Papyrus 4

 

It is one of the earliest manuscripts (along with 𝔓⁷⁵)^[1] of the Gospel of Luke and contains extensive sections of its first six chapters.^[2] It is currently housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Suppl. Gr. 1120) in Paris.

It contains texts of Luke: 1:58-59; 1:62-2:1; 2:6-7; 3:8-4:2; 4:29-32, 34-35; 5:3-8; 5:30-6:16

The Greek text-type of this codex is a representative of the Alexandrian. Aland placed it in Category I.^[3] There is agreement with 𝔓⁷⁵ in 93%.^[4]

Notable readings

In Luke 6:2 — οὐκ ἔξεστιν (not lawful) for οὐκ ἔξεστιν ποιεῖν (not lawful to do); the reading is supported only by Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, (Codex Bezae), Codex Nitriensis, 700, lat, cop^sa, cop^bo, arm, geo;^[5]

Some early accounts stated that 𝔓⁴ was used as stuffing for the binding of a codex of Philo, written in the late third century and found walled up in a house at Coptos.^[6] Apparently this account was incorrect, however, as the fragments were actually found stashed between pages of the codex of Philo, not in the binding.^[7]

Philip Comfort and David Barret in their book Text of the Earliest NT Greek Manuscripts argue that 𝔓⁴ came from the same codex as 𝔓⁶⁴⁺⁶⁷, the Magdalen papyrus, and date the texts to 150-175.^[8] Willker tentatively agrees stating 'The [3rd century] dating given is that of NA. Some date it into the 2nd CE (e.g. Roberts and Comfort). This is quite probable considering the use as binding material for a 3rd CE codex'.^[2] Comfort and Barret also show that 𝔓⁴ and 𝔓⁶⁴⁺⁶⁷ have affinities with a number of late 2nd century papyri.^[9] Roberts (1979), Skeat (1997),^[10] Willker^[2] and Stanton^[11] also date the text to the late 2nd century, leading Gregory to conclude that '[t]here is good reason to believe that 𝔓⁴ ... may have been written late in the 2nd century...'.^[10] Frederic Kenyon dated 𝔓⁴ to the fourth century. In 2018, Brent Nongbri argued that it was not possible with current knowledge to date 𝔓⁴ to a specific century, and that any dates from the 2nd to 4th centuries were equally reasonable.^[12] Charlesworth has concluded 'that 𝔓⁶⁴⁺⁶⁷ and 𝔓⁴, though written by the same scribe, are not from the same ... codex.'^[13]

• List of New Testament papyri
• Luke 1–6

• Charlesworth, SD (2007) T. C. Skeat, P64+67 and P4, and the Problem of Fibre Orientation in Codicological Reconstruction, New Test. Stud. Vol.53, pp. 582–604, doi:10.1017/S002868850700029X
• Comfort, Philip W. "New Reconstructions and Identifications of New Testament Papyri," Novum Testamentum, Vol. 41, Fasc. 3., (Jul., 1999) pp. 214–230.
• Comfort, Philip W.; David P. Barrett (2001). The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers. pp. 46–71. ISBN 978-0-8423-5265-9.
• Gregory, A. The Reception of Luke and Acts in the Period Before Irenaeus, Mohr Siebeck, (2003) ISBN 3-16-148086-4, p. 28
• C. R. Gregory, Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament, Hinrichs, p. 45.
• Head, P. M. (2005), Is P4, P64 and P67 the Oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels? A Response to T. C. Skeat, New Test. Stud. 51, pp. 450–457, doi:10.1017/S0028688505000238
• Roberts, Colin. Manuscript, Society, and Belief in Early Christian Egypt Longwood (June 1979) ISBN 0-85672-710-5 pp. 8+23
• Skeat, T. C. (1997), The Oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels?, New Test. Stud. 43, p. 1-34
• Stanton, G. N. (1997), The Fourfold Gospel, New Test. Stud. 43, p. 327

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Papyrus 4.

• Willker, Wieland. A Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels, (undated+unfinished)
• "Handschriftenliste". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 13 August 2011.