Bible Archeology Discoveries

Rylands Library Papyrus P52
Discovered: Egypt
From: (c. AD 125)

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The Rylands Library Papyrus P52, (a.k.a. St John's fragment ), is a fragment from a papyrus codex, measuring only 3.5 by 2.5 inches (8.9 cm × 6.4 cm) conserved at the John Rylands University Library Manchester, UK. The front side contains parts of seven lines from the Gospel of John 18:31–33, in Greek, and the back has parts of seven lines from verses 37–38.

Rylands P52 is generally accepted as the earliest extant record of a canonical New Testament text. The original editor proposed a date range of 100–150 CE, while a recent exercise has proposed a date of 125–175 CE.

The fragment of papyrus was acquired on the Egyptian market in 1920 by Bernard Grenfell, who chose several fragments for the Rylands Library. Since this gospel text would be unlikely to have reached Egypt before c. 100 CE, a date in the first half of the 2nd century was proposed. The closest match to P52 is an undated papyrus of the Iliad conserved in Berlin. The estimated date of this primary comparator hand has been confirmed as being around 100 CE, but other dates have since been suggested ranging into the second half of the 2nd century.

The papyrus is written on both sides and therefore must be from a codex, (a sewn and folded book).

"Pilate therefore said unto them, Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying by what manner of death he should die.
Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?"
John 18:31-33

Select Pages

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Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

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