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 one (of considerable length) Epistle of Barnabas. These Epistles are genuine "Letters," and "represent the natural outpouring of personal feeling arising out of personal relations"; but they contain doctrinal statements of the deepest importance, notably emphatic or positive statements bearing on the Godhead of Jesus Christ.

These Epistles were obviously meant by the writers for a far more extended circle of readers than the congregations of Corinth, Philippi, Rome, etc., to whom the Letters were formally addressed.)." This Bishop Lightfoot explains as a reference of Ignatius to the Epistolary form of his communication, that being a usual form adopted by the apostles.]