Epistle of Barnabas

An early Christian treatise preserved after the New Testament in Codex Sinaiticus.

The Epistle of Barnabas is an early Christian treatise from the late first or early second century, at medium confidence. Codex Sinaiticus copies it after the New Testament. That is fourth-century manuscript preservation, not a vote by the whole church. Athanasius and later lists treat books of this kind as useful or as outside the canon, and the twenty-seven-book New Testament does not include Barnabas. The traditional title does not identify the author as Paul’s companion. The canonical question is the list, not the name on the superscription.

Athanasius and later lists treat it as useful or noncanonical, not as one of the 27.

Date

Late 1st–early 2nd century CE (medium confidence)

Confidence

medium

Languages

Greek

Traditional authorship

Barnabas

Authorship note

Attributed to Barnabas by Clement of Alexandria and Origen; not received into the canon

• א · Codex Sinaiticus

  Mid-4th century CE · Greek · Complete epistle after the NT

  Codex Sinaiticus is a Greek parchment pandect from the middle of the fourth century, associated with Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Sinai and now shared by the British Library and partner libraries. Its designation is aleph. After the New Testament it copies the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas in full enough form for this dataset to link both writings. That binding is a fact about one great Bible manuscript: early Christian scribes put those books in the same codex as the New Testament. Athanasius, in Festal Letter 39, still treats the Shepherd as a book appointed to be read for instruction and not as part of his canon list. Later twenty-seven-book New Testament lists generally leave both Barnabas and Hermas outside the closed canon. Preservation in Sinaiticus is manuscript evidence. The canonical decision is a separate witness.

• lists noncanonical

  Jewish canon

  The Epistle of Barnabas is not a book of the Tanakh. Josephus, near the end of the first century, describes twenty-two Jewish books his people trust and sets later writings in a lower rank. The later rabbinic Bible, counted as twenty-four books, likewise leaves The Epistle of Barnabas outside Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. The Epistle of Barnabas is a Christian sermon that rereads Jewish Scripture allegorically. It is not a book Jews received as Tanakh, and it is not the Gospel of Barnabas of a much later date. Jewish copying or quotation, where it exists, is reception. It is not the same fact as a place in the Hebrew canon, and it is not a Christian council’s decision.

• preserves

  Codex Sinaiticus

  Sinaiticus copies the Epistle of Barnabas in full after the New Testament. That is fourth-century manuscript reception. Athanasius does not put Barnabas in his New Testament list. Preservation in a great codex and exclusion from the canon list are both early Christian facts.

• ProtestantRelated literature

  the Epistle of Barnabas is not one of the Protestant 27 New Testament books.

• CatholicRelated literature

  the Epistle of Barnabas is not in the Catholic New Testament.

• OrthodoxRelated literature

  the Epistle of Barnabas is not in the 27-book Eastern New Testament.

• EthiopianRelated literature

  the Epistle of Barnabas is not identified as a separate EOTC 81 New Testament unit in the list used here.

• TanakhNot applicable

  Christian writing, not Tanakh.

• LXXNot applicable

  Not an Old Testament book.

• Early ChristianEdifying, noncanonical

  the Epistle of Barnabas was read or copied by some early Christians and generally classed as useful rather than among the later 27.

• Second TempleNot applicable

  Early Christian writing.

No council, confession, or canon list in this dataset names Epistle of Barnabas. Tradition status is recorded in the section above.

• Shared tradition · Two Ways ↔ Two Ways

  High confidence — strong primary or manuscript support.

  The Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas both preserve a Two Ways catechesis. The shared tradition does not make one a copy of the other.

• Probable allusion · Barnabas on the patriarchs ↔ Genesis

  Medium confidence — a common reading, with some uncertainty.

  The Epistle of Barnabas allegorizes patriarchal stories from Genesis, including Abraham and Jacob. That is Christian use of Genesis, not a Jewish canon decision.

No dated canon event in this dataset is tied to Epistle of Barnabas.

• Westminster Confession I.2–3 names the 66-book Protestant canon and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.
• Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), lists the Catholic canonical books including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate.
• Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367), lists 22 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books and names some other writings as useful but not canonical.
• The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church publishes an 81-book list that includes 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Meqabyan books.
• Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, speaks of 22 Jewish books and distinguishes later writings as not equally trusted.
• Brenton’s public-domain Septuagint translation includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, the Additions, and Maccabees as part of the Greek Old Testament corpus.
• Codex Sinaiticus preserves a fourth-century Greek Bible and, after the New Testament, includes the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.