The Gospel of Barnabas 139Was Jesus a Prophet of God or a 'son' of God? Was it Jesus or
Judas, or someone else, who was crucified? Did Jesus tell his disci
ples that there would hea Prophet who would come after him who
would be called Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of God
be on all the Prophets, and are the references to the Paradete in
John's Gospel in fact references to him?
And the answers to these questions can only be sensed if the
reader does indeed understand the world in which they were writ
ten - and accordingly the nature of the disagreement that dearly
existed between the two groups of Christians whom Cardinal
Daniélou termed the [udeo-Christians and the Pauline Christians,
between those who sincerely followed the example of Jesus and
those who followed Paul, putting words into the mouth of Jesus
that he, peace be on him, never himself uttered, and granting him
a divine status which he neither daimed nor possessed.
Even though none of the contents of either the NewTestament or
the Gospel ofBarnabas are capable of being fully authenticated; and
even though it is impossible to establish exadly what has been al
tered, or added, or removed, or allowed to remain intact; and
whether or not the authors of the officially accepted Gospels, each
with such a differing background, derived their knowledge from
the same source or not; and if they did, then whether or not that
source was in fact TheGospel ofBarnabas, about Barnabas the com
mandment is:
Ifhe cornes unto you, receive him.
(Epistle to the Colossians 4: 10).e o e e e