THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS.[1]
Chap. i.—After the salutation, the writer declares that he would communicate to his brethren something of that which he had himself received.
LL hail, ye sons and daughters, in the name of our Lord[2] Jesus Christ, who loved us in peace.
Seeing that the divine fruits[3] of righteousness abound among you, I rejoice exceedingly and above measure in your happy and honoured spirits, because ye have with such effect received the engrafted[4] spiritual gift. Wherefore also I inwardly rejoice the more, hoping to be saved, because I truly perceive in you the Spirit poured forth from the rich Lord[5] of love. Your greatly desired appearance has thus filled me with astonishment over you.[6] I am therefore persuaded of this, and fully convinced in my own mind, that since I began to speak among you I under-
- ↑ The Codex Sinaiticus has simply "Epistle of Barnabas" for title; Dressel gives, "Epistle of Barnabas the Apostle," from the Vatican ms. of the Latin text.
- ↑ The Cod. Sin. has simply, "the Lord."
- ↑ Literally, "the judgments of God being great and rich towards you;" but, as Hefele remarks, δικαίωμα seems here to have the meaning of righteousness, as in Rom. v. 18.
- ↑ This appears to be the meaning of the Greek, and is confirmed by the ancient Latin version. Hilgenfeld, however, following Cod. Sin., reads "thus," instead of "because," and separates the clauses.
- ↑ The Latin reads, "a spirit infused into you from the honourable fountain of God."
- ↑ This sentence is entirely omitted in the Latin.
