This anonymous letter discusses a question often asked in the early church: What should Christianity's relationship to Judaism be? Clement of Alexandria often quoted this document and attributed it to "Barnabas, who also preached with the apostle Paul." Jerome believed this also. However, the writer does not claim to be Barnabas. The earliest claims of authorship come from Alexandrian church leaders. The writing and interpretation style is purely Alexandrian. As a result, many assume the author wrote the letter from Alexandria.
The author of this letter plainly states there is no connection at all between Judaism and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, he does not claim that the Old Testament opposes the New Testament. Instead, he finds that Christianity is represented everywhere in the Law and the Prophets. He believed all Jewish ceremonies were spiritual revelations pointing to Christ, and an evil angel had prevented the Jews from understanding this.
The letter mentions the destruction of Jerusalem, so the author must have written it after AD 70. A second destruction occurred in AD 132, ending the Bar-Kochba revolution. This defeat would have been really useful for the author's argument. He probably would have mentioned it if he had written this epistle after that event.
Many scholars believe the author wrote the letter around AD 130, which was a time of strong Jewish nationalism. This nationalism would have put pressure on many Jewish Christians to return to Judaism. As a result, the author of the Epistle of Barnabas wrote to defend Christianity against Judaism.
The Epistle of Barnabas has two parts. The first section offers allegorical interpretations of the Old Testament (chapters 1–17). These spiritual and mystical interpretations intend to counter Jewish legalism and show how the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ. The author recognizes righteous figures like Moses, David, and the prophets understood the true meaning of the law of Moses. However, he argues that the rest of Israel interpreted God's covenant incorrectly.
As a result, the Jews lost their claim to the blessings of the covenant, which God transferred to Christians instead. This allegorical style of interpretation was very popular among Alexandrian church leaders. The New Testament book of Hebrews also uses this style of interpretation. The author of the Epistle of Barnabas often quotes the Septuagint, though the quotes tend to be similar rather than identical to the original text.
Until 1859, only a Latin version of the first section of the Epistle of Barnabas was known. The discovery of Codex Sinaiticus revealed the first known Greek version of the Epistle. This Greek version was included with the New Testament books, along with The Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache.
The Greek version has a second section that starts with, “Now let us pass on to quite a different sort of instruction.” This section includes moral teachings that compare the way of spiritual darkness with the way of light. Much of it seems borrowed from the “Two Ways” in the Didache. It has little connection with the first section. Many scholars believe another writer added the second section later.