Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church

Michael Graves

• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781451496376
• eBook ISBN: 9781506425603
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church is part of Ad Fontes: Early Christian Sources, a series designed to present ancient Christian texts essential to an understanding of Christian theology, ecclesiology, and practice. The books in the series will make the wealth of early Christian thought available to new generations of students of theology and provide a valuable resource for the Church. This volume focuses on how Scripture was interpreted and used for teaching by early Christian scholars and church leaders.Developed in light of recent Patristic scholarship, Ad Fontes volumes will provide a representative sampling of theological contributions from both East and West. The series aims to provide volumes that are relevant for a variety of courses: from introduction to theology to classes on doctrine and the development of Christian thought. The goal of each volume is not to be exhaustive, but rather representative enough to denote for a non-specialist audience the multivalent character of early Christian thought, allowing readers to see how and why early Christian doctrine and practice developed the way it did.

I

Texts and Translations

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1

Epistle of Barnabas

The Epistle of Barnabas was likely written in the first few decades of the second century CE. Its author is unknown. Many scholars have suggested Alexandria as its place of origin, but others have proposed Syria-Palestine or Asia Minor. Indeed, the Epistle of Barnabas reflects a variety of influences, from Alexandrian allegory to legal traditions known from rabbinic texts. Although it is presented in the form of a letter, the Epistle of Barnabas is really a treatise on the interpretation of the Old Testament (chs. 1–17) followed by moral exhortations (chs. 18–21). This treatise was ascribed to the apostle Barnabas by Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis 2.31.2; 2.35.5), was regarded as a “catholic epistle” by Origen (Against Celsus 1.63), and is included after Revelation in codex Sinaiticus (fourth century), but it was not ultimately recognized as part of the New Testament (see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.25.4, although it is a “disputed” book in 6.14.1; Jerome, On Illustrious Men 6).

A central purpose of the Epistle of Barnabas is to argue that Jews have misunderstood the sacred Scriptures (= the Old Testament), and that these Scriptures point definitively to Jesus. The sustained and abrasive polemic against Jews found in Barnabas suggests a context where Judaism posed a viable ideological threat to the writer’s Christian audience. The Epistle of Barnabas offers a unique window into early Christian figural interpretation and presents many christological typologies that would become commonplace among later Christian writers. Many of the biblical quotations in Barnabas are inexact, not even matching the Septuagint. Some of the Old Testament citations have clearly been modified to make them more suitable as proofs of Christian teaching. The writer of the Epistle of Barnabas may have known many of these prooftexts from Christian homilies or lists of testimonia.^[1] The selection offered below deals with the Day of Atonement (ch. 7), the Red Heifer (ch. 8), circumcision (ch. 9), dietary laws (ch. 10), baptism (ch. 11), and the cross (ch. 12).

Epistle of Barnabas 7–12

7

1. Understand, therefore, children of joy, that the good Lord has revealed everything to us beforehand, so that we might know whom we ought to praise when giving thanks for all things. 2. If, therefore, the Son of God, who is Lord and is destined to judge the living and the dead,^[2] suffered in order that his wounds might give us life, let us believe that the Son of God could not suffer except for our sake.

3. But he also was given vinegar and gall to drink when he was crucified.^[3] Hear how the priests of the temple have revealed something about this: when the command that “Whoever does not keep the fast shall surely die” was written,^[4] the Lord commanded it because he himself was planning to offer the vessel of his spirit as a sacrifice for our sins, in order that the type established by Isaac, who was offered upon the altar,^[5] might be fulfilled. 4. What, therefore, does he say in the prophet? “And let them eat from the goat that is offered at the fast for all their sins”—pay careful attention!—“and let all the priests (but only them) eat the unwashed intestines with vinegar.”^[6] 5. Why? “Since you are going to give me, when I am about to offer my flesh for the sins of my new people, gall with vinegar to drink, you alone must eat, while the people fast and lament in sackcloth and ashes”—this was to show that he must suffer at their hands. 6. Pay attention to what he commanded: “Take two goats, fine and well matched, and offer them, and let the priest take one for a whole burnt offering for sins.”^[7] 7. But what shall they do with the other one? “The other one,” he says, “is cursed.”^[8] Notice how the type of Jesus is revealed! 8. “And all of you shall spit upon it and jab it, and tie scarlet wool around its head, and then let it be driven out into the wilderness.”^[9] And when these things have been done, the man in charge of the goat leads it into the wilderness, and he removes the wool and places it upon the bush commonly called rachia (the buds of which we are accustomed to eat when we find them in the countryside; only the fruit of the rachia is sweet). 9 What is the meaning of this? Note well: “the one is for the altar, and the other is cursed,” and note that the one cursed is crowned.^[10] For they will see him on that day, wearing a long scarlet robe about his body, and they will say, “Is this not the one whom we once crucified, insulting and piercing and spitting on him? Surely this was the man who said then that he was the Son of God!” 10. Now how is he like that goat? The goats are well matched, fine, and almost identical, for this reason: so that when they see him coming then, they may be amazed at the similarity of the goat. Observe, therefore, the type of Jesus, who was destined to suffer. 11. And what does it mean when they place the wool in the midst of the thorns? It is a type of Jesus, set forth for the church, because whoever desires to take away the scarlet wool must suffer greatly, since the thorns are so terrible, and can only gain possession of it through affliction. Likewise, he says, “those who desire to see me and to gain my kingdom must receive me through affliction and suffering.”^[11]

8

1. Now what type do you think was intended when he commanded Israel that men who are utterly sinful should offer a heifer, and slaughter and burn it, and that then the children should take the ashes and place them in containers, and tie the scarlet wool around a piece of wood (observe again the type of the cross and the scarlet wool) and the hyssop, and that then the children should sprinkle the people one by one, in order that they may be purified from their sins?^[12] 2. Grasp how plainly he is speaking to you: the calf is Jesus; the sinful men who offer it are those who brought him to the slaughter. Then the men are no more; no more is the glory of sinners. 3. The children who sprinkle are those who preached to us the good news about the forgiveness of sins and the purification of the heart, those to whom he gave the authority to proclaim the gospel (there were twelve of them as a witness to the tribes, because there are twelve tribes of Israel). 4. And why are there three children who sprinkle? As a witness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because these men were great in God’s sight. 5. And then there is the matter of the wool on the piece of wood: this signifies that the kingdom of Jesus is based on the wooden cross, and that those who hope in him will live forever. 6. But why the wool and the hyssop together? Because in his kingdom there will be dark and evil days, in which we will be saved, because the one who suffers in body is healed by means of the dark juice of the hyssop. 7. So, therefore, the things that happened in this way are clear to us but to them are quite obscure, because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord.

9

1. Furthermore, with respect to the ears he describes how he circumcised our heart. The Lord says in the prophet: “As soon as they heard, they obeyed me.”^[13] And again he says: “Those who are far off will hear with their ears, and they shall understand what I have done.”^[14] Also, “Circumcise your hearts,”^[15] says the Lord. 2. And again he says: “Hear, Israel, for this is what the Lord your God says.”^[16] And again the spirit of the Lord prophesies: “Who is...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Series Foreword
• Introduction
• Texts and Translations
• Bibliography
• Name and Subject Index
• Scripture Index
• Ancient Authors and Works Index