A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the New Testament made on papyrus. To date, over 140 such papyri are known. In general, they are considered the earliest witnesses to the original text of the New Testament.[1]
This elite status among New Testament manuscripts only began in the 20th century. The grouping was first introduced by Caspar René Gregory, who assigned papyri texts the Blackletter character 𝔓 followed by a superscript number. This number refers not to the age of the papyrus, but to the order in which it was registered.[2] Before 1900, only 9 papyri manuscripts were known, and only one had been cited in a critical apparatus (𝔓11 by Constantin von Tischendorf). These 9 papyri were just single fragments, except for 𝔓15, which consisted of a single whole leaf.[3] The discoveries of the twentieth century brought about the earliest known New Testament manuscript fragments.[4]Kenyon in 1912 knew 14 papyri,[5] Aland in his first edition of Kurzgefasste... in 1963 enumerated 76 papyri, in 1989 there were 96 known papyri, and in 2008 124 papyri. As of 2021, a total of 141 papyri are known, although some of the numbers issued were later deemed to be fragments of the same original manuscript.
Among the most important are the Chester Beatty Papyri: 𝔓45, which contains the Gospels and Acts; 𝔓46, which contains the Pauline epistles; and 𝔓47, which contains the Book of Revelation. All of these are thought to date from sometime in the third century.[2]
Also significant are the Bodmer Papyri: 𝔓66, which contains the Gospel of John;[6] and 𝔓75, which contains the Gospels of Luke and John.[7] These early manuscripts are more complete, allowing scholars to better examine their textual character.[8]
Not all of the manuscripts are simply New Testament texts: 𝔓59, 𝔓60, 𝔓63, 𝔓80 are texts with commentaries; 𝔓2, 𝔓3, and 𝔓44 are lectionaries; 𝔓50, 𝔓55, and 𝔓78 are talismans; and 𝔓10, 𝔓12, 𝔓42, 𝔓43, 𝔓62, 𝔓72, and 𝔓99 belong to other miscellaneous texts, such as writing scraps, glossaries, or songs.[9]
The P-numbers are the standard system of Gregory-Aland.
Dates are estimated to the year range shown.
Content is given to the nearest chapter; verses are sometimes listed. Thus, many of the papyri are small fragments, not whole chapters. For instance, 𝔓52 contains 5 verses out of the 40 verses in John chapter 18.
Note: "Early" manuscripts are manuscripts dated firmly from the fourth century or earlier. Roughly half of the papyri are "early". Some manuscripts contain content from more than one New Testament book, so the numbers above do not directly correspond to the total number of manuscripts.
↑ Aland and Aland, The Text of the New Testament (1989), p. 244
↑ In fact, the preservation level of 𝔓66 surprised scholars because the first 26 leaves were basically fully intact, and even the stitching of the binding remained.
Papyrus 104, designated by the symbol 𝔓104, is a fragment that is part of a leaf from a papyrus codex, it measures 2.5 by 3.75 inches at its widest. It is conserved in the Papyrology Rooms at Bodleian Art Library, Oxford, UK. The front (recto) contains lines from the Gospel of Matthew 21:34-37, in Greek, the back (verso) contains tentative traces of lines from verses 43 and 45.
Papyrus 17, signed by 𝔓17, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but only contains verses 9:12-19. The manuscript has been paleographically assigned to the 4th century. However, according to Philip Comfort it is from the late 3rd century.
Papyrus 77, designated by 𝔓77, is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew verses 23:30-39. It is written in Greek and has palaeographically been assigned a date anywhere from the middle 2nd century to the early 3rd century.
Papyrus 101, designated by 𝔓101, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew. The surviving texts of Matthew are verses 3:10-12; 3:16-4:3, they are in a fragmentary condition. The manuscript palaeographically has been assigned to the 3rd century.
Papyrus 102, designated by 𝔓102, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew. The surviving texts of Matthew are verses 4:11-12; 4:22-23, they are in a fragmentary condition. The manuscript palaeographically has been assigned to the 3rd century.
Papyrus 103, designated by 𝔓103, is a copy of part of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew.
Papyrus 105, designated by 𝔓105, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew. The surviving texts of Matthew are verses 27:62-64; 28:2-5, they are in a fragmentary condition. The manuscript has been paleographically estimated to date back to the 5th or 6th century CE.
Papyrus 107, designated by 𝔓107, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John, containing verses 17:1-2 & 17:11 in a fragmentary condition. The manuscript has been paleographically assigned to the early 3rd century CE. The manuscript currently is housed at the Sackler Library at Oxford.
Papyrus 108, designated by 𝔓108, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John, containing verses 17:23-24 and 18:1-5 in a fragmentary condition. The manuscript has been paleographically assigned to the late 2nd or early 3rd Century CE. The manuscript is currently housed at the Papyrology Rooms of the Sackler Library at Oxford University.
Papyrus 110, designated by 𝔓110 is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew, containing verses 10:13-15 & 10:25-27 in a fragmentary condition. Using the study of comparative writings styles (palaeography), the manuscript has been dated by the INTF to the early 4th century CE. Papyrologist Philip Comfort dates the manuscript to Middle-Late 3rd century CE. The manuscript is currently housed in the Papyrology Rooms of the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library at Oxford University, with the shelf number P. Oxy. 4494.
Papyrus 111, designated by 𝔓111, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Luke, containing verses 17:11-13 & 17:22-23 in a fragmentary condition. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated by the INTF to the 3rd century CE. Papyrologist Philip Comfort dates the manuscript to the first half of the 3rd century CE. The manuscript is currently housed at the Sackler Library at Oxford.
Papyrus 112, designated by 𝔓112, is a fragment from a portion of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript from the Acts of the Apostles. The surviving portions are parts of Acts 26:31-32 and, on the other side of the sheet, Acts 27:6-7. It is written in uncial characters of uniform size, without any diacritical marks or spacing between words. ὁ ἄνθρωπος is written in the Nomen Sacrum form ὁ ἄνος, with a single overline. Based on palaeography, the manuscript has been assigned to the 5th century by the INTF.
Papyrus 113, designated by 𝔓113, is a fragment of an early copy of a section of the New Testament in Greek. It comes from a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle to the Romans. The surviving text features parts of Romans 2:12-13 on one side of the fragment and parts of 2:29 on the other.
Papyrus 114, designated by 𝔓114, is a copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Letter to the Hebrews, containing verses 1:7-12 in a fragmentary condition. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), the manuscript has been dated by the INTF to the 3rd century CE. Papyrologist Philip Comfort dates the manuscript to Middle-Late 3rd century CE. The manuscript is currently housed in the Papyrology Rooms of the Sackler Library at Oxford, United Kingdom.
Papyrus 119, designated by 𝔓119, is an early copy of a small part of the New Testament in Greek found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. It is a manuscript of the Gospel of John.
Papyrus 120, designated by 𝔓120, is an early copy of a small part of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John. The surviving texts of John are verses 1:25-28,38-44, they are in a fragmentary condition. The manuscript palaeographically has been assigned to the 4th century (INTF).
Papyrus 121, designated by 𝔓121, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John. The surviving texts of John are only fragments of verses 19:17-18,25-26. They are in very fragmentary condition. The manuscript paleographically has been assigned to the 3rd century by the INTF.
Papyrus 122, designated by 𝔓122, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of John.
Papyrus 127, designated by 𝔓127, is a copy of a small part of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Acts of the Apostles.
A New Testament amulet is an ancient hand-written portion of the New Testament, commonly worn as a charm. The Lord's Prayer is the most common text found on amulets. Also commonly found are the opening verses of each of the four New Testament gospels.
References
Aland, Kurt; Barbara Aland (1995). The Text of The New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Translated by Erroll F. Rhodes (2nded.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN0-8028-4098-1.
K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments, (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1994), p.3-17. ISBN3-11-011986-2
Waltz, Robert. "New Testament Manuscripts: Papyri".A Site Inspired By: The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism. Retrieved on June 22, 2007.
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