Works Epistle of Barnabas (100) Epistula Barnabae

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The Epistle of Barnabas

Chapter I.--After the salutation, the writer declares that he would communicate to his brethren something of that which he had himself received.

All hail, ye sons and daughters, in the name of our Lord 1 Jesus Christ, who loved us in peace.

Seeing that the divine fruits 2 of righteousness abound among you, I rejoice exceedingly and above measure in your happy and honoured spirits, because ye have with such effect received the engrafted 3 spiritual gift. Wherefore also I inwardly rejoice the more, hoping to be saved, because I truly perceive in you the Spirit poured forth from the rich Lord 4 of love. Your greatly desired appearance has thus filled me with astonishment over you. 5 I am therefore persuaded of this, and fully convinced in my own mind, that since I began to speak among you I understand many things, because the Lord hath accompanied me in the way of righteousness. I am also on this account bound 6 by the strictest obligation to love you above my own soul, because great are the faith and love dwelling in you, while you hope for the life which He has promised. 7 Considering this, therefore, that if I should take the trouble to communicate to you some portion of what I have myself received, it will prove to me a sufficient reward that I minister to such spirits, I have hastened briefly to write unto you, in order that, along with your faith, ye might have perfect knowledge. The doctrines of the Lord, then, are three: 8 the hope of life, the beginning and the completion of it. For the Lord hath made known to us by the prophets both the things which are past and present, giving us also the first-fruits of the knowledge 9 of things to come, which things as we see accomplished, one by one, we ought with the greater richness of faith 10 and elevation of spirit to draw near to Him with reverence. 11 I then, not as your teacher, but as one of yourselves, will set forth a few things by which in present circumstances ye may be rendered the more joyful.

  1. The Cod. Sin. has simply, "the Lord." ↩

  2. Literally, "the judgments of God being great and rich towards you;" but, as Hefele remarks, dikaioma seems here to have the meaning of righteousness, as in Rom. v. 18.  ↩

  3. This appears to be the meaning of the Greek, and is confirmed by the ancient Latin version. Hilgenfeld, however, following Cod. Sin., reads "thus," instead of "because," and separates the clauses.  ↩

  4. The Latin reads, "spirit infused into you from the honourable fountain of God." ↩

  5. This sentence is entirely omitted in the Latin.  ↩

  6. The Latin text is here quite different, and seems evidently corrupt. We have followed the Cod. Sin., as does Hilgenfeld.  ↩

  7. Literally, "in the hope of His life." ↩

  8. The Greek is here totally unintelligible: it seems impossible either to punctuate or construe it. We may attempt to represent it as follows: "The doctrines of the Lord, then, are three: Life, Faith, and Hope, our beginning and end; and Righteousness, the beginning and the end of judgment; Love and Joy and the Testimony of gladness for works of righteousness." We have followed the ancient Latin text, which Hilgenfeld also adopts, though Weitzäcker and others prefer the Greek.  ↩

  9. Instead of "knowledge" (gnoseos), Cod. Sin. has "taste" (geuseos).  ↩

  10. Literally, "we ought more richly and loftily to approach His fear." ↩

  11. Instead of, "to Him with fear," the reading of Cod. Sin., the Latin has, "to His altar," which Hilgenfeld adopts.  ↩

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Barnabas (Lightfoot)

1.

[P. 340]() 1. Χαίρετε, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐν ὀνόματικυρίου τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς, ἐν εἰρήνῃ. 2. Μεγάλων μὲν ὄντων καὶ πλουσίων τῶν τοῦθεοῦ δικαιωμάτων εἰς ὑμᾶς, ὑπέρ τι καὶ καθ̓ὑπερβολὴν ὑπερευφραίνομαι ἐπὶ τοῖς μακαρίοιςκαὶ ἐνδόξοις ὑμῶν πνεύμασιν· οὕτως1 ἔμφυτον τῆςδωρεᾶς πνευματικῆς χάριν εἰλήφατε. 3. διὸ καὶμᾶλλον συγχαίρω ἐμαυτῷ ἐλπίζων σωθῆναι. ὅτιἀληθῶς βλέπω ἐν ὑμῖν ἐκκεχυμένον ἀπὸ τοῦπλουσίου τῆς πηγῆς κυρίου πνεῦμα ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς.οὕτω με ἐξέπληξεν ἐπὶ ὑμῶν ἡ ἐμοὶ ἐπιποθήτηὄψις ὑμῶν. 4. πεπεισμένος οὖν τοῦτο καὶ συνειδὼςἐμαυτῷ, ὅτι ἐν ὑμῖν λαλήσας πολλὰ ἐπίσταμαι,ὅτι ἐμοὶ συνώδευσεν ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης κύριος,καὶ πάντως ἀναγκάζομαι κἀγὼ εἰς τοῦτο, ἀγαπᾶνὑμᾶς ὑπὲρ τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὅτι μεγάλη πίστις καὶ2 ἀγάπη ἐγκατοικεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν ἐπ̓ ἐλπίδι ζωῆς αὐτοῦ. 5. λογισάμενος οὖν τοῦτο, ὅτι ἐὰν μελήσῃ μοιπερὶ ὑμῶν τοῦ μέρος τι μεταδοῦναι ἀφ̓ οὗ ἔλαβον,ὅτι ἔσται μοι τοιούτοις πνεύμασιν ὑπηρετήσαντιεἰς μισθόν, ἐσπούδασα κατὰ μικρὸν ὑμῖν πέμπειν,P. 342 ἵνα μετὰ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν τελείαν ἔχητε τὴν γνῶσιν.3 6. Τρία οὖν δόγματά ἐστιν κυρίου· ζωῆς ἐλπίς,ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος πίστεως ἡμῶν· καὶ δικαιοσύνη,κρίσεως ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος· ἀγάπη εὐφροσύνηςκαὶ ἀγαλλιάσεως ἔργων δικαιοσύνης μαρτυρία.4 7. ἐγνώρισεν γὰρ ἡμῖν ὁ δεσπότης διὰ τῶνπροφητῶν τὰ παρεληλυθότα καὶ τὰ ἐνεστῶτα,καὶ τῶν μελλόντων δοὺς ἀπαρχὰς ἡμῖνγεύσεως, ὧν τὰ καθ̓ ἕκαστα βλέποντες ἐνεργούμενα,καθὼς ἐλάλησεν, ὀφείλομεν πλουσιώτερονκαὶ ὑψηλότερον προσάγειν τῷ φόβῳ αὐτοῦ. 8. ἐγὼ δὲ οὐχ ὡς διδάσκαλος, ἀλλ̓ ὧς εἰς ἐξὑμῶν ὑποδείξω ὀλίγα, δἰ ὧν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν εὐφρανθήσεσθε.

  1. ou(/tw L,outo N, ai(= ↩

  2. Mt. 1, 2; 8, 7 ↩

  3. Tit. 1, 2; 3, 7 ↩

  4. The text of this shole passage is confused: tres sunt ergo constitutiones domini, vitae spes initium et consummatio L and no more; tri/a ou)=n do/gmata/ e)stin kuri/ou, zwh/, pi/stis, e)lpi/s, a)rxh\ kai\ te/los h(mw=n, kai\ dikeosu/nh kri/sews a)rxh/, kai\ te/los a)ga/ph, eu)frosu/nh, kai\ a)gallia/sews e)/rgwn e)n dikaiosu/nais marturi/a (??) The text printed is that of C, shich gives the best sense, though it is doubtful if it is more than the correction of an early corruption. ↩

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Introductory Note to the Epistle of Barnabas

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