Sophia Scriptura

Epistle of Barnabas 7.11

Anonymous · Epistle of Barnabas · ca. 70–135 (often ca. 130) · place unknown · Read in context

Summary: To gain the kingdom one must pass through thorns and suffering.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:366–368

τί δέ, ὅτι τὸ ἔριον μέσον τῶν ἀκανθῶν τιθέασιν; τύπος ἐστὶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ θέμενος, ὅτι ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ τὸ ἔριον ἆραι τὸ κόκκινον, δεῖ αὐτὸν πολλὰ παθεῖν διὰ τὸ εἶναι φοβερὰν τὴν ἄκανθαν, καὶ θλιβέντα κυριεῦσαι αὐτοῦ. οὕτω, φησίν, οἱ θέλοντές με ἰδεῖν καὶ ἅψασθαί μου τῆς βασιλείας ὀφείλουσιν θλιβέντες καὶ παθόντες λαβεῖν με.

English · Claude translation

And why do they place the wool in the midst of the thorns? It is a type of Jesus set forth for the church: whoever wishes to take the scarlet wool must suffer much, because the thorn is fearsome, and gain it only through affliction. So, he says, those who wish to see me and lay hold of my kingdom must receive me through affliction and suffering.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:366–368 · 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 translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Scripture
Topics
Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • The closing saying is not found in the canonical Gospels; compare Acts 14:22.

Cite this passage

Barn. 7.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/7/11/).

Plain text
Barn. 7.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/7/11/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Report an error in this passage