Bernard has on that page from his site:
- Barnabas4:14 "as the scripture saith, many are called but few are chosen."
It appears "Barnabas" was confused about the origin of this citation, not appearing in the O.T. But in the N.T., it shows in GMatthew and only here:
Mt22:14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."
The alternate view is that Matthew was
already considered to be scripture by the time Barnabas was written.
A possibly parallel situation occurs in 1 Clement:
1 Clement 13.1-4: 1 Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit says, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness"), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spoke, teaching us meekness and long-suffering. For thus He spoke: 2 "Be merciful, that you may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as you do, so shall it be done to you; as you judge, so shall you be judged; as you are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure you measure, with the same it shall be measured to you." 3 By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word says, 4 "On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and who trembles at My words?"
An easy reading of this passage is that "the words of the Lord Jesus" are a
subset of "that which is written" — the sense being that, of the things which have been written, we are to be especially mindful of the particular words spoken by the Lord Jesus on this topic. And "that which is written" is most often a formula used for introducing scripture.