Sophia Scriptura

Epistle of Barnabas 13.7

Anonymous · Epistle of Barnabas · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: The letter names no author. From Clement of Alexandria (late second century) onward it was ascribed to Barnabas, Paul's companion (Acts 4:36), but its date and its hostility to Jewish practice make that unlikely; modern scholars treat it as anonymous.

Summary: Abraham is father of the uncircumcised who believe.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:388–390

εἰ οὖν ἔτι καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἐμνήσθη, ἀπέχομεν τὸ τέλειον τῆς γνώσεως ἡμῶν. τί οὖν λέγει τῷ Ἀβραάμ, ὅτε μόνος πιστεύσας ἐτέθη εἰς δικαιοσύνην; Ἰδού, τέθεικά σε, Ἀβραάμ, πατέρα ἐθνῶν τῶν πιστευόντων διʼ ἀκροβυστίας τῷ θεῷ.

English · Claude translation

If, then, it was also mentioned through Abraham, we have the completion of our knowledge. What, then, does he say to Abraham, when he alone believed and was set for righteousness? “Behold, I have made you, Abraham, the father of the nations who believe in God in uncircumcision.”

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:388–390 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 340–407 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture

Cite this passage

Barn. 13.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/13/7/).

Plain text
Barn. 13.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/13/7/).

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