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Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas

Origins of the Treatise

The Epistle of Barnabas is a late first century or early second century Christian document which can be classfied among those proto-orthodox texts collectively referred to as the Apostolic Fathers?. Recent research has connected Barnabas with Alexandria, in the late 90's C.E., during the reign of emperor Nerva (on arguments for this historical context see Paget PEB 1996: 364–365 and his notes 20-24). It was originally written in Greek.

The Epistle of Barnabas is (probably falsely) attributed to Barnabas, the companion of Paul's early years (see below, on The Historical Barnabas).

By the early 4th century C.E., the Ep. Barn. had acheived virtually canonical status among many Christians. One of our best copies of the treatise survives from Codex Sinaiticus?, where it appears right along with the other canonical scriptures, immediately following the Apocalypse of John? (aka "Revelation").

Contents of the Epistle of Barnabas

The Ep. Barn. is rooted in a thoroughly allegorizing reading of the Jewish scriptures. The author also writes under the assumption that all of scripture — whatever its genre and authorship — is essentially prophetic in character. Having been written "in the spirit," scripture is not to be read according to the letter (see e.g. Barn. 10:2; cf. 5:3 and 7:1).

The author is concerned to demonstrate that the incarnation, suffering, and death of Jesus was written of beforehand by "the prophets" (chapters 5, 11, and 12). He also attempts to demonstrate that various Jewish institutions, conceptions, and practices have all been established and followed as a result of a mistaken and erroneous literal reading of scriptures which, when they properly understood (using allegorical and typological interpretation) actually underwrite Christian belief and practices. These Jewish institutions, conceptions and practices include animal sacrifice? (chapter 2), fasting? (chapter 3), the covenant? (chapters 4, 13, 14), the promised "land of milk and honey" (chapter 6), the scapegoat ritual of Yom Kippur? (chapter 7), the Shema? and Circumcision (chapter 9), the observance of dietary practices? (chapter 10), the observance of the Sabbath? (chapter 15), and worship at an earthly Temple? (chapter 16). The author is familiar only with the Greek Septuagint (LXX?) translation of the Hebrew scriptures. In at least one place (Barn., 9:4–9) his interpretation is dependent upon gemmatria? rooted in the Greek text, and may therefore seem more than a little risable to modern, critically trained readers.

The Ep. Barn. concludes (chapters 17–20) with a dualistic ethical exhortation (the "Two Ways Discourse") which is literarily related to the first five chapters of the Didache? and seems also to owe something to the discourse on the "Two Spirits" from the Community Rule? used at Qumran.

Questions about the Epistle of Barnabas

The primary questions related to Barnabas, from the perspective of our work in Prodigal Sisters, are as follows:

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Read the Epistle of Barnabas on-line

You can read several different English translations of the Epistle of Barnabas for free on-line at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/barnabas.html

Bibliography on the Epistle of Barnabas

See the following articles: Horbury JCR 1992, Paget PEB 1996.

How to cite the Epistle of Barnabas

The standard scholarly abbreviation for citations to the Epistle of Barnabas (according to the Anchor Bible Dictionary and the SBL Handbook of Style) is Barn. (in italics). Thus, citations to Barnabas on this Wiki should look like this: (Barn. 1:1). Usually, they should be formatted as a link to this Topic Area.

The Historical Barnabas

It is evident that the historical Barnabas was person of some importance in the early Church. He was based in Antioch, was known to the Jerusalem ecclesia, and served as a missionary co-worker with Paul when Paul's work was based at the Antioch ecclesia.

Among canonical New Testament writings, the apostolic figure Barnabas is mentioned only in Acts (in chapters 9–15), in 1 Corinthians (1 Cor 9:6), in Galatians (Gal 2:9, 2:13) and in Colossians (Col 4:10). The character named Barnabas who is mentioned in Acts 4:36 may also be the same person.

The historical Barnabas is of significance for the history of Jewish–Christian relations because he was apparently a minor player in Paul's famous dispute with Peter and James of the Jerusalem ecclesia. The dispute began over the issue of circumcision of Gentile followers of the Way and continued over the practice of table fellowship between gentile and Jewish brothers in the Antioch ecclesia (on this, see esp. Gal 1–2; compapre also Acts 15).

In the course of this dispute, Barnabas was apparently swayed to the camp of Peter and James. Especially because the Barnabas of history took what seems to be a mediating position on Jewish dietary practices and purity rules, he should not be regarded as the author of the Epistle of Barnabas, which asserts in the strongest possible terms that the dietary restrictions of Torah are purely symbolic and must be interpreted allegorically (see Barn., 10:1–12).

After this dispute, Barnabas and Paul seem to have parted company. Amicable relations between them were probably not maintained. The book of Acts is not credible when it attributes the split between Barnabas and Paul to a dispute over their coworker John Mark (Acts 12:25 & 15:39). It is curious, and may not be coincidental, that Acts is silent about both Peter and Barnabas after its 15th chapter.

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