The Gospel of Barnabas

The book has been claimed to have been written by the apostle Barnabas. It is said that he walked with Jesus in his earthly ministry and was a disciple of Jesus at that time. The writing suggests that he was taught by Jesus and then later on, in the light of this teaching, disagreed with many of the teachings of Paul and refuted them. It suggests that Paul was deceived.

If this book is true, then most of the New Testament is false and this is what is claimed by many Muslims. They say that the Gospel of Barnabas is the “original testament” and that the Christians have substituted it with the New Testament.

The truth is that the New Testament has much of secular history to prove its historical facts, whereas many of the claims of this “Gospel” are glaringly incorrect. The writer did not have any real knowledge of the country of Palestine in the time of Jesus. Many historical and geographical facts are wrong. A close study of the work shows that whoever the writer was, he knew far more about Europe in the Middle Ages. Some references show that it was written in the fourteenth century.

The Apostle Barnabas as we know him in the New Testament was a close friend and co-worker with Paul who had one disagreement with Paul on the matter of another young missionary, John Mark. There were no disagreements on points of doctrine as suggested by this writing.

Another point we can make is that in certain places, the writer of this “gospel” contradicts even the Quran. Even today most Muslims reject the “Gospel of Barnabas”.

We cannot go into any more detail than this, but these are just some of the reasons why this book can definitely be regarded as a complete forgery which was written in the 14th century by someone who wished to discredit Christianity and encourage faith in Islam.