The Epistle of Barnabas

When, therefore, He has fulfilled the commandment, what does He say? “Who will contend with Me? Let him oppose Me: or who will enter into judgment with Me? Let him approach the servant of the Lord.” “Woe to you, for you will all grow old like a garment, and the moth will eat you up.” And again the prophet says, “Since as a mighty stone He is laid for crushing, behold I lay down for the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, chosen, a cornerstone, honorable.” Next, what does He say? “And he who will trust in it will live forever.” Is our hope, then, upon a stone? Not at all.

But the language is used because He laid his flesh as a foundation with power; for He says, “And He made me a firm rock.” And the prophet says again, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” And again he says, “This is the great and wonderful day which the Lord has made.” I write more simply to you, so you may understand. I am the off-scouring of your love. What, then, again does the prophet say? “The assembly of the wicked surrounded me; they encompassed me like bees a honeycomb,” and “they cast lots for my garment.” Since, therefore, He was about to be revealed and to suffer in the flesh, His suffering was foretold.

For the prophet speaks against Israel: “Woe to their soul, because they have devised an evil plan against themselves, saying, Let us bind the just one, because he is displeasing to us.” And Moses also says to them, “Behold these things, says the Lord God: Enter into the good land which the Lord swore to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and inherit it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” What, then, does Knowledge say? Learn: “Trust,” she says, “in Him who is to be revealed to you in the flesh—that is, Jesus.” For man is earth in a suffering state, for Adam was formed from the face of the earth.

What, then, does “enter into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey” mean? Blessed be our Lord, who has given us wisdom and understanding of secret things. For the prophet says, “Who will understand the parable of the Lord, except him who is wise and prudent, and who loves his Lord?” Since, therefore, by forgiving our sins, He has renewed us in a new form, [it is His purpose] that we should have the soul of children, inasmuch as He has created us anew by His Spirit.

For the Scripture says about us, while He speaks to the Son, “Let Us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the beasts of the earth, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea.” And the Lord said, upon seeing the beautiful creature man, “Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth.” These words [were spoken] to the Son. Again, I will show you how, in regards to us, He has accomplished a second creation in these last days.

The Lord says, “Behold, I will make the last like the first.” In reference to this, then, the prophet proclaimed, “Enter into the land flowing with milk and honey, and have dominion over it.” Behold, therefore, we have been reshaped, as again He says in another prophet, “Behold, says the Lord, I will remove from them, that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw, their stony hearts, and I will put within them hearts of flesh,” because He was to be revealed in flesh, and to live among us.

For, my brothers, the dwelling of our heart is a holy temple to the Lord. For again the Lord says, “And with what shall I appear before the Lord my God, and be glorified?” He says, “I will confess to you in the Church in the midst of my brothers; and I will praise you in the midst of the assembly of the saints.” We, then, are those whom He has led into the good land. What, then, do milk and honey mean? This, that just as the infant is sustained first by honey, and then by milk, so also we, being enlivened and sustained by the faith of the promise and by the word, shall live ruling over the earth.

But He said above, “Let them increase, and rule over the fish.” Who then is able to govern the beasts, or the fish, or the birds of heaven? For we ought to understand that to govern implies authority, so that one should command and rule. If, therefore, this does not exist now, yet He has still promised it to us. When? When we ourselves have been made perfect to become heirs of the covenant of the Lord.