The investigat

ion of Scripture

What does scholarship have to teach us?

It helps us discover…

what the text says

how it was put together

if its claims are true

what the words mean

what’s in the background

what the text says

which manuscripts are best?

which readings are correct?

how was the text transmitted?

200 250 300 350 450 Matthew P45 B Sin. Mark P45 B Sin. A Luke P4,P45,P75 B Sin. A John P66 P45,P75 B Sin. A Acts P45 B Sin. A Romans-Hebrews P46 B Sin. A James-Jude P72,B Sin. A Apocalypse P47 Sin. A

The most important early manuscripts...

B = VaticanusSin = SinaiticusA = Alexandrinus

P52 – the Rylands fragment of John

Chester Beatty Romans (180 AD at

latest)

P45: Chester Beatty’s Luke , about 250 ADEarliest mss with parts of all 4 Gospels and Acts

Chester Beatty’s Revelation fragment , about 250 AD

Contains chs 9-17

Bodmer Papyri (P66, P72, P75)

from 200 A.D. or earlier

contains 104 leaves P66 contains the Gospel of John 1:1-6:11, 6:35-14:26, 14-21.

P72 has the earliest known copy of Jude, I Peter, and 2 Peter

P75 contains most of Luke and John dated between 175 and 225 AD. Earliest known copy of Luke. Martin Bodmer

Another Bodmer find – the earliest ever copy of 1 Peter (second century)

Bodmer 14 and 15 were bought by the Vatican in 2006...

They contain the earliest Luke, the earliest John after Rylands, and the earliest copy of the Lord’s Prayer...

How should Mark end?

The traditional ending?At verse 8?The short ending?Both of them?The expanded longer ending?

"But they reported briefly to those with Peter all that had been commanded them. And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them from the East even to the West the sacred and incorruptible message of eternal salvation."

"And they excused themselves, saying, 'This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits [or, does not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God]. Therefore reveal thy righteousness now — thus they spoke to Christ. And Christ replied to them, 'The term of years of Satan's power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was delivered over to death, that they may return to the truth and sin no more, in order that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness which is in heaven.' "

Eusebius and Jerome, well aware of such variation in the witnesses, discussed which form of text was to be preferred. It is noteworthy, however, that neither Father suggested that one form was canonical and the other was not. Furthermore, the perception that the canon was basically closed did not lead to a slavish fixing of the text of the canonical books… There seems to be good reason, therefore, to conclude that, though external and internal evidence is conclusive against the authenticity of the last twelve verses as coming from the same pen as the rest of the Gospel, the passage ought to be accepted as part of the canonical text of Mark.

Bruce Metzger

how it was put together

who wrote it?

what resource materials were used?

what sort of literature is it?

if its claims are true

are there conflicting statements?did something unusual happen?are the details authentic?

All that’s left of Caiaphas

S A T O R

A R E P O

T E N E T

O P E R A

R O T A S

APATER

A P A T E R N O S T E R OOSTERO

what the words mean

how was this word used at the time?

does it have a special sense?

does it appear in the other Testament?

monog

enes

arrabo

n

dikaio

syne

shalom

Welcome to Hell…

what’s in the background

what culture does this come from?

what were others doing at the time?

what were opponents saying?

The contents

of Scripture

And after the break:

Is the Bible really free from mistakes?