Epistle of Barnabas 6

1When, then, he gave the commandment, what does he say? “Who is it who disputes with me? Let him oppose me. Or who is it who goes to court with me? Let him draw near to the servant of the Lord. Woe to you, for you will all grow old like a garment, and the moth will consume you.” And again the prophet says, since he was appointed like a hard stone for crushing: “Behold, I will place in the fountains of Zion a very precious, chosen, honored chief cornerstone.” Then again, what does he say? “And whoever sets his hope on him will live forever.” Is our hope, then, set on a stone? Far from it! Rather, it is because the Lord has established his flesh in strength. For he says, “And he set me like a hard rock.” And the prophet says again, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head and the corner.” And again he says, “This is the great and wonderful day that the Lord made.” I am writing to you more simply so that you may understand—I who am the scum of your love. What, then, does the prophet say again? “The assembly of evildoers gathered around me; they surrounded me as bees surround a honeycomb”; and, “They cast lots for my garment.” Since, then, he was about to be revealed in the flesh and to suffer, his suffering was revealed beforehand. For the prophet says concerning Israel, “Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil plan against themselves, saying, ‘Let us bind the righteous one, for he is of no use to us.’” What does the other prophet, Moses, say to them? “Behold, this is what the Lord God says: Enter the good land that the Lord swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and inherit it—a land flowing with milk and honey.” But what does knowledge say? Understand: Set your hope on him who is about to be revealed to you in the flesh, namely Jesus. For a human is suffering earth, since Adam’s creation came from the face of the earth. What, then, does he say? “Into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Blessed is our Lord, brothers, who established among us wisdom and understanding of his secret things. For the prophet speaks a parable concerning the Lord. Who will understand it except one who is wise and prudent and loves his Lord? Since, then, he renewed us through the forgiveness of sins, he made us into a new type, so that we would have the soul of children, as though he were creating us again. For Scripture speaks concerning us when he says to the Son, “Let us make humanity according to our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven, and the fish of the sea.” And when the Lord saw the beautiful creation of us humans, he said, “Increase and multiply and fill the earth.” These words refer to the Son. Again I will show you how the Lord speaks concerning us. He made a second creation at the end, and the Lord says, “Behold, I make the last things like the first.” Referring to this, then, the prophet proclaimed, “Enter a land flowing with milk and honey, and be lords over it.” Behold, then, we have been created anew, as he says again in another prophet: “Behold, says the Lord, I will take from these”—that is, from those whom the Spirit of the Lord foresaw—“their stony hearts, and I will put hearts of flesh into them,” for he himself was to be revealed in the flesh and to dwell in us. For the dwelling place of our heart is a holy temple to the Lord, my brothers. For the Lord says again, “With what shall I appear before the Lord my God and be glorified? I will confess you in the assembly of my brothers, and I will sing to you in the midst of the assembly of the saints.” We, therefore, are those whom he brought into the good land. What, then, are the milk and the honey? The child is first kept alive by honey and then by milk. In the same way, we also, being kept alive by our faith in the promise and by the word, will live and be lords of the earth. Now we have already said above, “And let them increase and multiply and rule over the fish.” But who is able [now] to rule over beasts, fish, and birds of heaven? For we ought to understand that ruling implies power, so that one gives orders and exercises dominion. If, then, this does not happen now, surely he spoke to us about the hereafter, when we ourselves will be made perfect so that we may become heirs of the Lord’s covenant.