J. Christopher Edwards: The Epistle of Barnabas and the Origins of the Accusation that the Jews Killed Jesus

Following a trend which becomes disturbingly common in later NT and Early Christian literature, the Epistle of Barnabas affixes blame for killing Jesus on his opponents, variously labelled “Israel,” “a synagogue of evil people,” or most frequently “them.” The accusation that Israel, or Jews, are directly responsible for inflicting Jesus’ wounds ostensibly began alongside the desire to remove culpability from Pilate, since the detail that Jesus was crucified by a Roman official for political crimes would cause difficulties for Christian evangelism in the Roman world. The desire to shield Roman officials is easily observed in the canonical gospels. However, the author of Barnabas offers another rationale. He asserts that Israel killed Jesus because God himself predictively accused Israel of abusing and crucifying Jesus: “God says that the wounds of his flesh came from them” (Barn 5.12b). This scripturally based accusation does not appear in the canonical literature. It most likely originates in the late first or early second century, and Barnabas is its earliest extant witness. Early Christians, who desired to adjust their collective memories and shield Roman officials, ultimately found it necessary to establish a scriptural foundation for the accusation that the Israel killed Jesus, to demonstrate that “God says that the wounds of his flesh came from them.”