The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. Barnabas—Contrasts Eternal Life With Eternal Death

Virtually no scholar ascribes The Epistle of Barnabas (C. A.D. 130-c. 140) to the apostle Barnabas, friend and companion of the apostle Paul. Rather, it is credited to another of the same name. The internal evidence has always been conclusively against the older view. The writer was possibly a Jewish Christian of Alexandria, for the Barnabas epistle is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria and by Origen, also of Alexandria, and its tendency to allegorize fits into the Alexandrian scene. ¹³ CFF1 778.2

Although the author cannot be identified with any certainty, the epistle itself comes to us from high antiquity. It soon obtained a recognized place, and was read aloud in public worship in some of the early churches, according to Eusebius, who ranks it along with such writings as The Shepherd (or Pastor) of Hermas. ¹⁴ Jerome also notes it. So The Epistle of Barnabas must be surveyed, since it belongs in the category of the Apostolic Fathers. (See Chart F, for category and time sequence.) CFF1 778.3

The first part of the epistle is directed against Judaizing, and is designed to show the abolition of Judaism by means of the spiritual institutions of Christianity. The writer’s grasp of Daniel’s outline prophecies, in chapter four of the epistle, is rather remarkable for the time, especially his understanding of Daniel 7—the four world powers, the ten divisions of the fourth empire (Rome), followed by the coming of the “Black One,” or lawless one, prior to the Second Advent and imminent day of the Lord. ¹⁵ The resurrection, at the Advent, is portrayed as the gateway of the Christian hope and expectation. Thus is revealed the writer’s understanding of the order of last events. This hope was subsequently lost through the allegorization of the prophecies, the resurrection, and the Advent, under Origen, as will be seen later. CFF1 778.4

In the field of our quest it is Barnabas’ emphasis on life and death, with the punishment of the wicked depicted as eternal, and his portrayal of the two ways—the way of light and the way of darkness—and their inevitable endings that concern us. This concept of the two ways now becomes the pattern woven all through the remaining writings of the Apostolic Fathers. Let us now trace Barnabas’ views in sequence throughout the twenty-one chapters. The phrasing is sometimes involved but the intent is unmistakable. CFF1 779.1