where also is the Word of God, and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, then the veil is taken away, and with unveiled face we shall behold the glory of the Lord in the holy Scriptures.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness
...n the Scriptures of the law. Each part is woven by a divine art of wisdom as a kind of covering and veil of spiritual truths. This is what we have called the body of Scripture, so that in this way also, what we have called the covering of the letter, woven by the art of wisdom, might be able to edify and profit many, when others would derive no benefit.
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Tertullian, Apology Background
For entrance to the holy place was permitted to the priests alone, while all vision was forbidden to others by an outspread curtain.
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Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Direct teaching
...t was not, as some among the unlearned perhaps imagine, any piece of linen cloth, or any skin, that covered his face. But the apostle also takes care to make this plain to us, when he tells us that the veil is put on in the reading of the Old Testament, since those who are called Israel from olden time still look for the coming of Christ, and do not perceive that the princes have been wanting from Judah, and the leaders from his thighs. Even now we see them in subjection to kings and princes, and paying tribute to them, without any power left to them either of judgment or of punishment, such as Judah certainly had. For after he had condemned Thamar, he was also able to justify her. But you will also see your life hang in doubt before your eyes.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
In the middle area, inside the covering and veil where the priests were allowed to enter, stood the altar of incense. It was a symbol of the earth, placed in the middle of this universe. From it rose the smoke of incense. And that place, between the inner veil—where only the high priest was allowed to enter on appointed days—and the outer court around it, which was open to all the Hebrews, was, they say, the middle point between heaven and earth. But others say it was a symbol of the intellectual world and the world of sense. So then, the covering, which was the barrier of popular unbelief, was stretched in front of the five pillars, holding back those in the outer area.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
And that place intermediate between the inner veil, where the high priest alone, on prescribed days, was permitted to enter, and the external court which surrounded it — free to all the Hebrews — was, they say, the middlemost point of heaven and earth.
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Origen, Commentary on John Background
and hence the veil of the court is erected, since to most of the priests and levites the things in the inmost part of the temple are not revealed.
Did early Christians connect the tabernacle with the Church or resurrection?
The supplied sources also use tabernacle language for the Church and for the resurrection of the body. Some writers say the tabernacle was a type of the Church, while others use it to describe the body, the soul’s dwelling, or the raising of the flesh.
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Exodus 26:30 Direct teaching
And thou shalt set up the tabernacle according to the pattern shown thee in the mount.
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Hebrews 8:5 Supporting witness
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”
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Acts 7:44 Supporting witness
Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Typology
And Plato, too, when he says that form is the third original principle next to God and matter, clearly got this idea from no other source than Moses. He learned the name of form from Moses' words but was not instructed by the initiated that without mystic insight, it is impossible to have any distinct understanding of Moses' writings. For Moses wrote that God had spoken to him about the tabernacle in these words: “And you shall make for me according to all that I show you on the mount, the pattern of the tabernacle.” And again: “And you shall erect the tabernacle according to the pattern of all its instruments, so you shall make it.” And again, a little later: “Thus then you shall make it according to the pattern shown to you on the mount.” Plato, then, reading these passages without the proper insight, thought that form had some kind of separate existence before what the senses perceive, and he often calls it the pattern of the things that are made, since Moses’ writing spoke of the tabernacle: “According to the form shown to you on the mount, so you shall make it.”
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Typology
Nay, also, when the (description of the) fitting out of the tabernacle is read, believing that what is written is a type, they seek to adapt what they can to each particular related about the tabernacle — not being wrong so far as regards their belief that the tabernacle is a type of something, but erring sometimes in adapting the description of that of which the tabernacle is a type, to some special thing in a manner worthy of Scripture.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Typology
4. As a matter of course, therefore, these things were done beforehand in a type, and from them was the tabernacle of God constructed;
Common Questions
Did early Christians think the tabernacle was a type of Christ?
Yes. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Hippolytus, and others treated the tabernacle as a type, shadow, or pattern that pointed to Christ.
Which Bible passages did they use most?
Hebrews 8:2, Hebrews 9:11, Hebrews 9:24, and Acts 7:44 were the clearest passages in this set.
Did they also connect the veil and holy place to spiritual meanings?
Yes. Some writers used the veil, holy place, and holy of holies to describe hidden truth, spiritual understanding, or the way to God.
Source Index for the Tabernacle and Christ
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 147 ranked source links from 186 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 147 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 119
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 67 included
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.