The Gospel of Barnabas 133
of the events recorded in these three Gospels are contained within
the Gospel of Barnabas -although, as has already been remarked,
there are sorne notable and deeply significant differences -which
is why, according to the Introductionto the Gospel ofBarnabas, Barna
bas wrote his Gospel in the first place:
Dearly beloved, the great and wonderful God has dur
ing these past days visited us by his Prophet Jesus Christ
in great mercy of teaching and miracles, by reason
whereof many, being deceived of Satan, under pretence
of piety, are preaching most impious doctrine, calling
Jesus son of God, repudiating the circumcision ordained
of God for ever, and permitling every unclean meat:
among whom also Paul has been deceived, whereof 1
speak not without grief; for which cause 1 am writing
that truth which 1have seen and heard, in the intercourse
that 1 have had with Jesus, in order that you may be
saved, and not deceived ofSatan and perish in the judge
ment of God. Therefore beware of every one that
preaches unto you new doctrine contrary to that which
1 write, that you may be saved eternally.
The great God be with you and guard you from Sa
tan and from every evil. Amen. (The Gospel of Barnabas).
If the Italian version of the Gospel of Barnabas is a faithful transla
tion of an earlier manuscript which actually did contain what Barna
bas originally wrote - and there is no way of conclusively 'prov
ing' this, just as there is no way of conclusively 'proving' that the
contents of the four officially accepted Gospels which exist today
actually contain what their original authors in fact wrote - then it
does follow that the Gospel of Barnabas could weIl be the 'Q' Gos
pel, the common source of the synoptic Gospels, although as yet
no one hasventuredtomakea verse by verse comparisonbetween
the contents of the Gospel of Barnabas and the contents of the four
official Gospels inorderto establish exact1ywhich verses areshared
and which verses are unique.
Ifthe Gospel of Barnabas is the 'Q' Gospel, and given the manner
in which Paulinian Christianity developed, it then makes it easier
to understand why not only the manuscripts of all the other Gos
pels - which are known to have existed in the early years of Chris
tianity and which were rejected at the Council of Nicea - were de