one meaning in Paul and another in this Epistle. Evidently the sug- gestion that Luke was on this occasion Paul's interpreter is quite insufficient to satisfy the conditions,’
If the Epistle cannot be ascribed to Paul, must we fall back upon Tertullian’s statement,? and accept Barnabas as the author? This solution cannot be said to have ever been prevalent in the early Church, notwithstanding the meagre references unearthed by Prof. Bartlet and Mr. Ayles. Over against these references may be set the significant words of Jerome, who designates this ascription of authorship as “juxta Tertullianum,’” apparently implying that in all his vast store of information he had found no one else holding this opinion, Origen, too, knows nothing of such a tradition. It was, however, revived in the seventeenth century by the Scottish scholar, Cameron, and in more recent times has found supporters in Ritschl, Weiss, Renan, Salmon and Vernon Bartlet.’ Zahn, who formerly advocated the same authorship, is now less certain. The claims of Barnabas are also urged with fulness and force by Mr. Ayles in an essay devoted to this object. There can be no doubt that Barnabas answers many of the requirements which must be met by any pre- sumed author of the Epistle. He belonged to the circle of Paul and was a man of character and of capacity; he was a Levite and as such predisposed to consider the Christ and His work in its bear- ing on the Old Testament ritual;° he was a native of Cyprus where good Greek was spoken, and at the same time was well known and influential in the Church at Jerusalem. The tradition that Mark, his. nephew, introduced the Gospel into Alexandria, might be pressed to indicate some connection with that centre of thought. This, how- ever, tells also against his authorship, for it is unaccountable that Barnabas’ name should have been lost in the Church where his nephew presided. It must also be kept in view that the association
1 The similarities to the usage of Luke in the vocabulary of the Epistle have been examined with final thoroughness by Prof. Frederic Gardiner in the Sournal of Soc. of Bibl. Lit. and Exegests for June 1887. See also Alexander’s Leading Ideas of the Gospels, 3ed ed., pp. 302-324; and W. Η, Simcox in the Expositor for 1888.
2 De Pudicitia, ο. 20. ‘‘Extat enim et Barnabae titulus ad Hebraeos, adeo satis auctoritati viri, ut quem Paulus juxta se constituerit in abstinentiae tenore (1 Cor. ix. 6); et utique receptior apud ecclesias epistola Barnabae illo apocry- pho Pastore moechorum.”’
3 Expositor, 1902.
4 Destination, Date and Authorship of Ep. to Heb. (Cambridge, 1899).
> For supposed mistakes regarding the Temple and its service, cf. Zahn, ii., 55,156. ;