Who is the Evil Angel in the Epistle of Barnabas? Are the Rabbis Satanic?
.The Epistle of Barnabas is one of the three oldest extra-biblical Christian texts that we possess, likely dating before AD 100.
- Didache
- Epistle of Clement of Rome
- Epistle of Barnabas
Brief history of the Epistle of Barnabas:
- The Epistle of Barnabas dates between AD 70 and AD 135 with an attribution to the Apostle Barnabas, the co-missionary with the Apostle Paul. “When the apostles Barnabas and Paul had heard, rending their clothes, they leaped out among the people, crying.” (Acts 14:13) Barnabas speaks of the Jerusalem temple being destroyed, an event that happened in AD 70.
- Barnabas is quite familiar with New Testament literature and he refers to or cites Matthew, John, Romans, 1 Corinthains, Hebrews, and 1 Peter.
- The complete text of Barnabas is preserved in the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus. It appears at the end of the New Testament, following the Book of Revelation and before the Shepherd of Hermas.
- Some early Fathers of the Church ascribed it to the Barnabas mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Early Egyptian Christians, namely Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Didymus the Blind quoted from Barnabas. May scholars today attribute it to an otherwise unknown early Christian teacher. I personally believe it was written by Saint Barnabas, who appears in Acts. The theological argument corresponds closely to the theology of Paul’s Galatians and Hebrews (yes, I also believe Paul is the author of Hebrews with Luke as a writer).
Who is the Evil Angel?
A curious theological element appears in Barnabas about an “evil angel” who deceived the Jews. The “evil angel” is not explicitly named but is referenced as a deceptive person who misled the Jewish people in their interpretation of the Old Testament laws of Moses. The author suggests that an “evil angel” led them astray from the spiritual meaning of God’s commands. This evil angels deceived them into a literal observance of rules rather than into interior righteousness. Furthermore, this deception by the evil angel led to the Jews rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.
The key passage appears in Barnabas 9:4, where the author discusses circumcision:
For He declared that circumcision was not of the flesh, but they transgressed because an evil angel deluded them. He says to them, These things says the Lord your God — (here I find a new commandment) — Sow not among thorns, but circumcise yourselves to the Lord. And why speaks He thus: Circumcise the stubbornness of your heart, and harden not your neck? Deuteronomy 10:16
According to Barnabas, the evil angel deluded the Jews into misunderstanding circumcision as a physical act rather than a spiritual one. For those who object, Barnabas counters: “But so also is every Syrian and Arab, and all the priests of idols: are these then also within the bond of His covenant? Yea, the Egyptians also practice circumcision.” If circumcision is salvific, then the pagan Syrians, Arabs, and Egyptians are also saved and in covenant with God. This is along the lines of the Pauline argument that “circumcision is nothing” and points to the theology of the historical Paul and the historical Barnabas:
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing but the observance of the commandments of God. 1 Corinthians 7:19
Barnabas on the Deception of Food Laws
Barnabas’s Chapter Nine is followed by Chapter 10, which is a treatise on the meaning of the food laws given by Moses:
“Moses received three doctrines concerning food and thus spoke of them in the Spirit; but they (the Jews) received them as really referring to food, owing to the lust of their flesh.” (Barnabas 10:9)
While Barnabas does not mention the evil angel here, the context ties into the earlier chapter of the Jews being deceived by the evil angel. Barnabas explains that the unclean animals listed by Moses are allegories of the kinds of sin that godly people should avoid. If you are curious, here is how Barnabas explains the food laws of Moses as relating to sins:
- Swine: Forgetfulness of God and ingratitude
- Eagle, Hawk, Kite, Crow: Stealing dead meat as injustice, oppression, and greed
- Fish Without Scales: Instability and wickedness living at the bottom in darkness
- Rabbit: Sexual immorality, pederasty and promiscuity
- Hyena: Sexual perversion and transgenderism
- Weasel: Sins of the mouth, such as slander and oral sodomy
Is the Evil Angel the Demiurge or Satan?
There are two leading answers as to who the evil angel is in Barnabas. One theory is that this is a proto-Marcionite document purporting the theology of the heretic Marcion, who taught that the God of the Old Testament was an evil demiurge (lower creator) from whose slavery Christ delivered us. As I read Barnabas, however, the author clearly believes that the Old Testament God of Israel is good and in full conformity with Jesus Christ who is His divine Son.
Alternatively, one might claim that the evil angel here is one of the “elemental spirits.” Paul speaks of Galatians, but I reject interpretation based on this article I wrote on the elemental spirits.
Satan as Evil Angel
The most obvious identity of the evil spirit in Barnabas is Satan. Barnabas is drawing directly off the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught that the Jews of His day belonged to Satan, worshipped Satan, and had Satan (not God or Abraham) as their true “father” in John chapter 8:44-47:
44 You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father thereof.
45 But if I say the truth, you believe me not.
46 Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me?
47 He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.
Jesus Christ infallibly teaches that the Jews rejecting Him:
- Have the devil as their father.
- Perform the desires of their father, the devil.
- Are not of God.
Conclusion
The Jews standing before Jesus Christ misinterpreted the entire Old Testament due to “the devil” who is the “evil angel” according to Barnabas.
John 8 and Barnabas 10 reveal a major theological argument in early Christian teaching that the Judaism of the First Century was not authentic, but truly Satanic.
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