Ancient Manuscripts How Are They Dated?/Treasure From a Rubbish Heap

In 1920 the John Rylands Library of Manchester, England, acquired a pile of pyruses  newly unearthed in an ancient Egyptian rubbish heap.  While examining the items, which included letters, receipts, and census documents, scholar Colin Roberts saw a fragment inscribed with text he recognized-a few verses from John chapter 18.  It was the earliest Christian Greek text identified up to that time. 

The fragment came to be known as the John Rylands Papyrus 457, internationally designated as P52 .  Penned in Greek uncials, it has been dated to the early second century-within just a few decades of the original writing of the Gospel of John! Significantly, the text agrees almost exactly with that found in  much later manuscripts. 

Ancient but Accurate!

In his book The Bible and Archaeology, British critic Sir Frederic Kenyon wrote concerning the Christian Greek Scriptures:  "Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established."  Similarly, regarding the integrity of the Hebrew Scriptures, scholar William H. Green stated:  "It may be safely said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted." 

Those observations call to mind the words of the apostle Peter:  "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like a blossom of grass; the grass becomes withered, and the flower falls off, but the say of Jehovah endures forever." -1 Peter 1:24, 25. 

Next time: Over 120 Years to Cross a Continent

From the Awake! magazine