Barnabas, Epistle of Barnabas 16

I must also speak to you about the temple. The wretched people were deceived; they pinned their hope on a building instead of on their God who made them, as if that structure were God's house. They dedicated it almost the way the nations dedicate their shrines. But listen to how the Lord does away with it: "Who measured heaven with a span or the earth with a handful? Was it not I?" says the Lord. "Heaven is my throne and the earth is the footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, or what place will serve as my rest?" (Isaiah 66:1-2). You can see that their hope is empty. He says again, "Look, the ones who tore down this temple will themselves rebuild it." That happened because they went to war, so enemies destroyed it; now even the enemies' servants will rebuild it. Once more, when the city, the temple, and the people of Israel were about to be handed over, the truth was revealed. Scripture says, "In the last days the Lord will hand over the sheep of the pasture, the fold, and their tower to destruction" (Micah 4:1-5), and it came to pass just as the Lord spoke. So let us ask whether a temple of God exists. It does—wherever God himself says to make and prepare it. As it is written, "When the week is completed, the temple of God will be built gloriously in the name of the Lord." I conclude, then, that a temple exists. Now learn how it will be built in the Lord's name. Before we believed in God, the dwelling of our heart was perishable and weak—truly a hand-built temple—because it was full of idolatry and served as a house of demons, since we did everything contrary to God. But it will be rebuilt in the Lord's name. Pay attention, then, that the Lord's temple may be built gloriously. Learn how: we received forgiveness of sins and put our hope in the name, so we became new, created again from the beginning. Therefore God truly dwells in us, in our inner dwelling. How? His word of faith, his call of promise, the wisdom of his righteous judgments, the commands of his teaching—he himself prophesying in us, he himself living in us—opens for us the door of the temple, which is the mouth, granting us repentance and leading us into the imperishable temple. The one who longs to be saved looks not at the human speaker but at the One who dwells and speaks within him, overcome with awe because he has never heard such words from a mouth before, nor has he ever desired to hear them until now. This is the spiritual temple being built for the Lord.