The Epistle of Barnabas. This letter attributed to Barnabas is another document in this corpus that cannot be dated with any degree of precision. The author speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (16.3-5), but not of its later rebuilding subsequent to the revolt of 132-135. Its writing, therefore, is generally located within this period, usually toward the latter part. As regards its provenance, the weight of scholarly opinion places the origin of the letter at Alexandria, based chiefly upon its particular manner of allegorizing OT texts, reminiscent of the interpretive method of Philo of Alexandria and similar to other slightly later Christian writers from that city. That the second Gospel was available to the author seems quite certain from 12.11. Here he cites words of Jesus appearing in all three Synoptics (Matt 22;45; Mark 12:37; Luke 20:44), yet in their precise Markan form (Δαυιδ λεγει αυτον κυριον, “David calls him Lord”). Did that version of Mark known to this author include 16:9-20? In a section of the epistle concerning the significance of the Sabbath and its supersession for Christians by the eighth day, he writes:

This is also why we spend the eighth day in rejoicing, the day on which Jesus arose [ανεστη] from the dead and, after appearing [φανερωθεις], ascended into heaven [εις ουρανους]. (Barn. 15.9)

Having been raised [αναστας] . . . he appeared [εφανερωθη] in another form to two of them going into the country . . . he appeared [εφανερωθη] to the Eleven. . . . So then after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven [εις τον ουρανον], and sat down at the right hand of God. (Mark 16:9, 12, 14, 20)

While Barnabas’s final statement concerning the ascension may show greater dependence upon Acts 2;34 than upon the account in Mark 16:19, there are nevertheless two significant links with the resurrection appearances of the longer ending. First, regarding the use of φανερωθεις, is the fact that Mark 16:12 and 14 are the only texts in the Synoptic Gospels that employ the verb φανερουν for the appearances of the risen Jesus. It is found in the Gospel of John describing the later manifestation in Galilee (21;1, 14), but that Barnabas had this Johannine passage in mind is doubtful since the verb “raised” is different in that context (εγερθεις) and it lacks any following account of the ascension as present in both Mark and Barnabas. Secondly, it is demonstrable that αναστηναι is Mark’s preferred term for the resurrection, being the one found in all the predictions he records of Jesus rising from the dead (8:31; 9:9, 31; 10:34), which is not the case in either Matthew or Luke. Indeed, Mark 16:9 is the only place in the Gospels where the verb specifically narrates the occurrence of that event. Although αναστηναι occurs four times in the final chapter of Luke, in two of these instances vv. 12 and 33) it merely describes disciples rising up to go somewhere. In the two others Luke (vv. 7 and 46) it appears not in the narration but in direct speech, each in a statement concerning the necessity for the resurrection to have taken place, not a description of the event itself. John 20:9 is an editorial comment conveying the same idea of necessity. None of these, therefore, are narrative statements describing the resurrection of Jesus in the same manner as Mark 16:9. The distinctiveness of language in this latter verse is highlighted by comparison with Luke 24:34, “The Lord really has risen [ηγερθη] and has appeared [ωφθη] to Simon!” and with 1 Corinthians 15:4-6, “ . . . he was raised [εγηγερται] on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and . . . he appeared [ωφθη] to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared [ωφθη] to more than five hundred brothers at one time.” In 1 Timothy 3:16 εφανερωθη is used, we observe, with reference to the incarnation, while φανερωθη in Colossians 3:4 is speaking of the second advent of Christ. The use of the verbs αναστας . . .εφανερωθη is then distinctive to the first part of the disputed Markan ending (vv. 9-14), and this same sequence of verbs reappears in Barnabas 15.9. Subsequent to this mention is made in each context of the ascension into heaven.