The Earliest Manuscripts The Bible Versions Study

Materials Timeline 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 Papyrus: 1st Century - beginning 4th Century Vellum: 4th Cent. - 9th Cent. Vellum & Paper: 9th Cent. - 15th Cent. Gutenberg’s printing press, c. 1439 Hand-copied manuscripts ceased with the introduction of printing.

Major papyri discoveries 1778 - Arabs 40-50 rolls, largely ignored 1877 - first large scale discovery, mostly fragments 1890 - famous work of Aristotle discovered 1897 - Oxyrhyncus - “tons” of papyri discovered in Egypt Oldest portions of NT ever discovered Linguistic importance Manuscript importance

Most important papyri Chester Beatty Papyrus I (P45) Chester Beatty Papyrus II (P46) Chester Beatty Papyrus III (P47)

Most important papyri John Rylands Papyrus - earliest known portion of the NT

The Great Uncials Vellum manuscripts (mss) ALL CAPITALS 212 known as of 1943 Many just fragments Most important are intact or nearly intact copies of the whole New Testament

The Primary Uncials Codex Vaticanus (“B” or “03”)

Codex Sinaiticus (“Aleph” or “01”) The Primary Uncials Codex Sinaiticus (“Aleph” or “01”)

The Primary Uncials Codex Alexandrinus (“A” or “02”) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (“C” or “04”)

The Primary Uncials Codex Bezae (“D” or “05”) Codex Washingtonianus I (“W” or “032”)