Bible Query – Early Manuscripts of Philemon

April 29, 2012 version

 

Q: In Phm, what are early New Testament manuscripts we have preserved today?

A: Here are many of them.

048 Fifth century per Aland et al. Fourth revised edition.

p87 contains Phm 13-15, 24 (partial) ,25b with gaps (c.125 A.D.) Handwriting is nearly identical to p46. The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts has a photograph of p87 on p.607.

The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts has a photograph of p87 on p.608 says the original editors dated p87 to “early third century” because the handwriting is nearly identical to p46, and p46 used to be thought third century. Since 046 is now known to be earlier this is redated to dated middle to late 2nd century. A second line of evidence is that the letters of both p46 and p87 are nearly identical to Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 841 ( second hand 120-130 A.D.). A third line of evidence is that p87 has “startling similarities” to p52, dated early second century.

p61 Romans 16:23,25-27; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2, 2-6; 5:1-3, 5-6, 9-13; Philippians 3:5-9, 12-16, Colossians 1:3-7, 9-13, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3; Titus 3:1-5, 8-11, 14-15 Philemon 4-7. c.700 A.D.

c.700 A.D. - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament.

About 700 A.D. - 1975 - Aland et al. Third edition.

About 700 A.D. - 1998 - Aland et al. Fourth revised edition.

Sinaiticus [Si] 340-350 A.D.

Philemon was not preserved in Vaticanus [B]

Alexandrinus [A] c.450 A.D.

Bohairic Coptic [Boh] 3rd/4th century

Sahidic Coptic [Sah] 3rd/4th century

Ephraemi Rescriptus [C] 5th century

I Washington D.C. 5th century (Phm 2, others?)

Claromontanus [D] 5th/6th century

Palestinian Syriac [Syr Pal] from c.6th century

Peshitta Syriac [Syr P] 411-435 A.D... Over 350 manuscripts.

Harclean Syriac [Syr H] 616.A.D Thomas of Harkel

048 Fifth century

The Text of the New Testament p.167, written back in 1968, says there are at least 10 uncial manuscripts (with four correctors) and 42 miniscule manuscripts.

 

Q: In Phm, what are the textual variations with the Textus Receptus, the basis for the KJV?

A: Jay P. Green, Sr. in the Interlinear Bible records variations in approximately 5 words between the Textus Receptus and the majority text. These are in 4 places. (Philemon 6,7,12,17, with two words in verse 12) Green does not record any additional alternates.

 

Q: In Phm, what are some of the textual variations?

A: Paul’s Letter to Philemon has a total of 335 Greek words in 25 verses. This is the count in both Aland et al. 3rd edition and Aland et al. 4th revised edition, including 1 word in brackets. The text of the 3rd edition is on-line at http://www.greekbible.com. Philemon has an estimated word-for-word accuracy of 98.2%, with 6 words in question. These are in 4 verses (5 places).

   Below are the variations with the primary choice and the top alternate choice. Aland et al. 4th revised edition and 3rd edition, from which this primarily is based, also give a judgment of the degree of certainty per variation. The list below does not include many places where the evidence for a particular reading is so strong that the alternatives are very unlikely. See the next question for which manuscripts support which variants.

Phm 2 “the sister” (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, original Claromontanus, some Sahidic Coptic, Bohairic Coptic) vs. “the beloved” (Corrected Claromontanus, Byzantine Lectionary, a Sahidic manuscript, Chrysostom)

Phm 6 “our” vs. “your (plural)”

Phm 9 “old man” (all manuscripts) vs. “an ambassador” (only a conjecture, not in a manuscript. So this is not actually a manuscript variant in Metzger’s A Textual Commentary on the New Testament. 1 word not counted in the totals)

Phm 12 “whom I sent back yours” vs. “whom I sent back to you” (2 words)

Phm 25a “Lord” vs. “our Lord” (Sinaiticus does not have “our” and Alexandrinus and the Byzantine Lectionary do) (p87 has a gap here)

Phm 25b Add the word “amen” at the end (Aland, NRSV) (Alexandrinus does not have “amen” and Sinaiticus and the Byzantine Lectionary do. p87 c.125 A.D. also has amen at the end)

Phm 25c no subscript vs. “To Philemon” (Sinaiticus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, some Ethiopic) vs. “To Philemon written from Rome, by/of/through/via Onesimus a servant.” (Later manuscripts) 2 words not counted in the totals.

Bibliography for this question: The Greek New Testament Third Edition by Kurt Aland et al., The Greek New Testament Fourth Edition by Kurt Aland et al., Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry, the Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary volume 8, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament 2nd edition by Bruce M. Metzger, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture by Bart Ehrman, The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts edited by Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Expositor’s Greek Testament edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, and footnotes in the NASB, NIV, NKJV, and NRSV Bible translations. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible : An Introduction to Paleography by Bruce M. Metzger also has interesting information on the characteristics and quality of the copying of each manuscript.

 

Q: In Phm, how do the early manuscripts compare with each other?

A: The table below shows each of the places in question, and the number says which variant is in each manuscript.

This chart shows variants of early writers and manuscripts of Philemon. The darker the shading the later the writing. Shaded verses mean we are virtually certain of the correct reading. For each verse, the variant Aland et al. views as correct is labeled as “1”, the next choice “2”, and so on. Corrections to manuscripts by later scribes are not included. “A” after a choice simply means the choice with the fewest words. A question mark means it is probably but not certain the manuscript had these words. Parentheses means fragmentary or hard to read. Where there is more than one number, such as “1 /2?”, this means that one or more manuscripts in the family give the first choice, and one or more manuscripts are not clear, but appear to give the second choice. A parenthesis, such as (6), means that through translation or loss of letters are not sure, but it appears to support reading 6.

Place of variant

words

048

p61

p87

Si

A

C

D

I

Bohairic

Vulgate

Pelagius

Jerome

Chrysostom

Ethiopic

Armenian

Georgian

Syr H

Syr Pal

Sahidic

Ital b

Ital d

Syr P

Byzant.

Phm 2

1

1

-

-

1

1

-

1

1

1

1/ 2?/3

1

1

1

(1)

1

1/ 3

3

-

1?/2?

1/ 3

-

(2)

2

Phm 6

1

1?

2

-

2

1

1

1

-

2

2/ 3?

1

1

1/2

(3)

2

-

2

-

2

2

1

2

1/2

Phm 12

2

5

-

-

1

1

2

4

-

(6)

4/ 6?

4

(4)

4?/(6)

-

(6)

(6)

(4)

(4)

(6)

(5)

(5)

(6)

4

Phm 25a

1

-

-

-

1

2

2

2

-

2

1?/2

-

-

2

2

1

2

1

1

2

1

2

2

2

Phm 25b

1 amen

1?

-

1

2

1

2

1

-

½

1?/2/3

-

1

2

-

1?

2

2

2

1

2

1

2

2

postscript

2

-

-

1A

-

2

2

3

-

-

-

-

 

-

1A/2

-

-

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

Place of variant

Words

048

p61

p87

Si

A

C

D

I

Bohairic

Vulgate

Pelagius

Jerome

Chrysostom

Ethiopic

Armenian

Georgian

Syr H

Syr Pal

Sahidic

Ital b

Ital d

Syr P

Byzant.