Apocrypha
Epistle of Barnabas
Apostolic Teaching
21 chapters · read and listen
Reading note
An apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text — outside the canon of the Western churches, yet widely circulated among ancient Jews and Christians. Published here from a public-domain translation, edited for continuous reading.
Chapters
Dossier
A letter that reads the entire Old Testament as code: the food laws were not about food, the scapegoat was not about goats, and anyone who took it all literally misunderstood it.
Where this text comes from
Greek, written between the late 1st and the first half of the 2nd century AD. It is not by the Barnabas who travelled with Paul, despite the name. It is copied in full into Codex Sinaiticus, right after Revelation.
Why it is not in the Bible
It came close, being present in biblical manuscripts and cited with respect by Clement of Alexandria and Origen. It fell away once the attribution to Barnabas ceased to hold.
What you will find
- The allegorical reading of the purity laws, pushed to its limit: each forbidden animal stands for a type of person to avoid.
- It also carries the Two Ways teaching, in a version parallel to the Didache — the two must draw on a common source.
- The reckoning of the six days of creation as six thousand years of the world's history.
Frequently asked questions
- Was the Epistle of Barnabas written by the Barnabas of the Bible?
- No. The attribution is ancient, but the date and content point to a later author, from the late 1st or early 2nd century.
- Is it in any Bible manuscript?
- Yes, in the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus, together with the Shepherd of Hermas, after the books of the New Testament.