Papyrus 46

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:New Testament manuscript infobox

File:Bifolio from Paul's Letter to the Romans, the end of Paul's Letter to the Philippians and the beginning of Paul's Letter to the Colossians.jpg

Bifolio from Paul's Letter to the Romans, the end of Paul's Letter to the Philippians and the beginning of Paul's Letter to the Colossians

Papyrus 46, also known as P. Chester Beatty II, is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the Chester Beatty Papyri. It is designated by the siglum Template:Papyrus in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts. Manuscripts among the Chester Beatty Papyri have had several provenances associated with them, the most likely being the Faiyum.<ref>See main Chester Beatty Papyri page for full info.</ref> Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated to between 175 and 225,<ref name="Griffin">Griffin, Bruce W. (1996), "The Paleographical Dating of P-46"</ref> or to the early 3rd century CE.Template:R It contains verses from the Pauline Epistles of Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Hebrews. Some leaves are part of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, and others are in the University of Michigan Papyrus Collection.<ref name="Aland">Template:Cite book</ref>

In November 2020, the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) in conjunction with Hendrickson Publishers released a new 1:1 high-resolution imaged facsimile edition of Template:Papyrus on black and white backgrounds, along with Template:Papyrus link and Template:Papyrus link.<ref>CSNTM, CSNTM and Hendrickson Publishers to Publish Third-Century New Testament Papyri Facsimiles</ref>

DescriptionEdit

The manuscript is a codex (the precursor to the modern book format) made from papyrus in single quire (this being the papyrus leaves placed on top of each other, and folded in half), with the folio size approximately Template:Convert. The text is written in single column, with the text-block averaging Template:Convert, between 26 and 32 lines of text per page, although both the width of the rows and the number of rows per page increase progressively. Lines containing text at the bottom of each page are damaged (known as lacunose), with between 1–2 lines non-extant in the first quarter of the codex, 2–3 lines non-extant in the central half, and up to seven lines non-extant in the final quarter. Though unusual for ancient manuscripts, Template:Papyrus has each page numbered.<ref name="wallace">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Throughout Romans, Hebrews, and the latter chapters of 1 Corinthians, small and thick strokes or dots are found, usually agreed to be from the hand of a reader rather than the initial copyist, since the ink is always much paler than that of the text itself.<ref name="sanders">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp They appear to mark sense divisions (similar to verse numbering found in Bibles), and are also found in portions of Template:Papyrus link, possibly evidence of reading in the community which held both codices. Edgar Ebojo made a case that these "reading marks" with or without space-intervals were an aid to readers, most likely in a liturgical context.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Nomina sacraEdit

Template:Papyrus uses an extensive and well-developed system of nomina sacra.Template:R It contains the following nomina sacra (nominative case examples): Template:Overline (κυριος / Lord) Template:Overline or Template:Overline (χριστος / anointed) Template:Overline (Ιησους / Jesus) Template:Overline (θεος / God) Template:Overline (πνευμα / Spirit) Template:Overline (υιος / Son) Template:Overline (σταυρος / cross).Template:R

The use of nomina sacra has featured in discussions on the dating for Template:Papyrus, with scholar Bruce Griffin arguing against scholar Young Kyu Kim, in part, that such an extensive usage of the nomina sacra system nearly eliminates any possibility of the manuscript dating to the 1st century. He admitted, however, that Kim's dating cannot be ruled out on this basis alone, since the exact provenance of the nomina sacra system itself is not well-established.Template:R

On the other hand, papyrologist Philip Comfort (preferring a date c. 150–75) notes indications the scribe's exemplar made limited use of nomina sacra or none at all.Template:R In several instances, the word for Spirit is written out in full where the context should require a nomen sacrum, suggesting the scribe was rendering nomina sacra where appropriate for the meaning but struggling with Spirit versus spirit, without guidance from the exemplar. The text also inconsistently uses either the short or the long contracted forms of Christ.Template:R

ContentsEdit

Template:Papyrus contains most of the Pauline epistles, though with some folios missing. It contains (in order): the last eight chapters of Romans; Hebrews; 1–2 Corinthians; Ephesians; Galatians; Philippians; Colossians; and two chapters of 1 Thessalonians. All of the leaves have lost some lines at the bottom through deterioration.<ref>Michael Marlowe, Papyrus 46, Bible researcher.</ref>

(CB = Chester Beatty Library; Mich. = University of Michigan)

Folio	Contents	Location
1–7	Romans 1:1–5:17	Missing
8	Rom 5:17–6:14	CB
9-10	Rom 6:14–8:15	Missing
11–15	Rom 8:15–11:35	CB
16–17	Rom 11:35–14:8	Mich.
18 (fragment)	Rom 14:9–15:11	CB
19–28	Rom 15:11–Hebrews 8:8	Mich.
29	Heb 8:9–9:10	CB
30	Heb 9:10–26	Mich.
31–39	Heb 9:26–1 Corinthians 2:3	CB
40	1 Cor 2:3–3:5	Mich.
41–69	1 Cor 3:6–2 Corinthians 9:7	CB
70–85	2 Cor 9:7–end, Ephesians, Galatians 1:1–6:10	Mich.
86–94	Gal 6:10–end, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians 1:1–2:3	CB
95–96	1 Thess 2:3–5:5	Missing
97 (fragment)	1 Thess 5:5, 23–28	CB
98–104	Thought to be 1 Thess 5:28–2 Thessalonians, and possibly Philemon; as for 1–2 Timothy, and Titus (see below)	Missing

Missing contentsEdit

The contents of the seven missing leaves from the end is uncertain as they are lost. Kenyon calculated that 2 Thessalonians would require two leaves, leaving only five remaining leaves (10 pages) for the remaining canonical Pauline literature — 1 Timothy (estimated 8.25 pages), 2 Timothy (6 pages), Titus (3.5 pages) and Philemon (1.5 pages) — requiring ten leaves in total (19.25 pages). Thus Kenyon concluded Template:Papyrus as originally constructed did not include the pastoral epistles.<ref name="keny-p46">Template:Cite book</ref>

Overall, Kenyon was open to different possibilities regarding the contents of the lost leaves at the end of the codex. He entertained the idea that the last five leaves could have been left blank or that additional leaves could have been added to the quire to create space for the pastoral letters.<ref name="nongbri">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1998, Jeremy Duff vigorously argued in favor of Kenyon's second suggestion, emphasizing that the scribe of Template:Papyrus was increasing the number of letters per page in the second half of the codex. Duff argued that this indicated that the scribe intended to include all of the traditional 14-letter collection and would most likely have added extra leaves if the original quire lacked sufficient space. Duff also pointed to several ancient codices that he considered as good evidence for the attachment of additional leaves to codices to allow for the inclusion of more material.<ref name="duff">Template:Cite journal</ref> The relevance of the ancient evidence that Duff presented has been challenged, but a survey of surviving examples of ancient single-quire codices does show evidence for the practice of leaving some blank pages at the end of a codex.<ref name="nongbri"/> However, this survey also showed that single-quire codices sometimes had more inscribed pages in the second half of the codex than in the first half (due to, for example, blank front fly-leaves). This leaves open the possibility that the original quire may have contained the traditional 14-letter collection after all. Brent Nongbri summarizes:

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The question of the contents of the codex as originally constructed thus remains open.

TextEdit

The text of the codex is considered a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. The text-types are groups of different manuscripts which share specific or generally related readings, which then differ from each other group, and thus the conflicting readings can separate out the groups, which are then used to determine the original text as published; there are three main groups with names: Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category I of his New Testament manuscript classification system.Template:R Category I manuscripts are those "of a very special quality, i. e. manuscripts with a very high proportion of the early text... To this category have also been assigned all manuscripts to the beginning of the fourth century, regardless of further distinctions which should also be observed[.]"Template:R

Some notable readings

Romans 8:28

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (God works all things together for good) - Template:Papyrus A B 81 sa eth

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (all things work together for good) - Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Template:Papyrus (singular reading)

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Majority of manuscripts<ref name="ubs3">Template:Cite book (UBS3)</ref>Template:Rp

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (mystery) - Template:Papyrus Template:Larger* Α C 88 436 it^{a, r} syr^p bo

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (salvation) - ℓ 598 ℓ 593 ℓ 599

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (witness) - Template:Larger^c2 B Ψ Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (plausible wisdom) - Template:Papyrus G

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (plausible words of wisdom) - Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (prayer) - Template:Papyrus Template:Papyrus link Template:Larger* Α B G Ψ 6 33 81 104 181 629 630 1739 1877 1881 1962 it vg cop arm eth

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (fasting and prayer) - Template:Larger^c2 0150 256 365 Majority of manuscripts<ref name="na26">Template:Cite book (NA26)</ref>Template:Rp Template:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (by the Spirit) - Template:Papyrus (singular reading)

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (by one Spirit) - A B 0150 33 81 104 436 459 1175 1881 220 2464 vg Template:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (spiritual man) - Template:Papyrus (singular reading)

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (man) - Template:Larger* B C G 0243 33 1739 it vg bo eth

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (man, the Lord) - Template:Larger^c2 A Ψ 81 104 181 Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (deadly perils) - Template:Papyrus 630 1739^c it^{d, e} syr^{p, h} goth

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (a deadly peril) - Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Template:Papyrus (singular reading)

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Template:Papyrus (singular reading)

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

Template:Bibleref

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Template:Papyrus (singular reading)

{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} - Majority of manuscriptsTemplate:R

ProvenanceEdit

The provenance of the papyrus is unknown. Kenyon believed this codex and the other Beatty Biblical Papyri came from the region of the Fayyum.<ref>F. G. Kenyon, The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri: I. General Introduction, (London: E. Walker), 1933, p. 5</ref> The coptologist Carl Schmidt was told that the books were found in "‘Alâlme, a village on the east bank of the Nile in the area of Aṭfiḥ, ancient Aphroditopolis."<ref name="BNongbri">Brent Nongbri, "The Acquisition of the University of Michigan’s Portion of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri and a New Suggested Provenance," Archiv für Papyrusforschung 60/1 (2014) 93-116</ref>Template:Rp However, the archaeologists who bought the University of Michigan's portion of the codex believed that it had come from Asyut (ancient Lykopolis).Template:R Thus, there is no consensus on the precise find spot.

DateEdit

As with all manuscripts dated solely by palaeography, the dating of Template:Papyrus is uncertain. H. A. Sanders, the first editor of parts of the papyrus, proposed a date possibly as late as the second half of the 3rd century.Template:R F. G. Kenyon, editor of the complete editio princeps, preferred a date in the first half of the 3rd century.Template:R The manuscript is now sometimes dated to about 200.<ref>Willker, Wieland "Complete List of Greek NT Papyri" Template:Webarchive Last update: 17.04.2008. Retrieved 26/08/2008.</ref> Young Kyu KimTemplate:Efn has argued for an exceptionally early date of c. 80.<ref>Kim, YK (1988), "Palaeographical Dating of Template:Papyrus to the Later First Century," Biblica, 69:2, p. 248</ref> Kim's dating has been widely rejected.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Comfort">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp <ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Griffin critiqued and disputed Kim's dating,Template:R placing the 'most probable date' between 175 and 225, with a '95% confidence interval' for a date between 150 and 250.<ref>See email from Griffin added in 2005 to Griffin's 1996 paper.</ref>

Comfort and Barrett have claimed Template:Papyrus shares palaeographical affinities with the following:<ref name="tentgm">Comfort, Philip W. and Barrett, David P (2001) 'The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts', Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers Inc.</ref>Template:Rp

P. Oxy. 8 (assigned late 1st or early 2nd century),
P. Oxy. 841 (the second hand, which cannot be dated later than 125–50),
P. Oxy. 1622 (dated with confidence to pre-148, probably during the reign of Hadrian (117–38), because of the documentary text on the verso),
P. Oxy. 2337 (assigned to the late 1st century),
P. Oxy. 3721 (assigned to the second half of the 2nd century),
P. Rylands III 550 (assigned to the 2nd century), and
P. Berol. 9810 (early 2nd century).

They conclude this points to a date during the middle of the 2nd century for Template:Papyrus. More recently, in a wide-ranging survey of the dates of New Testament papyri, P. Orsini and W. Clarysse have assigned Template:Papyrus "to the early third century," specifically "excluding dates in the first or the first half of the second century."<ref name="orsini-clary">Template:Cite journal</ref>