FERGUSON Christian and Jewish Baptism 221
shipped, the true temple instead of the physical building.^67 The Church is
further described as 'brothers and sisters' (6.15), 'the saints', the 'good
land', and the 'assembly' of God's people (6.16).
The theme of the true spiritual temple connects Barn. 6 with Barn. 16.
The remade people are the 'house [temple] of God' (16.1). The three parts
of the promise quoted in 16.6—to build a temple gloriously in the name of
the Lord—are interpreted in 16.7-9.^68 This building in his name takes
place when hearts are purified by the forgiveness of sin (16.8), a forgive-
ness associated as in Barn. 11 with 'hope' and being re-created. There is
a strong emphasis on newness in 16.8—'new', 'created again', 'from the
beginning'. Idolatry and demons are expelled from the soul, and God then
takes up his dwelling place in this spiritual temple (16.7-10; cf. 6.15). The
passage quoted above begins with the individual persons as the dwelling
place of God (16.7-8), but ends with the temple as something into which
the individual is led (16.9), perhaps the collective group, the Church.^69
'The word of his faith' (16.9), if not a reference to confession of faith,
repeats the emphasis in Barnabas on the necessity of speaking the word of
the Lord in order to effect faith and conversion.^70
Although the author of Barnabas was primarily drawing a contrast
between Jewish washings and Christian baptism as part of his attempt to
demonstrate the superiority of the Christian system over the Jewish sys-
tem, he says enough to permit some inferences about the practice of
baptism and says even more about his understanding of the meaning of
baptism.^71 The express statement that 'we go down into the water' and 'we
come up' (11.8,11) is sufficient to indicate immersion.^72 This statement
- Ps. 21.23, LXX, is quoted also in Heb. 2.12. The motifs in Barn. 6 are in the
New Testament: milk for the new Christian (1 Pet. 2.2 [cf. 1.23]); new creation (2 Cor.
5.17); a responsive heart (2 Cor. 3.3; Heb. 3.8; 8.10); and a new temple (Jn 2.21; 1 Cor.
3.16; 6.19). - Prostmeier, Der Barnabasbrief, p. 516.
- Again we note the same themes in the New Testament: a spiritual temple in
which God dwells associated with the name of the Lord (Eph. 2.18-22); faith in the
name (Acts 3.16—a healing); hearts purified by hope or faith (Acts 15.9; cf. Jas. 1.21);
opposition of the temple of God to demons and idolatry (2 Cor. 6.15-16); re-creation (2
Cor. 5.19); and forgiveness of sins (Acts 2.38). - Barn. 5.9; 8.3; 11.8, 11; cf. Rom. 10.8, 14-17; 1 Tim. 4.6.
- For sources contemporary with Barnabas on the practice and meaning of
baptism, see my Early Christians Speak, pp. 29-64. - For the words KCCTafkxivco and ava(3aivco in reference to baptism, note Acts
8.38-39; Hennas, Sim. 9.16.2,4,6 (= 93.2,4,6); Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. 3.12. The