end of the second century, however, tradition began to ascribe it to Barnabas the companion of Paul.(1) The first writer who mentions it is Clement of Alexandria, who calls its author several times the "Apostle Barnabas;"(2) and Eusebius says that he gave an account of it in one of his works now no longer extant.(3) Origen also refers to it, calling it a "Catholic Epistle," and quoting it as Scripture.(4) We have already seen in the case of the Epistles ascribed to Clement of Rome, and, as we proceed, we shall become only too familiar with the fact, the singular facility with which, in the total absence of critical discrimination, spurious writings were ascribed by the Fathers to Apostles and their followers. In many cases such writings were deliberately inscribed with names well known in the Church, but both in the case of the two Epistles to the Corinthians, and the letter we are now considering, no such pious fraud was attempted, nor was it necessary. Credulous piety, which attributed writings to every Apostle, and even to Jesus himself, soon found authors for each anonymous work of an edifying character. To Barnabas, the friend of Paul, not only this Epistle was referred, but he was also reported by Tertullian and others to be the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews;(5) and an apocryphal "Gospel according to Barnabas," said to have had close affinity with our
first Synoptic, is condemned along with many others in the decretal of Gelasius.(1) Eusebius, however, classes the so-called "Epistle of Barnabas" amongst the spurious books [——]—],(2) and elsewhere also speaks of it as uncanonical.(3) Jerome mentions it as read amongst apocryphal writings.(4) Had the Epistle been seriously regarded as a work of the "Apostle" Barnabas, it could scarcely have failed to attain canonical rank. That it was highly valued by the early Church is shown by the fact that it stands, along with the Pastor of Hermas, after the Canonical books of the New Testament in the Codex Sinaiticus, which is probably the most ancient MS. of them now known. In the earlier days of criticism, some writers, without much question, adopted the traditional view as to the authorship of the Epistle,(5) but the great mass of critics are now agreed in asserting that the composition, which itself is perfectly anonymous, cannot be attributed to Barnabas the friend and fellow-worker of Paul.(6) Those who maintain the former opinion date
the Epistle about a.d. 70—73, or even earlier, but this is scarcely the view of any living critic. There are many indications in the Epistle which render such a date impossible, but we do not propose to go into the argument minutely, for it is generally admitted that, whilst there is a clear limit further back than which the Epistle cannot be set,(1) there is little or no certainty how far into the second century its composition may not reasonably be advanced. Critics are divided upon the point; a few are disposed to date the Epistle about the end of the first or beginning of the second century (2) while a still greater number assign it to the reign of Hadrian (a.d.
117—138);(1) and others, not without reason, consider that it exhibits marks of a still later period.(2) It is probable that it is more or less interpolated.(3) Until the discovery of the Sinaitic MS., a portion of the "Epistle of Barnabas" was only known through an ancient Latin version, the first four and a half chapters of the Greek having been lost. The Greek text, however, is now complete, although often very corrupt. The author quotes largely from the Old Testament, and also from apocryphal works.(4) He nowhere mentions any book or writer of the New Testament, and with one asserted exception, which we shall presently examine, he quotes no passage agreeing with our Gospels. We shall refer to these, commencing at once with the most important.
In the ancient Latin translation of the Epistle, the only form, as we have just said, in which until the discovery
