What Is the Gospel of Barnabas and Why Is It Not in the Bible?
Share
Every few years, critics produce “new” evidence that they claim disproves Christianity, such as the lost books of the Bible. Usually, these books are old and well-known, and the discussion about why they are not included in the biblical canon is easy to find out. However, few of the alleged books are as famous as the Gospel of Barnabas, sometimes cited by Muslim apologists in attempts to discredit the New Testament. So, what is the Gospel of Barnabas? Why is it not in the Bible? Let’s explore to find out.
What Happens in the Gospel of Barnabas?
The core of the Gospel of Barnabas is an alternative story about Judas and Jesus. Rather than Christ crying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Judas says this as he takes Christ’s place on Calvary. How does this happen?
The gospel of Barnabas originally shows Judas going to turn over Jesus, only for Jesus to be whisked away and Judas somehow be arrested in his place in a “mystical way.” To the gospel of Barnabas itself:
“Then God, seeing the danger of his servant, commanded Gabriel, Michael, Rafael, and Uriel, his ministers, to take Jesus out of the world. The holy angels came and took Jesus out by the window looking toward the South. They bare him and placed him in the third heaven in the company of angels blessing God for evermore . . . Whereupon the wonderful God acted wonderfully, insomuch that Judas was so changed in speech and in face to be like Jesus that we believed him to be Jesus.”
Despite protests that he’s not Jesus, Judas gets crucified. Afterward, Jesus returns to the disciples, telling them God rescued him while punishing Judas by changing his figure to appear like Christ. Furthermore, Christ tells Barnabas to go out and correct believers on what happened by telling about God’s deception and that Jesus was loved too much to where he was equated with God.
Later chapters predict the coming of Muhammad, who Islam reports as God's final prophet.
We now have a good sense of what the Gospel of Barnabas is about, and we’re beginning to see how it doesn’t fit with the canonical four gospels. But who was Barnabas?
Who Reportedly Wrote the Gospel of Barnabas?
Like many “lost gospels,” this book is attributed to an important figure in the New Testament: Barnabas, an important figure in the first-century church.
The Bible mentions Barnabas in Acts 4, 11, 13-14, particularly his travels with Paul on missionary work. He travels with Paul to spread the gospel message, in order, through the cities:
- Cyprus (13:1-12)
- Pisidia (13:13-52)
- Iconium (14:1-7)
- Lystra (14:8-18)
- Cyprus again (14:24-28)
Barnabas splits from Paul when they disagree over whether to bring someone with them on their project on the next leg of the missionary trip.
“And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.’ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” (Acts 15:36-41)
While Scripture does not tell us specifically what happened to Barnabas after this split, Orthodox tradition reports that he established church leaders in Milan. Reportedly, Jewish leaders in Cyprus rallied the pagan residents to go after Barnabas, and he was martyred by stoning.
Now that we know the basics about Barnabas, we can understand why someone would claim he wrote their gospel. However, there are significant problems with the Gospel of Barnabas claiming to be genuine. First of all, there’s the timing.
Did Barnabas Really Write the Gospel of Barnabas?
Despite its claims to be written by Barnabas, this document does not date back to the early church period. Historians and archeologists date it to medieval Europe—specifically, it originated in Italy.
How do we know when it was written?
One point that Ben Reichert mentions is that certain Italian phrases in the Gospel of Barnabas manuscript were barely used until Dante’s Inferno was published in the fourteenth century.
Furthermore, as Britt Mooney explores, the manuscript contains many ideas reflecting Islam, which didn’t exist as a religion until centuries after Christ.
Given this historical information, we know the Gospel of Barnabas wasn’t written in the first century, and certainly not by Barnabas. It cannot be a “lost Gospel” because it was never lost to begin with. As Reichert puts it:
“The Gospel of Barnabas contains numerous historical errors that wouldn’t have been made if it were written around Jesus’ lifetime—or even a century or two later. The writing style points to someone who was a cultural Christian sympathetic to Islam and wanted to bring the two worldviews together. Scholars call this approach syncretism—merging two worldviews and treating them as equal or the same.”
We also see significant problems with how the Gospel of Barnabas portrays Jesus, which makes it radically different from the New Testament.
What Does the Gospel of Barnabas Say about Jesus?
One of the biggest reasons the Gospel of Barnabas cannot have been written during the time of the Apostles is that it diverges significantly from the accounts in the canonical gospels.
Most obviously, it communicates that Jesus did not die for humanity’s sins. If Judas died in Jesus’ place, there was no death to atone for our sins and no salvation in Jesus. As Jon Topping observes on the Ultimate Questions Podcast, “[the gospel of Barnabas] also states that, in a sense, Jesus had failed in His mission, because so many people thought He was God. Because of this, God would allow Jesus to be mocked for all human history, by having the whole world think He was shamefully crucified. It then says that, at a later time, God would send another prophet, named Muhammad, who would correct this bad theology regarding Jesus’ death.”
The Gospel of Barnabas also says that God honored Jesus, not that he was God the Son. This reflects the Muslim view that Islam was the final prophet and that the church corrupted the message about who Jesus really was. While Christians believe that Christ was one with God the Father in Christianity and born of the Virgin Mary, Muslims believe that Christ was only a prophet. While they believe Christ was born in a special way from Mother Mary, they don’t believe in his divinity and equality with God.
The Gospel of Barnabas makes its differences from the canonical gospels obvious by mentioning people who wrote the canonical gospels. As Topping goes on to say, it describes John and Peter seeing Judas on trial, which presents a problem: “. . . it’s a drastically different account than what we find in the canonical Gospels, one of which was written by John, and another which was written by Mark, who used material he got from Peter. So it’s quite interesting that the Gospel of Barnabas explicitly says John and Peter were present to see the ‘apparent’ Jesus acting insane in the trial, when their Gospels give a very different story.”
In summary, the Gospel of Barnabas contradicts the canonical Gospels by claiming that God intentionally deceives people, that Jesus was not one with the Father, that humanity can fix God’s mistakes, and highlighting how it doesn’t fit the canonical gospels.
What Other “Lost Books of the Bible” Are Attributed to Barnabas?
This is not the only document attributed to Barnabas. Some of the church fathers, particularly Clement of Alexandria, assumed that the allegorical Epistle of Barnabas was genuine. It’s hard to say where this document was written, but some suggest Alexandria.
As Theology Academy summarizes, the Epistle of Barnabas has two sections: the doctrinal (1-17) and the practical (18-21). The doctrinal section focuses on Christianity being superior to Judaism, including why we should avoid lawlessness (4:1-2), why we are not bound to the Jewish law and can celebrate Sunday as the Sabbath day (15:1-9), and to be respectful to God since our bodies are temples (4:10-14). The practical discusses two ways—faith and darkness (18:1-20:2). This theme makes it similar to the Didache.
The Epistle of Barnabas presents some interesting ideas and sounds like it’s doing what Paul does in several epistles (showing Jewish believers that they are not bound by many ceremonial laws anymore). However, it presents some ideas that don’t fit the canonical epistles, such as the author claiming that Israel had never been a covenant people with God (14:1-15). For that reason and other issues (its authorship and location are unclear), it was not accepted into the biblical canon.
Even authors who have highly liberal views on Scripture don’t take the argument it was written by Barnabas seriously. Bart D. Ehrman writes in Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make it Into the New Testament that the epistle “was written long after Barnabas himself would have died: it mentions the destruction of the Temple (70 CE) and refers to the possibility of its soon being rebuilt (16:3-4) . . . Most scholars have concluded, on these grounds, that the book was written sometime during the first half of the second century, possibly around 130 CE.”
What Can We Learn from the Debate about the Gospel of Barnabas?
People who want to undermine the Bible will use anything they can find to discount the legitimacy of the Gospel accounts. Therefore, we need to know basic logic (what a solid argument looks like and how to show an argument falls apart) so we’re ready for these arguments.
Since critics regularly claim “new” (usually old) evidence that disproves Christianity, we must be aware of church history. We must be aware of documents that didn’t make the Biblical canon—such as the gnostic gospel forgeries—and at least the basics about these documents (authorship issues and historical inconsistencies).
We must also learn the basics of the biblical canonization process so we know the qualities that showed the four gospels were accurate and trustworthy. Simply claiming “God didn’t allow it for a reason” is not enough of an answer. We need to know the historical reasons—and fortunately, plenty of apologists can help us in this process.
Photo Credit:©GettyImages/tovfla
This article is part of our People from the Bible Series featuring the most well-known historical names and figures from Scripture. We have compiled these articles to help you study those whom God chose to set before us as examples in His Word. May their lives and walks with God strengthen your faith and encourage your soul.
The Bible Story of Elijah
The Life of Ruth - 5 Essential Faith Lessons
The Bible Story of Queen Esther
The Greatest Villain - King Nebuchadnezzar
The Bible Story of Mary Magdalene