The Epistle of Barnabas
Chapter 1: Following the greeting, the author states that he will share with his peers what he himself has learned
Greetings, you sons and daughters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us in peace.
Seeing that the divine fruits of righteousness abound among you, I rejoice exceedingly and beyond measure in your happy and honored spirits, because you have so effectively received the implanted spiritual gift.
Therefore, I also inwardly rejoice even more, hoping to be saved, because I truly perceive in you the Spirit poured forth from the rich Lord of love. Your greatly desired presence has thus filled me with astonishment over you. I am therefore persuaded of this and fully convinced in my own mind that since I began to speak among you, I understand many things, because the Lord has accompanied me on the path of righteousness.
I am also on this account bound by the strictest obligation to love you above my own soul, because great are the faith and love dwelling in you, while you hope for the life He has promised. Considering this, therefore, if I should take the trouble to communicate to you some portion of what I have myself received, it will prove a sufficient reward for me to serve such spirits. I have hastened to write briefly to you, so that, along with your faith, you might have perfect knowledge.
The doctrines of the Lord, then, are three: the hope of life, its beginning, and its completion. For the Lord has made known to us by the prophets both past and present things, giving us also the first-fruits of the knowledge of things to come, which as we see accomplished, one by one, we should, with greater richness of faith and elevation of spirit, draw near to Him with reverence. I then, not as your teacher, but as one of you, will set forth a few things by which, in present circumstances, you may be rendered more joyful.