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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TAV-THE |
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THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS iS one of the apocryphal books of the New Testament. At the end of the Codex Sinaiticus of the 4th century, as a sort of appendix to the New Testament, there stands an " Epistle of Barnabas." Here it is followed by the Shepherd of Hernias, while in an zrth-century MS., which contains also the Didache, it is followed by two writings which themselves form an appendix to the New Testament in the Codex Alexandrinus. This means that it once enjoyed quasi-canonical authority, a fact amply borne out by what Eusebius (H. E. iii. 25) says as to its standing
" That Alexandria, the place of its earliest reception, was also the place of its birth, is borne out by the internal evidence of style and interpretation, which is Alexandrian throughout " (Lightfoot). The picture,, too, which it gives of the danger lest the Christianity of its readers should be unduly Judaic in feeling and practice, suits well the experiences of a writer living in Alexandria, where Judaism was immensely strong. Further, he shows an " astonishing familiarity with the Jewish rites," in the opinion of a modern Jew (Kohler in the Jewish Encycl.) ; so much so, that the latter agrees with another Jewish scholar in saying that " the writer seems to have been a converted Jew, whose fanatic zeal rendered him a bitter opponent of Judaism within the Christian Church." These opinidns must overrule the view of some Christian scholars that the writer often blunders in Jewish matters, the fact being that his knowledge is derived from the Judaism of Alexandria' rather than Palestine. But we. need not therefore regard the author as of Jewish birth. It is enough, and more in keeping with the thought as a whole, to regard him as having been in close contact with Judaism, possibly as a proselyte. He now uses his knowledge to warn his readers, with intense passion, against all compromise between Judaism and the Gospel. In this he goes so far as to deny any historical connexion between the two, maintaining with all the devices of an extravagant allegorism, including the Rabbinic Gematria based on the numerical values of letters (ix. 7 f.), that the Law and Prophecy, as meant by God, had never been given to Israel as a people. The Divine oracles had ever pointed to the Christian Covenant, and had been so understood by the men of God in Israel , whereas the apostate people had turned aside to keep the ceremonial letter of the Law at the instigation of an evil angel
' His reference to the wide prevalence of circumcision beyond Israel (ix. 6) is perhaps simply an exaggeration, more or less conscious.spiritual, a perfect temple unto God " (iv. 1I); and that not only by theoretic insight, but also by practical wisdom of life. In order to enforce this moral, he passes to " another sort of gnosis and instruction " (xviii. I), viz. the precepts of the " Two Ways," cited in a slightly different form from that found in the first part of the Teaching of the Apostles. The modifications, however, are all in a more spiritual direction, in keeping with the genuinely evangelic spirit which underlies and pervades even the allegorical ingenuities of the epistle. Its opening shows it to have been addressed to a Church, or rather a group of Churches, recently visited by the writer, who, while not wishing to write as an authoritative " teacher " so much as one who has come to love them as a friend (i. 8, cf. ix. 9), yet belongs to the class of " teachers " with a recognized spiritual gift (charisma), referredto e.g. in the Didache. He evidently feels in a position to give his gnosis with some claim to a deferential hearing. This being so, the epistle was probably written, not to Alexandria, but rather by a " teacher " of the Alexandrine Church to some body
special
interest
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