# Epistle of Barnabas 16.10

- Author: Anonymous
- Work: [Epistle of Barnabas](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/) (*Epistula Barnabae*)
- Date: ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) (disputed)
- Source: Lake, LCL 24:398–400; Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 340–407 (Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26
- Canonical URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/16/10/

Summary: The believer is a spiritual temple built for the Lord.

## Greek text

ὁ γὰρ ποθῶν σωθῆναι βλέπει οὐκ εἰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικοῦντα καὶ λαλοῦντα, ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ἐκπλησσόμενος, ἐπὶ τῷ μηδέποτε μήτε τοῦ λέγοντος τὰ ῥήματα ἀκηκοέναι ἐκ τοῦ στόματος μήτε αὐτός ποτε ἐπιτεθυμηκέναι ἀκούειν. τοῦτό ἐστιν πνευματικὸς ναὸς οἰκοδομούμενος τῷ κυρίῳ.

## English translation (Claude)

For the one who longs to be saved looks not to the man but to the one who dwells and speaks in him, amazed at him, that he has never heard such words from the speaker's mouth, nor ever himself desired to hear them. This is a spiritual temple being built for the Lord.

## Scripture references

- 1 Cor 3:16: echo, medium confidence
- Eph 2:21: echo, medium confidence

## Translation notes

- The first sentence is compressed; it seems to describe a hearer who is amazed that God speaks through a Christian preacher.

## Citation (SBL)

Barn. 16.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/16/10/).