Epistle of Barnabas

Background

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek work of twenty-one chapters written during the early church period. For a long time it was attributed to Barnabas, the co-worker of Paul. Clement of Alexandria and Origen, writing in the late second and early third centuries, are known to have cited it as a work of Barnabas. The text itself, however, does not name its author. Modern scholarship generally holds that it was written by an anonymous Christian rather than by the Barnabas of the Book of Acts. Korean Catholic usage sometimes renders its title as the "Letter of Barnabas."

Chapter 16 states that the Temple in Jerusalem has already been destroyed. For this reason the work is dated after AD 70, and many scholars place it before the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135). Because of its prominent use of allegory (interpretation that seeks a figurative meaning), some have suggested Alexandria as its place of composition, but this remains uncertain.

Contents

The work falls into two main parts. The first part (chapters 1–17) interprets the laws and institutions of the Old Testament as symbols that foreshadow Christ and the church. In doing so, it argues that the Jews, by taking the law only in its literal sense, missed the true meaning of the covenant. Representative topics include the following:

• The scapegoat (chapter 7): The goat of the Day of Atonement is connected with the passion of Christ.
• The red heifer (chapter 8): The red heifer of Numbers 19 is treated as a type (a figure that foreshadows what is to come) of Christ, and the children who sprinkle the ashes of purification are interpreted as those who proclaimed the gospel.
• Circumcision (chapter 9): True circumcision is said to be circumcision of the heart. Through Greek numerical interpretation, the 318 men of Abraham's household are read as pointing to Jesus and the cross.
• Dietary laws (chapter 10): The animals forbidden as food are read as figures for kinds of human conduct to be avoided.
• The Sabbath (chapter 15): The six days of creation are interpreted as six thousand years of history, and Christians are said to keep with gladness the "eighth day," on which Jesus rose from the dead.

The second part (chapters 18–21) is ethical instruction contrasting two ways, "the way of light and the way of darkness." Its content resembles the "Two Ways" section of the Didache, a document from the same period.

Reception and Influence

The work was respected and read in a number of early churches. In the fourth-century Codex Sinaiticus it appears after the New Testament, together with the Shepherd of Hermas. Eusebius, however, in his Ecclesiastical History, classified it among the books not accepted as canonical. It was not subsequently received into the canon of any church tradition. Modern scholarship has classified and studied it as one of the writings of the so-called "Apostolic Fathers."

Assessment

In church history scholarship, the Epistle of Barnabas is regarded as an early source showing how the early church read the Old Testament. Chapter 15 is frequently cited in discussions of the Sabbath and the Lord's Day as early evidence for the practice of observing the Lord's Day. Some point out, however, that because the work does not carry apostolic authority, this chapter reflects only the understanding of some churches of that time.

The work has also drawn criticism. It has been faulted for excessive allegorical interpretation that all but abandons the literal sense. It has also been criticized for a strongly anti-Jewish tendency, evident in claims such as that the law and the covenant never belonged to the Jews in the first place. Korean Protestant denominations all accept only the sixty-six books as canonical and therefore do not read this work as Scripture. It is treated chiefly in seminary courses on church history and patristics and in the study of the early church.