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CODICES

Posted: October 21st, 2023, 11:35 am
by AJAL2112
If there are no papyri or parchments containing the complete texts of the gospels and letters, but only fragments of them, how then are there, for example, practically entire Sinaitic and Vatican codices!?

Re: CODICES

Posted: October 22nd, 2023, 5:42 am
by S Walch
I mean not really a B-Greek question, but the answer to your question is that the codices were copied from manuscripts which now no longer exist, or have yet to be rediscovered, and the larger codices were put in locations where being destroyed or falling into decay was either unlikely or minimal.

Plus I should point out the Sinai and Vatican codices are made of parchment, so the first part of your question is half wrong. Also the papyri codices P45, P46, P47, P66, P72 and P75 have rather large chunks of the NT preserved (nearly the entirety of John in P66; most of Paul's letters in P46; most of chapters 9-16 + bit of 17 of Rev in P47; and P72 contains the complete text of 1-2 Peter and Jude; P75 contains most of Luke from Luke 3-24 and the first 15 chapters of John; and P45 contains significant sections from Luke, Mark, and Acts, with some bits of Matt and John), hence it's not as if the NT is entirely on "fragments" of papyri before the larger codices are dated to have been made. :)