Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
As followers of Christ and believers in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, the materials used in the original transmission of these holy texts bear a significance that echoes through history. One such material, papyrus, has played an irreplaceable role in preserving the New Testament. As early as the Exodus, papyrus was already used as a writing material.
In the case of the New Testament papyri manuscripts, our early evidence for the Greek New Testament, size is irrelevant. They range from centimeters encompassing a couple of verses to a codex with many books of the New Testament. But all of them add something significant.
Papyrus 26 designated by P26, is an early copy of the New Testament Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle to the Romans. It contains only Romans 1:1-16. The manuscript paleographically has been assigned to c. 600 C.E.
Papyrus is a tall, aquatic reed, the pith of which is cut into strips, laid in a crosswork pattern, and glued together to make a page for writing. The papyrus rolls of Egypt have been used as a writing surface since the early third millennium BC.
Papyrus 17 (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.