πέρας γέ τοι λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τὰς
νεομηνίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ σάββατα οὐκ ἀνέχομαι. ὁρᾶτε, πῶς λέγει; οὐ τὰ νῦν σάββατα
ἐμοὶ δεκτά, ἀλλὰ ὃ πεποίηκα, ἐν ᾧ καταπαύσας τὰ πάντα ἀρχὴν ἡμέρας ὀγδόης ποιήσω,
ὅ ἐστιν ἄλλου κόσμου ἀρχήν. διὸ καὶ ἄγομεν
τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ὀγδόην εἰς εὐφροσύνην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν καὶ
φανερωθεὶς ἀνέβη εἰς οὐρανούς.
Finally, he says to them: “I
cannot stand your new moons and sabbaths.” You see what he means: it is not the
present sabbaths that are acceptable to me, but the one that I have made, on
that sabbath, after I have set everything at rest, I will create the beginning
of an eighth day, which is the beginning of another world. This is why we spend
the eighth day in celebration, the day on which Jesus both arose from the dead
and, after appearing again, ascended into heaven. (Epistle of Barnabas 15:8-9 | Michael W. Holmes translation)
Barnabas’ version of the Sabbath commandment
(15:1, 6) is original; he interprets “sanctifying” the Sabbath as an activity
of radical moral holiness such as no one in the present evil age can attain. In
the eschatological Sabbath, however, Christians themselves will have been fully
sanctified and so will be able to keep holy the Sabbath (age) and share the
eschatological rest of God. Obedience to the Sabbath commandment has nothing to
do with a day of the week or with physical rest but is a matter of holy living
in the future Sabbath age that God has made holy. Jewish Sabbaths (τὰ νῦν σάββατα) are therefore quite unacceptable to God.
At this point Barnabas’ argument might have ended. Much of the
confusion about his meaning has arisen from his concluding remarks about the
“eighth day,” which have almost the character of an afterthought. Not content
with dismissing weekly Sabbath observance by reference to the eschatological
Sabbath, Barnabas (like Ignatius before him) feels it necessary also to
contrast the Jewish Sabbath with the Christian Sunday. He therefore complicates
his eschatological terminology by referring to the new world as the “eighth
day,” and concludes, “Therefore (i.e., because the Sabbath acceptable to God is
the eschatological eighth day, the new world), we pass with rejoicing the
eighth day on which Jesus rose from the dead, appeared, and ascended into
heaven” (15:9). (Richard J. Bauckham, “Sabbath and Sunday in
the Post-Apostolic Church,” in From
Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation,
ed. D. A. Carson (Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf & Stock, 1999], 262-63)
II.8.a. The Sabbath (Barn. 15.1–9)
The introduction of new material with the conjunctive phrase,
“Moreover, therefore” (ἔτι
οὖν καί; 15.1) clearly indicates a break in
thought as Barnabas introduces a new section. The topic is introduced with a
prepositional phrase: “about the Sabbath” (περὶ τοῦ σαββάτου). Given the centrality of 13.1–14.9 to
the theological thought of the letter and the introduction of 15.1 with a
phrase that indicates additional matters, it is tempting to view the following
discussion as an appendix. Yet two arguments suggest that 15.1–9 plays a more
vital role in the letter than that of an appendix. First, Barnabas has employed
similar transitional phrases elsewhere in the letter. He transitions to topics
that play an important theological role in the letter in 4.6 and 5.5 with the conjunctions
ἔτι δὲ καί. The use of a similar transition in
portions of the letter that are integral to the author’s theological thought
warns against viewing 15.1–9 as an appendix. Second, Barnabas links the
discussion of the Sabbath to the Sinai narrative that plays a pivotal role in
4.6–8 and 14.1–5. The Sabbath command is found in the Ten Words (15.1), which
were written on the two tablets that Moses broke when he saw the Israelites’
idolatry (4.7–8; 14.2–3). God entrusted these words to Moses, who was able to
receive the covenant despite the Israelites’ failure (14.4; 15.1). Finally, the
words were given at Sinai (15.1), which provides the unstated setting for the
events narrated in the previous section (14.1–5). The following considerations
about Sabbath practice are thus to be viewed alongside what the author has
previously written.
Barnabas lays out the scriptural basis for a right understanding of
Sabbath in 15.1–3, and these verses will be the source from which the rest of
the argument flows. God spoke to Moses face to face in order to tell the people
that they should sanctify the Lord’s Sabbath “with pure hands and pure hearts”
(χερσὶν καθαραῖς καὶ καρδίᾳ καθαρᾷ; Barn. 15.1). The language of
sanctification is found in Exod 20:8 and Deut 5:12, 15, but the verb appears as
an infinitive complement rather than an imperative in Greek translations of the
Torah. The pure hands and heart that Barnabas lists as the means by which to
sanctify the Sabbath are not listed in Exod 20 and Deut 5. Someone who is
“innocent with regard to hands” (ἀθῷος χερσίν) and “pure with
regard to heart” (καθαρὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ) is able to ascend the Lord’s mountain in
Ps 23:4 (24:4 MT).303 Barnabas appears to employ a variation of the
Sabbath commandment that is not found in the Torah. He also appeals to a
promise from God that God’s mercy will be upon those who keep the Sabbath
(Barn. 15.2). Although the citation is introduced as a word from God to Moses,
Barnabas employs language that comes from Exod 31:13–17; Jer 17:24–25. The
words in the second quotation of this section are again not found in exactly
this form in Greek Jewish scriptures. Barnabas locates the meaning of Sabbath
in Genesis: God “speaks about Sabbath at the beginning of creation” (τὸ σάββατον λέγει ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς κτίσεως; Barn. 15.3). God worked in six days,
completed his work on the seventh, and rested on the seventh. Barnabas’s
citation comes from Gen 2:2–3.
Having established the scriptural basis for his discussion of the
Sabbath, Barnabas turns to interpretation in 15.4–7. He begins by urging his
audience to pay attention to specific lines regarding God’s actions on the
seventh day. As in the epistolary greeting (1.1), he refers to his audience as
children (τέκνα), thereby drawing
attention to his close relationship with the audience and to his authority over
them (15.4). Barnabas interprets God’s completion of creation in six days with
reference to Ps 89:4 (90:4 MT). In order to do this, however, Barnabas rearranges
the verbal phrases from (Gen 2:2–3 [Barn. 15.3]). The citation in Barn. 15.3
notes that God made (ἐποίησεν)
the works of his hands in six days and finished (συνετέλεσεν) it on the seventh day. In the analysis
of Barn. 15.4, Barnabas shuffles the verbs so that God finished (συνετέλεσεν) the work in six days. The work of
creation is then extended to include “all things” (τὰ σύμπαντα) so that God will complete all things in
six days. If a day with the Lord is like 1,000 years and God completed things
in six days, Barnabas reasons that all things on earth will be completed in
6,000 years. God’s rest on the Sabbath is then taken with reference to the
parousia of the Son. The seventh day will be a day for God’s true rest as the
Son brings the time of the lawless one to an end, judges the ungodly, and
changes the sun, moon, and stars (15.5).
Barnabas moves backward in the list of scriptural citations to take up
the significance of sanctifying the Sabbath that was mentioned in 15.1. He
allows that if it is possible to sanctify the Sabbath in the present, then he
and his audience have been deceived (15.6). However, this is only a rhetorical
strategy because Barnabas quickly shifts to the alternative in 15.7. He
transitions to his interpretation with another conditional sentence: “But if
that is not the case” (εἰ
δὲ οὐ). If it is impossible to sanctify the
Sabbath properly in the present, Barnabas reasons that it will only be possible
to rest and sanctify the Sabbath when believers have been justified (δικαιωθέντες) and received the promise (ἀπολαβόντες τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν). This will be a time when lawlessness no
longer exists and when all things have been made new by the Lord. To keep the
Sabbath holy requires the Son to make lawlessness utterly ineffectual. Since
this has not happened and the letter continues to warn readers against
lawlessness, Barnabas continues to look forward to the Sabbath.
The author strengthens his argument by appealing to the prophets
alongside his interpretations of the Torah. God already told Isaiah that new
moons and Sabbaths were unendurable (15.8; Isa 1:13). God’s statement is taken
to mean that current Sabbath practices fail to please God, but God can still
show favor to the Sabbath that God has made. God’s words continue to be quoted
in the first person even though there is no directly comparable scriptural
source. When God has set everything at rest on the Sabbath, that is, when the
Son returns to bring justice to the world, then God promises to create the
start of an eighth day (15.8). The start of this eighth day is then defined as
“the beginning of another world” (ἄλλου κόσμου ἀρχήν). The Sabbath is thus interpreted with a
view to eschatology and is closely tied to new creation. Barnabas moves from
this eschatological interpretation in 15.1–8 to allude to current practices in
the community. The reason that Barnabas and his community spend the eighth day
joyfully is that it is the day on which Jesus was raised from the dead and
ascended into heaven (15.9). The majority of Barnabas’s Sabbath interpretation
puts forward an eschatological interpretation of the Sabbath into which the community
will be drawn (15.1–8). However, the final verse links the community’s present
customs to the discussion to provide further exegetical grounding for
differentiating the worship of the true heirs from those who lost the covenant.
Barnabas’s reflections on the eschatological Sabbath employ creation
themes that were also prominent in the interpretation of Israel’s command to
enter the land (6.8–19). In both passages, significant Jewish imagery is taken
up and reinterpreted in figurative terms. The land is, among other things, a
new creation into which people must enter (6.12–16). The Sabbath is a way of
conceptualizing the time when God will set all things right when the Son comes
again. Barnabas finds signs in both 6.8–19 and 15.1–9 that the promises from
the Torah are yet to be completed. While the Lord tells human beings to rule
over the fish (Gen 1:26, 28 [Barn. 6.18]), Barnabas is clear that human beings
do not have authority over earthly creatures. Likewise, when Barnabas looks for
a holy Sabbath and cannot find one, he reasons that there must be a future
Sabbath (Exod 20:8; Deut 5:12, 15 [Barn. 15.1, 6–7]). These signs of
incompletion in the Torah lead Barnabas to look for future fulfillment (Barn.
6.13; 15.7). The one who will bring things to fruition is the Son of God. The
Son was not only present at creation (6.12) but also resides in believers to
bring them before the Father (6.16). Likewise, the Son is the one who will
bring the time of the lawless one to no effect and will judge the ungodly
(15.5). In describing these actions, Barnabas employs traditional apocalyptic
imagery of the sun, moon, and stars being changed. Creation will be altered by
the eschatological actions of the Son. By reinterpreting traditional Jewish images,
illustrating their incompletion in the present, and looking forward to the
Son’s actions in the eschaton, Barnabas provides cohesion to his interpretation
of different theological images in the letter.
The figurative interpretation of the Sabbath has precedents in Jewish
Alexandrian exegetes. Aristobulus interprets God’s rest with reference to God’s
continued act of ordering things “for all time” (εἰς πάντα τὸν χρόνον; frag. 5). God gives rest (ἀνάπαυσιν) to human beings on the seventh day,
which can be referred to as the first because it is “the beginning of the light
in which all things are contemplated” (φωτὸς γένεσις ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα συνθεωρεῖται; frag. 5).313 While Philo
links the Sabbath to completion, contemplation, and the perfection of the
number seven, he also looks forward to restoration on the Sabbath (Praem. 153). The sense of lack that is
suggested in a term like restoration is also found in Barn. 15.6–7. The
incomplete nature of Sabbath is critical to understanding the discussion of
God’s rest in Heb 3:7–4:11. The Sinai generation failed to enter into God’s
rest (Heb 3:11 [Ps 94:11]) or God’s Sabbath (Heb 4:4 [Gen 2:2]) so that there
is still a Sabbath remaining for those who are faithful to God (Heb 4:8–10). In
different ways, Aristobulus, Philo, and Hebrews link Sabbath to creation and
find that Sabbath is a time for completion or restoration. Barnabas likewise
emphasizes the link between Sabbath and creation. He shares with Hebrews an
open-ended understanding of Sabbath that focuses not on keeping Sabbath in the
present but on the eschatological fulfillment of Sabbath.
Barnabas’s eschatological interpretation of the Sabbath may be linked
to creation, but the interpretation of the days as thousand-year lengths of
time has led scholars to ask whether Barnabas was a chiliast. Although other
ancient texts also linked Ps 89:4 (90:4) to both the days of creation and to
eschatological judgement, early Christian chiliasm refers to “the ancient
belief in a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth between his second coming
and the last judgment.”318 Irenaeus argues that the resurrection of
believers will take place in the flesh and appears to connect the fulfillment
of the promise that Abraham’s descendants will inherit the land to the saints’
reign with Christ during the millennium (Haer.
5.30.4–5.32.2). Justin likewise appeals to chiliastic theology (Dial. 80–81). Although Barnabas refers
both to a millennial Sabbath and to an eighth day in which all things will be
set at rest (Barn. 15.5, 8), his terminology is not consistent. The Sabbath,
which is the seventh day, and the eighth day refer to the same eschatological
reality in the letter. The author anticipates a time in the future when all
things will be put right as the Son judges the lawless one (15.5). Yet this
Sabbath judgement is not strongly delineated from the new creation on the
eighth day (15.8). Both days look forward to the time of righteousness that is
set to follow the Son’s parousia. It is better to regard Barnabas not as a
chiliast but instead as someone with a strong hope in new creation after the
Son’s return.
Eschatological orientations provide a key hinge to the teaching,
identity construction, and rationale for acting in the letter. Although
Barnabas will emphasize that human beings must act rightly in light of God’s
future actions, he emphasizes the incompleteness of the eschaton in 15.1–9.
God’s commandment about Sabbath is yet to be completed and, what is more, is
impossible to complete at this time. It is not yet possible to keep the Sabbath
holy because this is the age of the lawless one. Believers look forward to the
completion of the Sabbath when Jesus returns, and Barnabas urges his audience
to read scripture rightly by understanding that the Sabbath commandment
describes how God’s actions unfold in all of time. For Barnabas, it is
important not to reach out and grasp what is still future. This may be one way
of conceiving of the error that he finds in Jewish Sabbath practices, namely,
that they mistake a future event for present practice. Through believers’
practice of celebrating the eighth day in conjunction with Jesus’s resurrection
(15.9), Barnabas’s interpretation of the Sabbath cements his overarching claim
that “we” are the true heirs of the covenant and that “we” demonstrate this
inheritance by interpreting scripture figuratively and, therefore, rightly.
(Jonathan Lookadoo, The Epistle of Barnabas: A Commentary [Apostolic
Fathers Commentary; Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2022], 178-84)
