Verso of papyrus 𝔓³⁷

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]

Every papyrus is cited in Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece.

List of all registered New Testament papyri

• 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.

• Digital images are referenced with direct links to the hosting web pages. The quality and accessibility of the images is as follows:

Distribution based on content

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.

See also

Lists

• Categories of New Testament manuscripts
• List of artifacts significant to the Bible
• List of Egyptian papyri by date
• List of New Testament uncials
• List of New Testament minuscules
• List of New Testament lectionaries
• List of New Testament amulets
• List of New Testament Latin manuscripts
• List of New Testament Church Fathers

Other articles

• Novum Testamentum Graece
• Oxyrhynchus papyri
• Palaeography
• Papyrology
• Textual criticism

Notes

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 (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-4098-1.
• Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece. 27th ed. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1996
• 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. ISBN 3-11-011986-2
• "Continuation of the Manuscript List" INTF, University of Münster. Retrieved February 4, 2010
• Nestle-Aland. Novum Testamentum Graece. 27th ed. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Druck: 1996, p. 57-63, 684-689
• Law, David R. The Historical-Critical Method: A Guide for the Perplexed, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.

External links

• Dr. J. Lyle Story, professor of Biblical Languages. NT Source Documents & History - Papyri. Retrieved February 27, 2020
• Seid, Timothy. "A Table of Greek Manuscripts". Interpreting Ancient Manuscripts. Retrieved June 22, 2007.
• Peter M. Head, Early Greek Bible Manuscript Project: NT Mss. on Papyrus
• Waltz, Robert. "New Testament Manuscripts: Papyri". A Site Inspired By: The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism. Retrieved on June 22, 2007.
• Willker, Wieland. "Complete List of Greek NT Papyri" Last Update: 17 April 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
• New Testament Transcripts Prototype
• Wieland Willker, A Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels: Fragmentary papyri
• Images of manuscripts
• Institut für Altertumskunde (in German)