Oxyrhynchus Gospels

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The Oxyrhynchus Gospels are two fragmentary manuscripts (British Library accession numbers 840 and 1224), discovered among the rich finds of discarded papyri at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Unknown to most laymen, they throw light on early non-canonical Gospel traditions.

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[edit] Oxyrhynchus 840

Oxyrhynchus 840, found in 1905, is a single small vellum parchment leaf with 45 lines of text written on both sides in a tiny neat hand that dates it to the 4th century, almost square, less than 10 cm across. The book itself may well have been an amulet before this page was lost. The script is fourth century; the text probably dates from before 200, but no more is determinable from this evidence.

The fragment begins with the end of a warning to an evildoer who plans ahead, but who doesn't take the next life into account. There follows a story about Jesus' encounter with "a Pharisee, a leading priest" who tries to order Jesus and the disciples out of the Temple as ritually unclean. Jesus responds by contrasting ritual cleanliness, gotten by bathing with water used by dogs and pigs, like a harlot, against the life-giving water that comes down from heaven in baptism.

Jesus is called "Savior" (Greek: Σωτήρ), which is rare in the New Testament, but not unparalleled.[1] The author of the fragment also believes that laymen have to change their clothes to enter the temple, for which there is no other evidence. The author is distinctly hostile to Judaism, but if he knows little about it, the text is presumably not from Judea. Syria has been suggested.[2]

[edit] Oxyrhynchus 1224

Oxyrhynchus 1224 consists of two small papyrus fragments from the late 3rd or early 4th century. It contains six passages, each about a sentence. Two of the longer ones are parallel to Matthew 2:15 and Luke 11:23, but the differences in phrasing show they are textually independent of the Gospels. Date of composition is unknown; 50 is possible.[3]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ e.g. Luke 1:69, 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:31, 13:23
  2. ^ Sellew's note to 2:2; for Syria, see this site.
  3. ^ Miller's introduction, Complete Gospels, p.416, and notes to fragments 5 and 6.
  • Grenfell, Bernard P. and Arthur S. Hunt, Fragments of an Uncanonical Gospel
  • The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version gen. ed. Robert J. Miller; Sonoma CA: Polebridge 1992. ISBN 0944344291 Oxy. 840 is introduced and translated by Philip Sellew, p.412-5, Oxy. 1224 by Prof. Miller (after a draft by Thomas J. Crossan), pp. 416-8. English only; no Greek text given.