预表是一种关于圣经研究的神学理论，也是一种在希伯来圣经（旧约圣经）与基督教圣经（新约圣经）之间创建联系的方法，认为新旧两约都来自于上帝的默示，旧约圣经中有些内容不适用于基督徒，例如，犹太教kosher律法（参见旧约圣经—基督教对于律法的观点）。因此在有些地方，旧约圣经不能作字面理解，而是作为新约圣经事件的寓言或预示，特别是旧约圣经的事迹被看作耶稣生平事迹的预示。这样在旧约圣经中看见新约圣经，术语称为“预表”。保罗在歌罗西书2章16-17节简明地阐述了这一学说 -“所以不拘在饮食上、或在节期、月朔、或安息日方面，都不可让人论断你们，这些原是要来之事的影儿，那实体却属于基督。”这同样可见于新约圣经中的希伯来书。

Typology in Christian theology and Biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Events, persons, or statements in the Old Testament are seen as types pre-figuring or superseded by antitypes, events or aspects of Christ or his revelation described in the New Testament. For example, Jonah may be seen as the type of Christ in that he emerged from the fish's belly and thus appeared to rise from death. In the fullest version of the theory of typology, the whole purpose of the Old Testament is viewed as merely the provision of types for Christ, the antitype or fulfillment. The theory began in the Early Church, was at its most influential in the High Middle Ages, and continued to be popular, especially in Calvinism, after the Protestant Reformation, but in subsequent periods has been given less emphasis. One exception to this is the Christian Brethren of the 19th and 20th centuries, where typology was much favoured and the subject of numerous books. Notably, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, typology is still a common and frequent exegetical tool, mainly due to that church's great emphasis on continuity in doctrinal presentation through all historical periods. Typology was frequently used in early Christian art, where type and antitype would be depicted in contrasting positions. The usage of the terminology has expanded into the secular sphere; for example, "Geoffrey de Montbray (d.1093), Bishop of Coutances, a right-hand man of William the Conqueror, was a type of the great feudal prelate, warrior and administrator".