Papyrus P52: A Fragment the Size of a Credit Card

Bernard Grenfell acquired a group of papyri on the Egyptian market in 1920, and began preparing some for publication before illness stopped him. Among the group he acquired was a fragment generally accepted as the earliest extant record of a canonical New Testament text, though its date is debated.

Scripture: Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die. Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

In John's account it is early, outside the Praetorium, where Pilate hears the case. This fragment preserves parts of the verses you just heard, as he turns to question Jesus.

Grenfell acquired it in 1920, among a group of fragments on the Egyptian market. The sources give no exact findspot. He chose several for the Rylands Library, but became too ill to complete preparing them for publication.

It is about the size of a credit card: 8.9 by 6.4 centimetres at its widest. Parts of seven lines survive on the front, and parts of seven on the back.

The front holds verses 31 to 33, the back verses 37 and 38. Writing on both sides means it came from a codex, a sewn, folded book rather than a scroll.

Scripture: Colin Roberts continued the work, publishing the first transcription in 1935. He found comparable hands from the late 1st to mid 2nd century, and thought the gospel unlikely to reach Egypt before about 100 CE, so he proposed the first half of the second century.

Dating is still debated. A recent study by Orsini and Clarysse proposed 125 to 175. A few scholars say the later second or early third century can't be ruled out, since handwriting alone is hard to date.

Today it is conserved with the Rylands Papyri at the John Rylands University Library, Manchester.

A page fragment the size of a credit card. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow along for the next find.