Epistle of Barnabas 6

A Stone Laid in Zion, and a Second Creation

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The Stone Set in Zion

6:1When He fulfilled the commandment, what does He say? “Who is contending with Me? Let him stand against Me. Or who claims a right against Me? Let him draw near to the Lord’s Servant.

6:2“Woe to you, because you will all grow old like a garment, and a moth will consume you.” Again the prophet speaks, since He was set as a strong stone for crushing: “Look, I will place in the foundations of Zion a costly stone, chosen, a precious cornerstone.”

6:3Then what does He say? “Whoever hopes in Him will live forever.” Is our hope, then, set upon a stone? May it never be! Rather, the Lord established His flesh in strength. For He says: “He set Me like a solid rock.”

6:4Again the prophet says: “The stone the builders rejected became the head of the corner.” Again He says: “This is the great and wonderful day the Lord has made.”

The Good Land Flowing with Milk and Honey

6:5I write to you more plainly so that you may understand—I, the humble offscouring of your love.

6:6What, then, does the prophet say again? “A gathering of evildoers surrounded Me; they encircled Me like bees around a honeycomb,” and: “They cast a lot for My clothing.”

6:7Since He was to appear and suffer in flesh, His suffering was shown beforehand. For the prophet says concerning Israel: “Woe to their soul, because they have devised an evil plan against themselves, saying, ‘Let us bind the righteous one, because he is troublesome to us.’”

6:8What does the other prophet, Moses, say to them? “Look, thus says the Lord God: Enter the good land that the Lord swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and possess it as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

6:9But what does knowledge say? Learn this. “Hope,” it says, “in Jesus, who is to appear to you in flesh.” For a human being is earth that suffers, since Adam was formed from the surface of the earth.

6:10What, then, does “into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey” mean? Blessed is our Lord, brothers and sisters, who placed within us wisdom and understanding of His hidden things. For the prophet speaks a parable of the Lord. Who will understand it except someone wise and learned who loves his Lord?

A New Creation

6:11When He renewed us through forgiveness of sins, He made us into another form, so that we might have the soul of children, as though He were forming us anew.

6:12For Scripture speaks about us when He says to the Son: “Let Us make the human being according to Our image and likeness, and let them rule over the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven and the fish of the sea.” Seeing our beautiful formation, the Lord said: “Increase and multiply and fill the earth.” These words were addressed to the Son.

6:13Again I will show you how He speaks to us. He accomplished a second formation in the last days. The Lord says: “Look, I make the last things like the first.” For this purpose the prophet proclaimed: “Enter a land flowing with milk and honey, and take dominion over it.”

6:14See, then: we have been formed anew. As He says again through another prophet: “Look,” says the Lord, “I will remove their stone hearts”—that is, the hearts of those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw—“and put in hearts of flesh,” because He Himself was to appear in flesh and dwell within us.

6:15For the dwelling place of our heart, my brothers and sisters, is a holy temple for the Lord.

6:16Again the Lord says: “And in what shall I appear before the Lord My God and be glorified?” He says: “I will give thanks to You in the assembly of My brothers and sisters, and sing praise to You in the midst of an assembly of holy ones.” We, therefore, are those whom He brought into the good land.

Milk and Honey

6:17What, then, are the milk and honey? A child is first sustained by honey, then by milk. So we also, being given life by faith in the promise and by the word, will live, taking dominion over the earth.

6:18We said above: “Let them increase and multiply and rule over the fish.” Who, then, can now rule over beasts, fish or birds of heaven? We ought to perceive that ruling involves authority, so that one may command and exercise dominion.

6:19If this does not happen now, He has indeed told us when: when we ourselves have been perfected to become heirs of the Lord’s covenant.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.