This document is traditionally called an “epistle,” or letter, but it’s not entirely clear to whom it’s written. It’s addressed, in English translation, to “ye sons and daughters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us in peace.”
The message of its first, and primary, portion is that Judaism has been completely obsoleted by Christianity, asserts that Jews are deluded, and that a new covenant has been established with Christians, which sets Judaism aside. The message of its brief second portion is a warning about “two ways” (of light, and of darkness), a theme seen elsewhere.
Based on its content (specifically, its reference to the possibility of the Temple in Jerusalem being rebuilt) it’s believed to have been composed after the end of the Roman-Jewish War but prior to the Bar Kokhba Revolt (so, between 70 and 132 CE).
Its author isn’t known with certainty, not being stated within the text. A number of Church Fathers, including Clement of Alexandria, attributed it to Barnabas, a companion of Paul, which is how it got its name. Note that some scholars refer to this document and its author as “Pseudo-Barnabas” due to the now-current presumption that it wasn’t written by a colleague of Paul.
The Epistle of Barnabas was widely trafficked among Christian congregations during the 2nd, 3rd and even 4th centuries. A number of Christian figures treat it as sacred scripture, while others treat it as at least divinely-inspired. It’s hard to know when it fell off the radar of Christendom, but it did.
As for why it fell by the wayside, that also is hard to figure. It was noticed even in classical times that its message was very similar to the Epistle to the Hebrews. It may have been eclipsed by that document, once the latter began to be viewed as canon.
The context of this document is that its author “received” a message, presumably from God, and felt the need to write it down. The Jewish sacrifices, he writes, have been abolished and are no longer to be performed. God has delivered a new covenant with a new body of people — i.e. Christians. The old covenant with Jews at its heart, is over and done.
He also explains there is a “way of light” and a “way of darkness.” Following the “way of light” requires one to place God and his commandments first, show humility, refrain from fornication, do not claim things (i.e. objects) as one’s own, don’t engage in schism, and a long list of other do’s and don’ts. The “way of darkness” is almost the opposite.
The author of this document goes to great lengths to explain that, first, Jewish scriptures were a foreshadowing of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus of Nazareth; and second, that Jews themselves have wrongly taken it all literally, thus perverting the holy message they contained.
One of the first instances of this that the author provides is the practice of fasting. While Jews continue to fast, the author states this is pointless. Fasting had merely been a way of anticipating the suffering Jesus underwent in order to bring about salvation. The fasts that Jews perform are not true “fasts” because they aren’t what God intended.
Similarly, the practice of the “scapegoat” sacrifice, in which two prime goats were selected, with one becoming a burnt offering and the other cursed and sent out into the wilderness, presaged what Jesus would do. He, himself, and simultaneously, was the goat who was sacrificed for all and sent flying into the wild, carrying off the sins of all. That practice also is obsolete and pointless.
Yes another example Barnabas cites of Jesus of Nazareth being presaged in Jewish scripture, is from Exodus 17, specifically verses 8 through 13 where a battle against the Amalekites is described. Moses went to the top of a hill and held up his rod while the fighting went on. So long as his hands (and rod) remained up in the air, the Hebrews prevailed. He was helped by Aaron and Hur to hold him up when he tired. By evening, the Hebrews had won. The figure of Moses holding up his staff, Barnabas wrote, was reminiscent of Jesus’ cross.
As is found in a number of Christian works, near the end of his diatribe about how the Jews “wander in error” and refuse to adapt to the “new covenant,” Barnabas blames them for their defeat at the hands of the Romans and the destruction of their Temple that they insidiously refused to let go of.
This was predicted, he states, by their own scripture, very loosely citing 1 Enoch: “For the Scripture saith, ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Lord will deliver up the sheep of His pasture, and their sheep-fold and tower, to destruction’.” (The reference is to 1 Enoch 89:51-57.)
In other words, as Barnabas sees it, the Jews had plenty of warning … but still they persisted in their “error” and rejection of God’s new covenant.
Here the author embarks on an exhortation to holiness, in the form of describing “the way of light” and how it can be pursued. It takes humility and patience; love for God and placing him before all else; refraining from fornication and other vices; being free and open to all; and refraining from schism, among other things.
“The way of darkness” is the opposite, the purview of those who “hate truth,” “persecute the good,” and who won’t practice humility or patience. In general this section is extremely similar to the first portion of Didache, which is a mostly-Jewish Christian document. The irony couldn’t be more remarkable.
Into the 5th century one finds Church Fathers referring to Barnabas as either fully canon or extremely authoritative. Eusebius of Caesarea dismissed it but also counted it as “disputed” (meaning, he was aware of at least some authorities who accepted it).
As late as the 6th century it was listed as canon — along with other books also no longer regarded as canon, such as the Shepherd of Hermas, Acts of Paul, and Apocalypse of Peter. There’s no clear reason it fell out of favor, except possibly for the increasing awareness, as the centuries passed, that it hadn’t been written by Barnabas the colleague of Paul. That realization removed its apostolic imprimatur, so to speak, and rendered it second-class at best.
As has been noted, as well, this book’s similarities to the theme of the (much shorter) Epistle to the Hebrews was noted fairly early on, even when it was being frequently transmitted. So that too might have contributed to it fading from view within Christendom. Even so, for centuries it bolstered a sense among Christians that Jews had gone astray and were (for lack of a better word) delusional about the reality of their God. Christians were “the New Israel” and Jews no longer mattered.
You can read Barnabas in several places on the Internet.
Quotations from Barnabas are from the Roberts-Donaldson translation, courtesy of Early Christian Writings.
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