Papyrus 66
Papyrus 66, π66, is the earliest near-complete copy of the Gospel of John, estimated to date from A.D. 100-200 by multiple biblical experts. Papyrus 66 is a remarkable independent corroboration, found far away in Egypt, which corroborates more than 95% of the authenticity and integrity of the Gospel of John as found in the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. (The even older Papyrus 52 is merely a fragment of a few verses.)
This manuscript reportedly includes John 1:1β6:11, John 6:35bβ14:26 and 29β30, John 15:2β26, John 16:2β4 and 6β7, John 16:10β20:20, 22β23, and 25-31, and John 21:1-9, 12 and 17. The Adulteress story is not there, and most of the John ending of Chapter 21 is lacking, which is highly suggestive that neither were in this original Gospel.
The ending of Chapter 20 is on one page (the first of a new leaf), and then there is an unusual blank gap for the rest of the page. Fragments of today's Chapter 21 then begin on a different page, which was not the common practice except for text added later.[1]
This Papyrus consists of 39 folios. That totals 78 leaves, which is 156 pages. The leaf size is 14.2 by 16.2 cm apiece, containining about 15 to 25 lines per page.
Omissions
There is very little that is omitted in this early text compared with the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. The omissions, listed below, raise a potential issues for further investigation as to their authenticity as found in later manuscripts (the longest omissions are in bold below):
- John 6:12-35a (23.5 verses), see John 6:12-35
- This first ten omitted verses (John 6:12-21 ) is a copy, sometimes verbatim, from Mark 6:43-52 , but John did not have access to the Gospel of Mark (and vice-versa). Thus the omission of these ten verses from this earliest manuscript and their close similarity to ten verses in the Gospel of Mark strongly suggest that these verses were inserted later into the Gospel of John by a scribe copying from the Gospel of Mark.
- Most of the remainder of this omitted passage is a repetition of John 6:47-51
- John 14:27-28, 31 (3 verses), see John 14:27-28
- These two verses (27-28) appear to be off-key in several ways. The do not say "peace be with you," but rather "my peace I give to you"; these verses criticize the Apostles for not rejoicing that Jesus is leaving them; and these verses state that "for the Father is greater than I [Jesus]" when they are one and the same under the Trinity.
- verse 31 seems off-key as well: "but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. ..." The Passion is not understood as being primarily intended to prove that Jesus loved the Father.
- John 15:1, 27 (2 verses), see John 15:1-27
- John 16:1, 5, 8-9 (3 verses), see John 16:1-9
- John 20:21, 24 (2 verses), see 20 21-24
- John 21, of which is omitted: John 21:10-11, 13-16, 18-25, see John 21:10-25 and John ending
Aside from the disputable John 21, only 33.5 verses out of a total of 854 verses in this very early Egyptian manuscript are not in the Gospel of John chapters 1-20. Less than 5% of later manuscripts is missing in this very early manuscript discovered hundreds of miles away in Egypt. This is a remarkable independent confirmation of the authenticity and preserved integrity of the Gospel of John.
Date Estimates
A superb online analysis of this manuscript provides the following dates by biblical experts:[2]
- 100-150 Herbert Hunger
- 100-150 Philip W. Comfort
- 175-225 Bruce M. Metzger
- 175-225 Daniel B. Wallace
- 200 Victor Martin
- 200-225 Kurt and Barbara Aland
- 200-250 Eric G. Turner
Discovery
This ancient manuscript was discovered in Egypt, in 1952, near Dishna at Pabau.
The Cologny-Geneva, Switzerland: Bibliotheca Bodmerians, maintains this manuscript today.
See also
- J. Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum
- Uploaded entire copy of Papyrus 66
- A transcription of each page of P66 can be found at Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts: Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, 2 Volume Set The (English and Greek Edition) (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2019), Vol. II, pages 388-468. See Discussion of Papyrus 66
