Program / Course 4: Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics / Lesson 3.1
What you will learn
- Describe the materials and book forms used for early copies of the New Testament.
- Explain what a manuscript is and name the main types of Greek manuscript.
- Give a sense of how many manuscripts survive and how early the earliest are.
- Explain how the habits of scribes produced both accuracy and variation.
The big idea
For about fourteen centuries the New Testament was copied by hand. The earliest copies were written on papyrus in the form of a codex, a book with pages. Later copies were made on parchment, then paper. Thousands of Greek manuscripts survive, along with many in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and other languages. Copying by hand produced remarkable accuracy and also many small differences. Understanding the people and materials behind the manuscripts is the first step in understanding the text.
Key terms
- Manuscript
- A handwritten copy of a text. The word comes from Latin words for hand and written.
- Papyrus
- A writing material made from the stems of a reed that grew in Egypt. It survives mostly in dry climates.
- Parchment (vellum)
- Writing material made from animal skin. It was more durable and became the main material from the fourth century.
- Codex
- A book of pages fastened along one edge, in contrast to a scroll. Christians adopted the codex early and widely.
- Uncial (majuscule)
- A style of writing in capital letters, used in manuscripts until about the ninth century.
- Minuscule
- A smaller, joined style of writing that became standard from about the ninth century. Most surviving Greek manuscripts are minuscules.
- Nomina sacra
- Latin for sacred names. The practice of writing certain holy words, such as God, Lord, Jesus and Christ, in abbreviated form with a line above.
- Scribe
- A person who copies texts by hand, whether a trained professional or an ordinary literate believer.
Background
The authors of the New Testament wrote on papyrus, the common writing material of the ancient Mediterranean. None of the original documents, which are called autographs, survives. What we have are copies, and copies of copies. The earliest fragments come from the second century, and fuller copies of single books and collections from the third. The oldest nearly complete manuscripts of the whole New Testament are from the fourth century.
The early Christians favored the codex over the scroll. A codex held more text, was easier to carry and to consult, and could contain the four gospels or the letters of Paul in a single volume. Scholars debate why Christians adopted the codex so early and so widely, since the scroll remained standard for other literature for a long time. Whatever the reason, the Christian preference for the codex shaped the history of the book.
Most of the surviving manuscripts come from long after the first century. This fact can be misunderstood in two ways. One reader hears it as a reason for doubt, and another as a reason for confidence. A careful student asks what the evidence shows and how it compares with other ancient writings. In comparison with other works of the ancient world, the New Testament is attested by far more manuscripts and by earlier ones.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Meet the papyri
About 130 papyrus manuscripts of parts of the New Testament are known. They are cataloged with the letter P and a number. The best known are P52, a small fragment of John 18 in the John Rylands Library, dated by most scholars to the first half of the second century, though the precise date is debated; P46, a codex of Paul’s letters, dated by many to around the year 200; and P66 and P75, early codices of John and Luke with John. These survive mostly because they were preserved in the dry sands of Egypt. They are valuable because they show the text in a time before the standard fourth century forms.
Step 2: Follow the move to parchment and the great codices
In the fourth century, Christianity gained legal recognition and the demand for Bibles grew. Parchment became the main material. Two of the finest copies, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, come from this period. Each was written in uncial letters by trained scribes, and each originally held the whole Greek Bible and much or all of the New Testament. Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Bezae followed in the fifth century. Codex Sinaiticus includes the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas after the books of the New Testament, a reminder that the canon was not yet fixed in every community.
From about the ninth century, a new style of small joined letters called minuscule was adopted. It was faster and cheaper to write. Most of the several thousand surviving Greek manuscripts are minuscules, copied in monasteries and workshops across the Byzantine world.
Step 3: Count the evidence
Scholars count more than five thousand Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, whole or in part, with more than ten thousand in Latin and many more in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic and other languages. Writings of the church fathers quote the New Testament so extensively that much of it could be reconstructed from their quotations. The numbers change slightly as new items are cataloged, so treat any figure as approximate.
The evidence is plentiful, but it is uneven. We have more manuscripts from later centuries than from earlier ones, and some regions and times are well represented while others are not. Textual critics must keep both the numbers and the gaps in mind.
Step 4: Think about the scribes
Who made the copies? In the earliest centuries many scribes were ordinary Christians who could write, not trained professionals. Their copies can be careful but sometimes show signs of haste. Later, in monastic scriptoria and professional workshops, scribes worked under rules and with correctors. Some added notes, called colophons, at the end of a book, and some gave their name. In Romans 16:22, a man named Tertius says he wrote down the letter, which is a reminder that even Paul’s letters were often written through a secretary.
Copying by eye or by dictation can introduce mistakes. A scribe might skip from one line to a similar line, mishear a word, or smooth a hard phrase. On the other hand, scribes also showed great care. Many corrected their own errors, and later correctors compared copies with another exemplar. The next lessons show how scholars use this knowledge to sort the variants.
- What material and form is this manuscript, and what does that tell me about its date?
- Is the manuscript a papyrus, an uncial or a minuscule?
- Does it contain a whole book, a collection or a fragment?
- Who likely copied it, and was the work careful or hurried?
- How far is it, in time, from the writing of the original?
- How does it compare with the other copies of the same passage?
Examples
P52
P52 is a piece of papyrus about the size of a credit card, with a few verses of John 18 on each side. Because it is written on both sides, it came from a codex and not a scroll. Most scholars date it to the early or mid second century. It is not evidence of a complete gospel, but it shows that John was circulating in Egypt not long after it was written.
Nomina sacra
In early manuscripts, words such as God, Lord, Jesus and Christ are written in short form, for example the first and last letters with a bar above. The practice shows a shared habit among Christian scribes in many places, and it is one of the signs that a papyrus is Christian. It also reminds us that the text on the page is not a plain transcript of speech.
Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus was discovered at the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in the nineteenth century, and its pages are now divided among several libraries and have been published online. It was corrected by several hands over the centuries, which shows how a copy could be revised again and again.
Different perspectives
Protestant evangelical
Many evangelical scholars, such as the authors of traditional defenses of the New Testament’s reliability, point to the number and early date of the manuscripts as strong reasons for confidence in the text. They accept that variants exist but hold that they rarely affect doctrine.
Catholic
Catholic teaching holds that Scripture is inspired in its original form, and it honors the work of textual critics, who help the church to know what was written. Catholic scholars work alongside others in the major critical editions, and the church also gives a high place to the Latin Vulgate in its tradition.
Orthodox
Orthodox churches have used the Byzantine form of the Greek text in worship for many centuries, and many Orthodox hold it in high regard. Orthodox scholars also take part in critical study, and they recognize the value of earlier witnesses.
Scholarly
Textual scholars such as Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman, who disagree about some conclusions, agree on the main facts: there are thousands of manuscripts, many variants, and a small number of variants that affect meaning. They differ in how they describe what it means for the question of the original wording.
Why it matters
Every English Bible is based on a Greek text assembled from manuscripts. If you understand how manuscripts were made, you can read footnotes without alarm, ask intelligent questions of claims made online, and see the strengths and limits of the evidence. You also see how ordinary people, copying carefully by hand over centuries, passed the books on to us.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: We have the original manuscripts of the New Testament.
Correction: None of the autographs survives. We have copies, the earliest being fragments from the second century.
Misunderstanding: Because the manuscripts are late, we cannot know what the New Testament said.
Correction: The gap is real but small compared with most ancient works, and the number of manuscripts allows comparison. Scholars can recover the wording with confidence in most places and say plainly where they cannot.
Misunderstanding: Medieval monks changed the text on purpose to suit their beliefs.
Correction: Some scribes did make deliberate changes, and scholars identify cases. But most differences are accidents or small improvements, and the evidence of many manuscripts allows scholars to detect the changes.
Misunderstanding: The number of manuscripts proves that the text is perfectly preserved.
Correction: The number gives scholars material for comparison. It does not remove variants, and it does not by itself settle every question.
Knowledge check
What is a codex and why did early Christians favor it?
A codex is a book made of pages fastened along one edge. Christians adopted it early. It could hold more text, was easy to carry and consult, and allowed a collection such as the four gospels in one volume. Scholars debate the exact reasons for the preference.
Distinguish uncial and minuscule manuscripts.
Uncials are written in capital letters and were used until about the ninth century. Minuscules are written in a smaller joined hand and became standard afterward. Most surviving Greek manuscripts are minuscules.
Name two early papyri and what they show.
P52 is a small fragment of John 18, dated to the early or mid second century, which shows John circulating early. P46 is a codex of Paul’s letters from about 200, which shows the letters collected in a single volume. Other papyri such as P66 and P75 are also correct examples.
Why does copying by hand produce both accuracy and variation?
Scribes were generally careful and often corrected their work, which gives accuracy. But copying by eye or ear invites mistakes such as skipping lines or mishearing words, and some scribes smoothed difficult wording, so differences accumulated across thousands of copies.
Think it through
- How would you feel if told that no original manuscripts of the New Testament survive?
- What differences would you expect between a copy made by an amateur and one made by a trained scribe?
- Why might a community make careful copies of a letter it regards as sacred?
- What other ancient works survive in far fewer manuscripts, and how does that change your view of the evidence?
Independent assignment
A manuscript profile
Choose one manuscript named in this lesson, such as P52, P46, Codex Vaticanus or Codex Sinaiticus. Using a reference work or a library resource, find its date, material, language, contents and present location. In your notebook, write 250 to 350 words describing it and saying what questions it can help answer and what questions it cannot. Mark any detail you are unsure of. Keep the work in your notebook.
Further study
- Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration Read the chapters on the materials and the manuscripts.
- F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? A traditional introduction to the early manuscript evidence.
- Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Read the early chapters for the setting of the early churches.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament Read for the way early lists and manuscripts relate.
- Romans 16:22 Tertius, who wrote the letter.
- Colossians 4:16 Letters read and shared among churches.
- 2 Timothy 4:13 Paul asks for the books and especially the parchments.