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Barnabas

Epistle of Barnabas

About this book

The Two Ways

Chapter 18

1 But let us turn to another lesson and teaching. There are two paths of teaching and of power: one of light and the other of darkness; and there is a great difference between the two ways.⁠ For on one side stand the shining angels of God, on the other the angels of Satan. 2 And the One is the Lord from all eternity to all eternity, while the other is lord of this current season of wickedness.

Texts in conversation

Compare Barnabas 18:1 and Didache 1:1

Early Christian

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Summary

The Didache, an early church manual, begins with two ways of life and death and a great difference between them. The Letter of Barnabas has the same language about the great difference, but its paths are light and darkness, each ruled by angels.

Passages

Barnabas 18:1

Early Christian · Epistle of Barnabas
1 But let us turn to another lesson and teaching. There are two paths of teaching and of power: one of light and the other of darkness; and there is a great difference between the two ways. For on one side stand the shining angels of God, on the other the angels of Satan. 2 And the One is the Lord from all eternity to all eternity, while the other is lord of this current season of wickedness.
70–135 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Barnabas

Didache 1:1

Early Christian
1 There are two Ways: one of Life and one of Death, and there is a significant difference between the two Ways. 2 The way of life is as follows: First, you should love the God who created you; secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. Treat others as you would want to be treated. 3 Now, the teaching behind these words is this: Bless those who curse you, pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. What credit is it to you if you love only those who love you back? Don't even the non-believers do the same? Instead, love those who hate you, and you will have no enemies.
90–120 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Didache

References

“... The Qumran doctrine presents a certain parallel to the combination of the teaching about the two spirits or two angels with the two-ways schema in the Testament of Asher and in the Jewish source for the Two Ways tractate that interests us here. This combination still appears in the Christian recension in Barnabas and Doctrina apostolorum, while the teaching about the two spirits is absent from the recension of the Two Ways tractate in the Didache (and in later recensions). ...”
Kurt Niederwimmer, The Didache: A Commentary, ed. Harold W. Attridge (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 61.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Barnabas 18:1 and Didache 1:1

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