Epistle of Barnabas 8.5

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: The wool on the stick means Jesus reigns from the cross.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:368–370

ὅτι δὲ τὸ ἔριον ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον; ὅτι ἡ βασιλεία Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ξύλου, καὶ ὅτι οἱ ἐλπίζοντες ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ζήσονται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

English · Claude translation

And why is the wool on the stick? Because the kingdom of Jesus is on the tree, and because those who hope in him will live forever.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 24:368–370 · 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)
Topics: Christology

Cite this passage

Barn. 8.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/8/5/).

Plain text

Barn. 8.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/8/5/).

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