Introduction to the Epistle of Barnabas

Occasionally you might hear an Apostolic Father be referenced by a local pastor or well known Christian on social media. Polycarp’s martyrdom, Clement mentioning the deaths of Peter and Paul, or a prayer from the Didache can be heard from time to time. The teachings, convictions, and stories found in the Apostolic Fathers can be very compelling and worth sharing to the masses. The Epistle of Barnabas, however, is not an early Church writing a typical pastor will quote on Sunday.

The Epistle of Barnabas is probably the most unpopular of the Apostolic Fathers, and there’s a pretty common agreement as to why. To be fair, it was very popular in certain locations of the early Church, particularly in the East. (Hvalvik, 2021, Pg. 269) In fact, Clement of Alexandria was a big fan of it, writing a now lost commentary of the epistle and even seeing it as inspired Scripture. (Jefford, 2012, Pg. 3) It’s also worth mentioning the epistle is very Jesus-centered, and is one of the earliest Church writings detailing Jesus as the Creator in Genesis.

So why is it so unpopular today? There are basically two reasons which are linked together: the author preaches a very exclusive and hyper-symbolic interpretation of the Old Testament, and does so while harshly condemning both Jewish traditions and the Jewish people in his day.

To read the Old Testament with Christian eyes isn’t unnatural, and seeing different Old Testament passages as an allegory for Jesus Christ would actually become very commonplace in the Church Fathers. What makes Barnabas stand out is that it presents these allegories as the exclusive and true way to read the Old Testament, and any interpretation beyond this is wrong.

Because of this extreme interpretation, along with his harsh words against Judaism, The Epistle of Barnabas has often been seen in retrospect as an anti-Semitic writing, showing an ugly side of the early Church. Barnabas not only interprets and insists on a bizarre understanding of the Old Testament, but brings a harsh rhetoric along with it.

But before we go any further into the content of Barnabas, here’s some background to the epistle.

Author

The author of Barnabas is anonymous. Somewhere down the road the writing was given the current title, most likely linking itself to Barnabas from Acts. If this were actually written by the companion of Paul, it would probably deserve to be in Scripture. We know Church Fathers such as Clement of Alexandria believed it was written by the apostle Barnabas. (Paget, 2007, Pg. 73)

However, the majority of scholars are in agreement that the apostle Barnabas isn’t and couldn’t have been the author of this epistle for multiple reasons. Some of these reasons include strong hints in the text of when the epistle was written (such as referencing the destruction of the Temple in AD 70), and the anti-Jewish rhetoric of the epistle not matching the character of Barnabas we know from the New Testament. For these and other reasons, we can be pretty confident the apostle Barnabas did not write this epistle. (Jefford, 2012, Pg. 5)

Date

There have been a couple proposals by scholars as to when Barnabas may have been written. As stated above, the epistle references in chapter 16 the destruction of the Jewish Temple, meaning it was at least some time after AD 70. Some scholars have recently proposed the late first century, around AD 96-100, while an older and popular proposal has been the early second century, around AD 130-132. (Jefford, 2012, Pg. 8; Hvalvik, 2021, Pg. 274)

In a previous blog, I discussed some of the content in Barnabas, and presented a hypothesis among some scholars that the author was responding to a revival in Judaism taking place during the reign of Hadrian, which would fit under the AD 130-132 date. Sticking to this hypothesis, I am personally drawn toward the later date.

Where was Barnabas written?

There have been a couple theories from scholars as to where Barnabas came from, but the most popular belief is that it originated from Alexandria, Egypt. (Holmes, 2006, Pg. 174) Not only does the epistle find strong popularity in the Alexandrian area, but it’s allegorical style was common in the culture.

What was the purpose of the Barnabas?
This question is key in understanding the harsh anti-Jewish rhetoric in Barnabas. On the surface, Barnabas wishes to teach the anonymous Christian community he’s writing to the “true” way to understanding Scripture, along with the true way to live life. The main portion of the epistle gives its allegorical interpretation of Torah, followed by the Two Ways teaching.

It could be Barnabas is writing a theological homily to show the Church how they are separate from Judaism. However, as mentioned in determining it’s date, a theory among some scholars is that Barnabas was responding to concerns of Torah-observing Jewish influence on the Church as well as the possibility of a new temple being built. (Hvalvik, 2021, Pg. 284) In the next blog, we’ll dive more into this hypothesis as we examine the content in Barnabas.

Conclusion

Whether we like it or not, The Epistle of Barnabas was a popular writing in the early Church. We don’t have to agree with or like all the content in it, but it is still important to examine and study to better understand Church history. On our next blog, we’ll take a deeper look into what Barnabas says.

Bibliography

Hvalvik, R. (2021). The Epistle of Barnabas. In M. Bird and S. Harrower, The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers. University Printing House, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press.

Jefford, C. (2012). Reading the Apostolic Fathers: A Student’s Introduction. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic.

Paget, J.C. (2007). The Epistle of Barnabas. In P. Foster, The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers. New York, NY. Bloomsbury T&T Clark.

Holmes, M. (2006). The Apostolic Fathers in English (3rd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic.