{ "$schema": "https://paulineletters.com/data/agent/commons/v1/letter-reception.schema.json", "schemaVersion": "1.0", "version": "1.0.0", "dataset": "letter-reception", "locale": "en", "title": "How early each of Paul’s letters was known", "description": "For each of the thirteen letters, the earliest writers who name, quote or echo it and the earliest manuscript, graded from explicit naming to possible echo.", "method": "Witnesses before about AD 200 and the earliest manuscripts, drafted and then independently verified against public-domain translations and the INTF Liste. Grades are deliberately conservative, because shared phrases can come from common Christian speech.", "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Pauline Letters — https://paulineletters.com", "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/data/agent/commons/v1/letter-reception.json", "scripture": "References only. No Bible translation text is included; cite the reference and read it in a licensed or public-domain edition.", "letterCount": 13, "records": [ { "letterId": "romans", "summary": "Irenaeus names Romans as Paul's around AD 180; Marcion's mid-second-century edition, known from Tertullian's hostile report, contained a shortened text. 1 Clement (usually c. 96) and Polycarp probably borrow its wording; an Ignatius parallel may reflect a shared creed. A Gaulish church letter of 177 quotes it unnamed. P46, dated by handwriting to about AD 200, is the earliest manuscript.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 70, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "1 Clement 35.5-6", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome (traditional attribution)", "work": "1 Clement", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clem. 35.6", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "For they that do these things are hateful to God; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent unto them.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (church of Rome to Corinth)", "date": "c. AD 95-97 (proposals run c. 70-140)", "note": "Its vice list shares terms with Romans 1:29-32, including backbiting and hatred of God, and likewise condemns approvers as well as doers. It was written at Rome, where Romans was sent; stock vice lists leave room for coincidence." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Ignatius, Smyrnaeans 1.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Smyrnaeans", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer", "year": "1891", "locator": "Smyrn. 1.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "fully persuaded as touching our Lord that He is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, but Son of God by the Divine will and power", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Smyrnaeans", "date": "c. AD 105-117 (some argue the 140s)", "note": "Calls Christ David's descendant by physical descent yet Son of God by divine power, the pairing found in Romans 1:3-4. Many think Paul there adapts an earlier creed, so Ignatius may echo that shared formula rather than the letter." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Polycarp, Philippians 6.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Letter to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Phil. 6.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and we must all stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, and each man must give an account of himself.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140", "note": "Links standing before Christ's judgment seat with each person giving account of himself, as Romans 14:10-12 does. 2 Corinthians 5:10 also has the judgment-seat phrase, and Polycarp names no source, so a blended memory or common saying remains possible." }, { "dateFrom": 138, "dateTo": 161, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Tertullian, Against Marcion 5.13-14", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.13", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "But what serious gaps Marcion has made in this epistle especially, by withdrawing whole passages at his will, will be clear from the unmutilated text of our own copy.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, reported by Tertullian", "date": "Marcion active c. AD 138-161; Tertullian writing from c. 207", "note": "Tertullian treats Romans fourth in Marcion's ten-letter edition, after Galatians and 1-2 Corinthians. He says Marcion cut whole passages, and his discussion ends at Romans 14:10. Known only from hostile reports, the edition's exact contents are uncertain." }, { "dateFrom": 177, "dateTo": 178, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Eusebius, Church History 5.1.6", "source": { "sourceKey": "eusebius-history-mcgiffert", "author": "Eusebius (quoting the churches of Vienne and Lyons)", "work": "Church History", "translator": "Arthur Cushman McGiffert", "year": "1890", "locator": "HE 5.1.6", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "regarding their great sufferings as little, they hastened to Christ, manifesting truly that 'the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us afterward.'", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Letter of the churches of Vienne and Lyons", "date": "c. AD 177-178 (preserved by Eusebius, early 4th century)", "note": "Describing martyrs in Gaul, it repeats Romans 8:18 almost word for word but does not name Paul. Eusebius says he gives the churches' own words, and dates the persecution to the seventeenth year of Antoninus Verus, that is Marcus Aurelius (AD 177)." }, { "dateFrom": 176, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.16.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Haer. 3.16.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103316.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Paul, when writing to the Romans, has explained this very point", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180", "note": "Says Paul, writing to the Romans, showed that Jesus and Christ are one, then quotes Romans 1:1-4 and Romans 9:5, naming the letter again in 3.16.9. Book 3 dates to Eleutherius's time as bishop of Rome." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, section on Paul's letters", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "author": "Anonymous (Muratorian Fragment)", "work": "Canon Muratorianus, in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5 (printed among the Fragments of Caius)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3, on Paul's letters to seven churches", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "writes to no more than seven churches by name, in this order: the first to the Corinthians, the second to the Ephesians, the third to the Philippians, the fourth to the Colossians, the fifth to the Galatians, the sixth to the Thessalonians, the seventh to the Romans.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "Probably c. AD 170-200; a minority date it to the 4th century", "note": "Lists Romans among Paul's letters to seven churches, saying he wrote it on the rule of the Old Testament Scriptures, with Christ their first object. Usually dated by its remark that Hermas wrote recently, under Pius; some place it in the fourth century." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P46 (INTF Liste docID 10046)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "work": "CSNTM manuscript record: P46", "locator": "GA P46", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (P46)", "date": "c. AD 200 by handwriting (CSNTM: late 2nd or early 3rd century; INTF: early 3rd century)", "note": "Usually judged the earliest manuscript of Romans, which comes first in its letter order. Leaves before Romans 5:17, and two covering most of Romans 6:14-8:15, are lost. It places the doxology (Romans 14:24-26 in WEB numbering) after Romans 15:33. Dated by handwriting alone." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-romans" }, { "letterId": "1-corinthians", "summary": "1 Corinthians is attested early: 1 Clement, usually dated about AD 96, tells Corinth to take up Paul's letter on its factions, probably the earliest naming of any Pauline letter. Ignatius and Polycarp quote it within decades; Marcion's edition and the Muratorian list include it, Irenaeus names it, and P46, about AD 200, is the earliest surviving copy.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 70, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "1 Clem. 47.1-3", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome", "work": "The Epistle of S. Clement to the Corinthians (Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers Part I, vol. 2)", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1890", "locator": "1 Clem. 47.1-3", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/lightfoot/pt1vol2/translation1.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Take up the epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle. What wrote he first unto you in the beginning of the Gospel? Of a truth he charged you in the Spirit concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, because that even then ye had made parties.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement", "date": "c. AD 95-97 (debated)", "note": "Writing from Rome to Corinth, it tells readers to take up Paul's letter about their Paul, Cephas and Apollos parties (1 Corinthians 1:10-12). Chapters 37-38 and 49 probably draw on 1 Corinthians 12-13, though the body image was commonplace. Proposed dates range c. 70-140." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Ign. Eph. 18.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Ephesians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ign. Eph. 18.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-ephesians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "My spirit is made an offscouring for the Cross, which is a stumbling-block to them that are unbelievers, but to us salvation and life eternal. Where is the wise? Where is the disputer?", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians", "date": "c. AD 105-117 (debated)", "note": "Unmarked but near-verbatim: two of the three 'where is...?' questions of 1 Corinthians 1:20, beside the cross as stumbling-block and salvation (1 Corinthians 1:18-23); Eph. 16.1 echoes 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Usually dated c. 105-117; Barnes (2008) argues for the 140s; a minority doubt authenticity." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Ign. Rom. 9.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Romans", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ign. Rom. 9.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-romans-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "But for myself I am ashamed to be called one of them; for neither am I worthy, being the very last of them and an untimely birth", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Romans", "date": "c. AD 105-117 (debated)", "note": "Ignatius calls himself unworthy, 'the very last' and an 'untimely birth', language found together in 1 Corinthians 15:8-9. Probable, not certain: he applies it to his standing in the Syrian church. Rom. 5.1 likewise borrows from 1 Corinthians 4:4." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp", "work": "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Nay, know we not, that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teacheth?", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp, To the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140 (debated)", "note": "Polycarp attributes the saints' judging the world to Paul (1 Corinthians 6:2), naming the apostle but not the letter. Chapter 11 survives only in Latin translation; the Greek 5.3 repeats part of the vice list of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 without attribution." }, { "dateFrom": 138, "dateTo": 161, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 5.5-10", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "P. Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.10", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Our heretic, however, in the excess of his folly, being unwilling that the statement should remain in this shape, altered last Adam into last Lord", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, via Tertullian", "date": "Mid-2nd century (reported early 3rd)", "note": "Tertullian treats 1 Corinthians second, after Galatians, in his survey of Marcion's edition, and accuses Marcion of altering its text at 1 Corinthians 15:45. This is a hostile report written decades later; how much Marcion changed, rather than inherited, is disputed." }, { "dateFrom": 176, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Haer. 4.27.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1)", "translator": "A. Roberts and W. H. Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Haer. 4.27.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103427.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "But this also, [as the presbyter states,] has Paul declared most plainly in the Epistle to the Corinthians, when he says", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180", "note": "Irenaeus names the letter and quotes 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 while relaying an unnamed elder who learned from those who had seen the apostles (4.27.1). How much of the argument is the elder's rather than Irenaeus's own is unclear." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Section 3 (ANF numbering)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, section 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "He wrote first of all, and at considerable length, to the Corinthians, to check the schism of heresy", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "c. AD 170-200 (some argue 4th century)", "note": "It twice lists Corinthians first among Paul's church letters and notes two letters to Corinth. Most date it c. 170-200, since it calls Hermas recent; Sundberg (1973) and Hahneman (1992) argue for the fourth century. It survives in a seventh- or eighth-century Latin copy." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P46 (Chester Beatty BP II; Michigan inv. 6238)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "work": "CSNTM manuscript record, Gregory-Aland P46", "locator": "GA P46 (Dublin, CBL BP II)", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (P46)", "date": "c. AD 200 (late 2nd or early 3rd century)", "note": "CSNTM dates it c. 200, late second or early third century. The date rests on handwriting alone; Kim (1988) argued for the late first century, a view most reject. 1 Corinthians follows Romans and Hebrews; damaged leaves lose a few lines." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-1-corinthians" }, { "letterId": "2-corinthians", "summary": "2 Corinthians is first securely attested in Marcion's collection (c. 140s, known through Tertullian) and first named by Irenaeus (c. 180), then by Clement of Alexandria and the Muratorian list (date disputed). Polycarp probably echoes it; Ignatius and 1 Clement offer faint echoes at most. Papyrus 46 (c. 200) is the earliest manuscript.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 80, "dateTo": 100, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clem. 36.2; 47.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome", "work": "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clem. 36.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "through Him we behold as in a mirror His faultless and most excellent visage", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (Rome to Corinth)", "date": "c. 96 (80-100 proposed)", "note": "The mirror image may echo 2 Corinthians 3:18, though 1 Corinthians 13:12 is as close. Clement names only one Pauline letter to Corinth (47.1); some see a sign 2 Corinthians was not yet known in Rome, others a choice of the apt letter." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Trall. 9.2; Phld. 6.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Trallians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Trall. 9.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-trallians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "who moreover was truly raised from the dead, His Father having raised Him, who in the like fashion will so raise us also who believe on Him", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Trallians and To the Philadelphians", "date": "c. 110 (some argue c. 140)", "note": "Trall. 9.2 (the Father will raise believers as he raised Jesus) resembles 2 Corinthians 4:14 but equally 1 Corinthians 6:14; Phld. 6.3 (burdening no one) recalls 2 Corinthians 11:9 but also 1 Thessalonians 2:9. Dependence on 2 Corinthians cannot be shown." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 2.2; 4.1; 6.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp", "work": "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 2.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Now He that raised Him from the dead will raise us also; if we do His will and walk in His commandments and love the things which He loved", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. 110-140 (date debated)", "note": "Three phrases cluster with 2 Corinthians 4:14 (God raising believers as he raised Jesus), 2 Corinthians 6:7 (armor of righteousness) and 2 Corinthians 8:21 (honorable before God and people). Each has a parallel elsewhere (1 Corinthians 6:14; Romans 6:13; Romans 12:17), so the case rests on the cluster." }, { "dateFrom": 138, "dateTo": 161, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.11-12", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "P. Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.11", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "We are quite aware that some passages are open to ambiguity, from the way in which they are read, or else from their punctuation, when there is room for these two causes of ambiguity. The latter method has been adopted by Marcion", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon (reported by Tertullian)", "date": "c. 140-150; reported c. 208", "note": "Tertullian works through Marcion's text of 2 Corinthians, third in his order after Galatians and 1 Corinthians, and disputes Marcion's punctuation of 2 Corinthians 4:4. The earliest secure sign the letter circulated in a Pauline collection, though known only through hostile reports." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 190, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Haer. 3.7.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "A. Roberts and W. H. Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Haer. 3.7.1", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103307.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "As to their affirming that Paul said plainly in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies", "date": "c. 180", "note": "Irenaeus names the second letter to the Corinthians while answering opponents who read 2 Corinthians 4:4 as evidence for a second, lower god, the verse Tertullian says Marcion punctuated. Both sides treated the letter as Paul's." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF 5:603)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF 5:603)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Moreover, though he writes twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians for their correction, it is yet shown — i.e., by this sevenfold writing — that there is one Church spread abroad through the whole world.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "late 2nd century, or 4th century (disputed)", "note": "The list says Paul wrote twice to the Corinthians, so it knows two Corinthian letters. If late-second-century and Roman, it is an early canon list; if fourth-century, as A. C. Sundberg and G. M. Hahneman argued, it adds little early evidence." }, { "dateFrom": 195, "dateTo": 215, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Strom. 4.16; 4.21", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata", "translator": "W. Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Strom. 4.16", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02104.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "So far the apostle respecting knowledge; and in the second Epistle to the Corinthians he calls the common teaching of faith the savour of knowledge.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. 200", "note": "Clement names the second letter to the Corinthians and quotes long passages of it in Strom. 4.21. With Irenaeus in Gaul and Tertullian in Carthage, this shows the letter read as Paul's across the church by about 200." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "GA P46", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "work": "Manuscript P46", "locator": "GA P46", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (P46)", "date": "c. 200 (late 2nd or early 3rd century)", "note": "The earliest manuscript of 2 Corinthians, in a codex of Paul's letters split between Dublin (CBL BP II, 56 leaves) and Ann Arbor (P.Mich. inv. 6238, 30 leaves). CSNTM dates it c. 200; Y. K. Kim's 1988 first-century dating has won little support." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-2-corinthians" }, { "letterId": "galatians", "summary": "Galatians is first clearly used when Polycarp quotes Galatians 6:7 (c. 110-140). Marcion (c. 140s) apparently put it first in his Pauline collection. Irenaeus (c. 180) names it and matches its Jerusalem visit to Acts 15. P46 (c. 200) is the earliest manuscript. Parallels in 1 Clement and Ignatius are possible echoes, not proof.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 80, "dateTo": 100, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clement 5.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome", "work": "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clement 5.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "By reason of jealousy and envy the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church were persecuted, and contended even unto death.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (Rome)", "date": "c. 96 (debated)", "note": "Calls the persecuted apostles, Peter and Paul among them, the church's 'pillars', the word Galatians 2:9 uses for James, Cephas and John. Lightfoot noted the image was common in Jewish writing, so dependence is doubtful. The only Pauline letter Clement explicitly invokes is 1 Corinthians (47.1)." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Philadelphians 1.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Philadelphians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Philadelphians 1.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-philadelphians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "This your bishop I have found to hold the ministry which pertaineth to the common weal, not of himself or through men, nor yet for vain glory, but in the love of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Philadelphians", "date": "c. 110 (some argue 130s-140s)", "note": "Says the bishop holds his ministry 'not of himself or through men'. The wording is close to Galatians 1:1's denial of human origin, but here it describes a bishop. Ignatius's warnings about 'Judaism' (Magnesians 8.1, 10.3) are thematic parallels, not proof he read Galatians." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Philippians 5.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp", "work": "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Philippians 5.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Knowing then that God is not mocked, we ought to walk worthily of His commandment and His glory.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. 110-140", "note": "Introduces the distinctive wording of Galatians 6:7 with 'knowing that', the formula he also uses for 1 Timothy 6:7 (4.1). A shared earlier saying is possible but unattested. Calling faith the mother of all believers (3.3) probably echoes Galatians 4:26. He names Paul, not Galatians." }, { "dateFrom": 140, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Tertullian, Against Marcion 4.3; 5.2-4", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "P. Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Marcion 4.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03124.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Marcion, finding the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians (wherein he rebukes even apostles) for not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, as well as accuses certain false apostles of perverting the gospel of Christ), labours very hard to destroy the character of those Gospels", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, reported by Tertullian", "date": "c. 140-150 (reported c. 208)", "note": "Marcion's ten-letter collection is known only through opponents. It apparently opened with Galatians, which Tertullian's Book 5 treats first. Tertullian says Marcion erased references to Abraham (5.3-4); some think Marcion's text simply differed. It attests the letter's authority more than its full text." }, { "dateFrom": 174, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.13.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1)", "translator": "A. Roberts and W. H. Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.13.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103313.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "went up to them, with Barnabas, to Jerusalem, not without reason, but that the liberty of the Gentiles might be confirmed by them, he does himself say, in the Epistle to the Galatians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies", "date": "c. 180", "note": "Names 'the Epistle to the Galatians', quotes its account of going up with Barnabas and Titus, and argues the years match Acts 15. That identification is still debated: many prefer the Acts 11:30 famine visit, and some see real tension between the accounts." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 375, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5, Fragments of Caius)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "He wrote first of all, and at considerable length, to the Corinthians, to check the schism of heresy; and then to the Galatians, to forbid circumcision", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "c. 170-200, or 4th century (debated)", "note": "Says Galatians was written to forbid circumcision, and lists it again among seven churches. Its remark about Hermas suggests Rome c. 170-200, but Sundberg and Hahneman argue for the fourth century. It survives in a seventh- or eighth-century Latin copy." }, { "dateFrom": 193, "dateTo": 215, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Stromata 3.15", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "The Stromata, or Miscellanies (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2)", "translator": "W. Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Stromata 3.15", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02103.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Quare Paulus quoque scribens ad Galatas, dicit", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. 200", "note": "Introduces Galatians 4:19 as Paul writing to the Galatians (ANF prints this book in Latin). The Stromata quote Galatians often. Tertullian in Carthage also names it (Prescription against Heretics 6), so by about 200 writers in several regions cited it by name." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland/INTF Liste P46 (Dublin, CBL BP II; Ann Arbor, P.Mich. inv. 6238)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "author": "Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts", "work": "CSNTM manuscript record: P46", "locator": "GA P46", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (P46)", "date": "c. 200 (by handwriting)", "note": "Earliest manuscript of Galatians: a Pauline codex, probably from Egypt, in which Galatians follows Ephesians. It is dated by handwriting alone. CSNTM gives c. 200 and the INTF Liste the early third century; published proposals run from the late first century to the third." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-galatians" }, { "letterId": "ephesians", "summary": "Ephesians was known by c. AD 110-140: Polycarp quotes Ephesians 4:26 (preserved only in Latin), Ignatius probably alludes to it, and 1 Clement has possible echoes. Marcion titled it 'Laodiceans'; Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria name it; P46 (c. 200) names no city in its address. This shows circulation under Paul's name, not authorship, which many scholars dispute.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 70, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clem. 46.6; 59.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Church of Rome (traditionally Clement of Rome)", "work": "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clem. 46.6", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Have we not one God and one Christ and one Spirit of grace that was shed upon us? And is there not one calling in Christ?", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (Church of Rome to Corinth)", "date": "c. AD 95-97 (proposals c. 70-140)", "note": "Clement's appeal to one God, one Christ, one Spirit and one calling (46.6) resembles Ephesians 4:4-6; his prayer to open the eyes of the heart (59.3) resembles Ephesians 1:18. Shared liturgical language may explain both; an Oxford committee (1905) found dependence impossible to establish." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Ign. Eph. inscription, 12.2; Ign. Pol. 5.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Ephesians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ign. Eph. inscription", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-ephesians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "unto her which hath been blessed in greatness through the plentitude of God the Father; which hath been foreordained before the ages to be for ever unto abiding and unchangeable glory, united and elect in a true passion, by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch", "date": "c. AD 105-117 conventionally; some argue later", "note": "His greeting to Ephesus reuses blessing vocabulary from Ephesians 1:3-12; To Polycarp 5.1 echoes Ephesians 5:25. His claim that Paul mentions them in every letter (12.2) names no letter. An Oxford committee (1905) judged the echoes almost certainly not accidental; von der Goltz doubted dependence." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 1.3; 12.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Epistle to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 12.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "For I am persuaded that ye are well trained in the sacred writings, and nothing is hidden from you. But to myself this is not granted. Only, as it is said in these scriptures, Be ye angry and sin not, and Let not the sun set on your wrath.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140", "note": "Polycarp pairs two clauses that stand together only in Ephesians 4:26, calling them scriptures; his opening chapter closely echoes Ephesians 2:8-9. Chapter 12 survives only in Latin, and its first clause also stands in the Greek Psalms, so the label may mean the Psalm." }, { "dateFrom": 138, "dateTo": 161, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 5.11; 5.17-18", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.17.1", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "We have it on the true tradition of the Church, that this epistle was sent to the Ephesians, not to the Laodiceans. Marcion, however, was very desirous of giving it the new title (of Laodicean), as if he were extremely accurate in investigating such a point.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon (reported by Tertullian)", "date": "Mid-2nd century, c. AD 138-161; reported c. 207-208", "note": "Marcion's edited Pauline collection carried this letter as 'To the Laodiceans', perhaps inferred from Colossians 4:16 or from a copy naming no city. Tertullian, a hostile reporter, says church tradition calls it Ephesians and accuses Marcion of deleting words (5.17-18)." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Haer. 5.2.3; 5.8.1; 5.14.3; 1.8.4-5", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Haer. 5.2.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103502.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180 (Book 3 written while Eleutherus was bishop of Rome)", "note": "Irenaeus names the letter repeatedly (also 5.8.1 and 5.14.3) and reports Valentinian teachers citing its words as Paul's (1.8.4-5). By about 180 both he and his opponents treated it as Paul's; that shows acceptance, not who wrote it." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Canon Muratorianus)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "as the blessed Apostle Paul, following the rule of his predecessor John, writes to no more than seven churches by name, in this order: the first to the Corinthians, the second to the Ephesians, the third to the Philippians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "Traditionally c. AD 170-200; some argue 4th century", "note": "Lists Ephesians second among Paul's letters to seven named churches. Many date the list c. 170-200 in the West; Sundberg (1973) and Hahneman (1992) argue for a fourth-century eastern list. Its main copy is an eighth-century Latin manuscript." }, { "dateFrom": 198, "dateTo": 210, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Strom. 4.8", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata", "translator": "William Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Strom. 4.8", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02104.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Wherefore also in the Epistle to the Ephesians it is written, Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. AD 198-210", "note": "Clement names the letter and quotes from Ephesians 5:21-29 with the formula 'it is written', then turns to Colossians. An Alexandrian teacher, he shows it read with authority in Egypt, as Irenaeus does for Gaul." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P46 (Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, BP II)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "work": "CSNTM manuscript record: GA P46", "locator": "GA P46", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (P46)", "date": "c. AD 200 (by handwriting)", "note": "The earliest manuscript: a papyrus codex of Paul's letters dated by handwriting to about AD 200, with a margin of decades. At Ephesians 1:1 it names no city, as in Sinaiticus and Vaticanus before later correctors added Ephesus." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-ephesians" }, { "letterId": "philippians", "summary": "Philippians is well attested by the late second century. Polycarp (c. 110-140) reminds the Philippians that Paul wrote to them; Marcion's collection (c. 140s) included it; a letter from Lyons (c. 177) quotes it; Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria quote it by name; P46 (c. 200) preserves it. Echoes in 1 Clement and Ignatius are possible, unproven.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 80, "dateTo": 120, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clement 21.1; cf. 47.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome", "work": "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clem. 21.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "if we walk not worthily of Him, and do those things which are good and well pleasing in His sight with concord.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (Rome to Corinth)", "date": "c. 95-100 (debated)", "note": "21.1 pairs 'worthily' with the Greek verb for conducting one's life as a citizen, as Philippians 1:27 does, and 47.2's 'in the beginning of the gospel' matches Philippians 4:15. Both may be shared Christian idiom; Clement names only Paul's letter to Corinth." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Ignatius, Philadelphians 8.2; cf. Smyrnaeans 4.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Philadelphians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Phld. 8.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-philadelphians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "and I entreat you, Do ye nothing in a spirit of factiousness but after the teaching of Christ.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, letters", "date": "c. 110 (debated)", "note": "Philadelphians 8.2 shares the Greek 'nothing out of rivalry' with Philippians 2:3; Smyrnaeans 4.2, on enduring all things as Christ empowers him, resembles Philippians 4:13. Ignatius never names Philippians, and such phrases could circulate independently, so use is possible, not proven." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Polycarp, Philippians 3.2; cf. 9.2, 12.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp", "work": "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 3.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "the blessed and glorious Paul, who when he came among you taught face to face with the men of that day the word which concerneth truth carefully and surely; who also, when he was absent, wrote a letter unto you", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. 110-140", "note": "Tells the Philippians that Paul, when absent, wrote them 'letters' (Greek plural; Lightfoot renders 'a letter'): one letter, several, or a composite Philippians are all argued. 9.2 shares wording with Philippians 2:16 (cf. Galatians 2:2); 12.3, extant only in Latin, may echo Philippians 3:18." }, { "dateFrom": 140, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Tertullian, Against Marcion 5.20", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "P. Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Marc. 5.20", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Of course the Marcionites suppose that they have the apostle on their side in the following passage in the matter of Christ's substance — that in Him there was nothing but a phantom of flesh.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, reported by Tertullian", "date": "c. 140s (reported early 3rd c.)", "note": "Book 5 argues only from the Pauline letters Marcion accepted; chapter 20 treats Philippians, answering the Marcionite claim, from Philippians 2:6-8, that Christ only seemed to have flesh. Marcion's collection survives only through hostile reporters, so its exact wording is uncertain." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 180, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Eusebius, Church History 5.2.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "eusebius-history-mcgiffert", "author": "Eusebius of Caesarea", "work": "Church History", "translator": "A. C. McGiffert", "year": "1890", "locator": "Hist. eccl. 5.2.2", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "It is proper to add other selections from the same letter, in which the moderation and compassion of these witnesses is recorded in the following words: They were also so zealous in their imitation of Christ", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Letter of the churches of Vienne and Lyons, in Eusebius", "date": "c. 177 (preserved by Eusebius, early 4th c.)", "note": "Describes the martyrs' imitation of Christ in the words of Philippians 2:6, quoted without naming the letter. The Gallic churches' letter survives only in Eusebius's excerpts, so its wording reaches us through him." }, { "dateFrom": 180, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.18.4", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "A. Roberts and W. H. Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Haer. 4.18.4", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103418.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Inasmuch, then, as the Church offers with single-mindedness, her gift is justly reckoned a pure sacrifice with God. As Paul also says to the Philippians,", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies", "date": "c. 180-189", "note": "Introduces Philippians 4:18, the gift brought by Epaphroditus, with 'as Paul also says to the Philippians', as a model of the church's offering. One of the earliest surviving quotations to name the letter's addressees." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian fragment, Pauline letter list", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5)", "year": "1886", "locator": "Pauline letter list", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/muratorian.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "the blessed Apostle Paul, following the rule of his predecessor John, writes to no more than seven churches by name, in this order: the first to the Corinthians, the second to the Ephesians, the third to the Philippians, the fourth to the Colossians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian fragment", "date": "late 2nd c. (debated)", "note": "Lists Philippians third among Paul's letters to seven churches, a symbolic scheme. Many date the list to late second-century Rome; Sundberg and Hahneman argued for a fourth-century origin. It survives in a seventh- or eighth-century Latin manuscript." }, { "dateFrom": 195, "dateTo": 215, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Clement, Stromata 4.13", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata", "translator": "W. Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Strom. 4.13", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02104.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "joying and rejoicing with the Philippians, to whom the apostle speaks, calling them fellow-partakers of joy", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. 200 (debated)", "note": "Quotes Philippians 1:28-2:2 and 2:20-21, paraphrases 2:17, and names 'the Philippians' as the apostle's addressees, showing the letter in use at Alexandria around 200." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P46", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "work": "P46 manuscript record", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P46", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (Chester Beatty BP II and Michigan)", "date": "c. 200 (debated)", "note": "Earliest surviving manuscript of Philippians, in a codex of Paul's letters split between Dublin (Chester Beatty BP II) and Ann Arbor (P. Mich. inv. 6238). Most date it near 200; Young Kyu Kim's late-first-century dating has won little support." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-philippians" }, { "letterId": "colossians", "summary": "Irenaeus, about 180, is the earliest securely dated writer to name Colossians. Before that, it stood in Marcion's collection of Paul by about 150, as Tertullian reports, and Valentinian teachers quoted it as Paul's. Ignatius and Polycarp may echo it, but neither case is certain. Papyrus 46, about 200, is the earliest surviving copy. Early use does not settle authorship.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "To the Trallians 5.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Trallians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "To the Trallians 5.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-trallians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "comprehend heavenly things and the arrays of the angels and the musterings of the principalities, things visible and things invisible", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Trallians", "date": "c. AD 110 (date debated)", "note": "Ignatius sets things visible and invisible beside angelic ranks, as Colossians 1:16 does, and Smyrnaeans 6.1 is similar. Christians may have shared this way of describing the heavens without borrowing it from the letter, so this is only a possible echo." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "To the Philippians 10.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp", "work": "Epistle to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "To the Philippians 10.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Stand fast therefore in these things and follow the example of the Lord, being firm in the faith and immovable", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140", "note": "The call to be firm in the faith and immovable resembles Colossians 1:23, but 1 Corinthians 15:58 is at least as close. This chapter survives only in a Latin version, so its Greek wording cannot be compared." }, { "dateFrom": 140, "dateTo": 160, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.19", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion, Book 5 (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.19", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Now, if it is our gospel which has spread everywhere, rather than any heretical gospel, much less Marcion's, which only dates from the reign of Antoninus, then ours will be the gospel of the apostles.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, as reported by Tertullian", "date": "c. AD 140-150 (reported c. 207-208)", "note": "Tertullian answers Marcion from the letters in Marcion's edition, and here he argues from Marcion's Colossians, so the letter stood in Marcion's collection of Paul by the mid-second century. How closely Marcion's text matched ours is debated." }, { "dateFrom": 150, "dateTo": 180, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Against Heresies 1.3.4", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies, Book 1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1)", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Heresies 1.3.4", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103103.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "And they state that it was clearly on this account that Paul said", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Valentinian teachers, as reported by Irenaeus", "date": "before c. AD 180", "note": "Irenaeus reports Valentinian teachers citing Paul in words close to Colossians 3:11 and Colossians 2:9 to show that the Saviour derives from all the Aeons. So readers outside the main churches already treated the letter's words as Paul's before about 180." }, { "dateFrom": 180, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.14.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies, Book 3 (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1)", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.14.1", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103314.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "From this he shows that he was always attached to and inseparable from him. And again he says, in the Epistle to the Colossians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180-189", "note": "Irenaeus names the Epistle to the Colossians and cites Luke's greeting in Colossians 4:14 to show that Luke stayed close to Paul. He names the letter again elsewhere, for example at Against Heresies 5.14.2." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 375, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF numbering)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "author": "Anonymous (Muratorian Fragment)", "work": "Canon Muratorianus (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "writes to no more than seven churches by name, in this order: the first to the Corinthians, the second to the Ephesians, the third to the Philippians, the fourth to the Colossians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "late 2nd century, or 4th century (debated)", "note": "The list puts Colossians fourth among Paul's letters to seven churches. Most scholars date it to about 170-200, and a minority to the fourth century. Its full text survives only in a Latin manuscript of the seventh or eighth century." }, { "dateFrom": 198, "dateTo": 215, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Stromata 5.10", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata, Book 5 (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2)", "translator": "William Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Stromata 5.10", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02105.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "For there is an instruction of the perfect, of which, writing to the Colossians, he says", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. AD 200", "note": "Clement names the letter written to the Colossians and quotes several of its passages, including Colossians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:25-27, on a mystery revealed to mature believers. Christians in Alexandria were reading it as Paul's around 200." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P46 (Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, CBL BP II)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "author": "Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts", "work": "CSNTM manuscript record: GA P46", "locator": "GA P46 (CSNTM images 134471, Philippians 4 to Colossians 1; 134835, Colossians 4 to 1 Thessalonians 1)", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (Gregory-Aland P46)", "date": "c. AD 200 (debated)", "note": "In this codex of Paul's letters, Philippians runs straight into Colossians and Colossians into 1 Thessalonians. CSNTM dates it to about 200. Most palaeographic datings fall between about 175 and 250; a first-century proposal has won little support." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-colossians" }, { "letterId": "1-thessalonians", "summary": "Irenaeus, writing about 180-189, is the earliest securely dated church writer to name 1 Thessalonians, quoting its prayer for spirit, soul and body. Tertullian's later rebuttal shows that Marcion's Pauline collection of the 140s already contained it. Ignatius and Polycarp offer only possible echoes. Clement of Alexandria quotes it clearly. Papyrus 46, about 200, preserves parts of chapters 1-2.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "To the Ephesians 10.1; cf. To the Romans 2.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Ephesians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ign. Eph. 10.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-ephesians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "And pray ye also without ceasing for the rest of mankind (for there is in them a hope of repentance), that they may find God.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch", "date": "c. 110 (some argue c. 140)", "note": "Tells the Ephesians to pray unceasingly for outsiders, the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:17; in To the Romans 2.1 he contrasts pleasing people with pleasing God, as 1 Thessalonians 2:4 does. Similar language in Romans 1:9 and Galatians 1:10 means dependence is possible, not shown." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "To the Philippians 11.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Epistle to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "I warn you therefore that ye refrain from covetousness, and that ye be pure and truthful. Refrain from all evil.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "date": "c. 110-140", "note": "Lightfoot renders the line 'Refrain from all evil'; the ANF version uses the wording of 1 Thessalonians 5:22. The chapter survives only in Latin and the maxim is common moral teaching, so an echo at most; 11.2 cites 1 Corinthians as Paul's." }, { "dateFrom": 140, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Tertullian, Against Marcion 5.15 (on 1 Thessalonians 2:15)", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion, Book V (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.15 (on 1 Thessalonians 2:15)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "although (the pronoun) their own be an addition of the heretics.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon (reported by Tertullian)", "date": "c. 140-150 (reported c. 207-212)", "note": "Tertullian answers Marcion's edition of Paul letter by letter and charges that the heretics added 'their own' at 1 Thessalonians 2:15, so Marcion's Apostolikon contained this letter. The evidence is indirect: Marcion's text survives only in hostile reports, here written about 207-212." }, { "dateFrom": 180, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Heresies 5.6.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "work": "Against Heresies, Book V (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1)", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Haer. 5.6.1", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103506.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "And for this cause does the apostle, explaining himself, make it clear that the saved man is a complete man as well as a spiritual man; saying thus in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "date": "c. 180-189", "note": "Names 'the first Epistle to the Thessalonians' and quotes 1 Thessalonians 5:23 as the apostle's words, arguing that salvation includes the body. He names 'the Second' at Against Heresies 3.7.2. The earliest securely dated explicit naming by a church writer." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment §3 (ANF numbering)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "author": "Anonymous", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Canon Muratorianus)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "§3 in ANF numbering (Paul's letters)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "the fifth to the Galatians, the sixth to the Thessalonians, the seventh to the Romans. Moreover, though he writes twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians for their correction", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "c. 170-200, or 4th century (debated)", "note": "Lists Thessalonians sixth among Paul's letters to seven churches and says he wrote twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians. Usually dated about 170-200 and placed in Rome; some, notably Hahneman (1992), argue for the fourth century." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 250, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "GA P46, folio 94 (Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, CBL BP II)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "author": "Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts", "work": "Manuscript record: GA P46 (Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus II)", "locator": "GA P46, images P46_094a and P46_094b (Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, CBL BP II; 2nd-3rd century)", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P46", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 46 (GA P46)", "date": "c. 200 (2nd-3rd century)", "note": "CSNTM images of folio 94 show Colossians 4:16-18 followed by 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 1:9-2:3. CSNTM dates the codex c. 200, the Chester Beatty Library to the third century; a proposed first-century date has won little support." }, { "dateFrom": 195, "dateTo": 210, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Stromata 4.12", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata, Book IV (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2)", "translator": "William Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Strom. 4.12 (against Basilides)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02104.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Providence being a disciplinary art; in the case of others for each individual's sins, and in the case of the Lord and His apostles for ours. To this point says the divine apostle", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria", "date": "c. 200", "note": "Quotes 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 at length as the 'divine apostle' while answering Basilides; elsewhere in Stromata (1.11, 6.13) he cites 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and 4:17 as the apostle's. Clear, authoritative use, though these passages do not name the letter." }, { "dateFrom": 207, "dateTo": 212, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.15 (on 1 Thessalonians 5:23)", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion, Book V (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.15 (on 1 Thessalonians 5:23)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "how is it that the apostle has given certain distinct names to all (our faculties), and has comprised them all in one prayer for their safety", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Tertullian", "date": "c. 207-212", "note": "Works through the letter against Marcion, quoting or paraphrasing 1 Thessalonians 2:15, 4:3-5, 4:15-17, 5:19-20 and 5:23; like Irenaeus he uses the prayer for spirit, soul and body to defend the body's salvation. The passage does not name the letter." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-1-thessalonians" }, { "letterId": "2-thessalonians", "summary": "Polycarp (c. 110-140) probably used 2 Thessalonians, recalling its boast about the Thessalonians while writing to Philippi, and Marcion's mid-second-century edition included it. Irenaeus (c. 180) is the earliest surviving author to name it; the Muratorian list counts it. Ignatius offers only a possible echo. P30, a third-century papyrus, is among its oldest copies. Early use does not settle authorship.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Ign. Rom. 10.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Romans", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ign. Rom. 10.3", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-romans-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Fare ye well unto the end in the patient waiting for Jesus Christ.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Romans", "date": "c. 105-117 (some argue the 140s)", "note": "Ignatius' Greek speaks literally of the endurance of Jesus Christ, close to the wording of 2 Thessalonians 3:5. Revelation 1:9 uses similar language, so this may be shared idiom. Oxford's 1905 committee rated it class d, too uncertain to rely on." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Epistle to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.3", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "among whom the blessed Paul labored, who were his letters in the beginning. For he boasteth of you in all those churches which alone at that time knew God", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. 110-140", "note": "Writing to Philippi, Polycarp says Paul boasts of his readers in all the churches. The closest wording is 2 Thessalonians 1:4, addressed to another Macedonian church; he may have misremembered, or generalized Paul's praise of Philippi. Latin only. Oxford's 1905 committee judged use very probable." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.4", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Epistle to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. Phil. 11.4", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Be ye therefore yourselves also sober herein, and hold not such as enemies but restore them as frail and erring members, that ye may save the whole body of you.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. 110-140", "note": "Polycarp urges the Philippians not to hold the former presbyter Valens and his wife as enemies, close to 2 Thessalonians 3:15, but to restore them, closer to Galatians 6:1. Common church practice could explain it. Oxford's 1905 committee rated it lower (class c). Latin only." }, { "dateFrom": 138, "dateTo": 161, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.16", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.16", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "The heretic, however, has erased the flaming fire, no doubt that he might extinguish all traces herein of our own God.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, reported by Tertullian", "date": "c. 138-161 (Marcion, per Tertullian); reported c. 207 or later", "note": "Tertullian accuses Marcion of erasing the fire of judgment in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, so the letter stood in Marcion's ten-letter Apostolikon; Tertullian treats it right after 1 Thessalonians. The report is hostile and comes from c. 207 or later." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Canon Muratorianus)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Moreover, though he writes twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians for their correction, it is yet shown — i.e., by this sevenfold writing — that there is one Church spread abroad through the whole world.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "c. 170-200 (minority: 4th century)", "note": "After naming seven churches Paul wrote to, it adds that he wrote twice to the Corinthians and Thessalonians, so it counts two Thessalonian letters. Its remark that Hermas wrote very recently supports c. 170-200; Sundberg (1973) and Hahneman (1992) argue for the fourth century." }, { "dateFrom": 176, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Haer. 3.7.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Haer. 3.7.2", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103307.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "And again, in the Second to the Thessalonians, speaking of Antichrist, he says,", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies", "date": "c. 180", "note": "Irenaeus names the Second to the Thessalonians and quotes 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 as Paul's while discussing his word order; Haer. 5.25.1 and 5.25.3 name it again on Antichrist. This is the earliest surviving naming by a known author." }, { "dateFrom": 190, "dateTo": 215, "grade": "clear-quotation", "locator": "Strom. 5.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata, Book V (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2)", "translator": "William Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Strom. 5.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02105.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "The mob, then, said I, cannot become philosopher. Many rod-bearers there are, but few Bacchi, according to Plato.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. 200", "note": "Clement closely quotes 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 straight after citing 1 Corinthians 8:7 as the apostle's, in a chain of texts on how few have faith. He does not name the letter here." }, { "dateFrom": 200, "dateTo": 399, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "GA P30; P. Oxy. XIII 1598; Ghent University Library Inv. 61", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "author": "Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts", "work": "CSNTM manuscript record: P30", "locator": "GA P30", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P30", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 30 (P. Oxy. 1598)", "date": "3rd century (first editors: late 3rd or 4th)", "note": "An Oxyrhynchus papyrus codex, now in Ghent. Its first editors read 1 Thessalonians 4:12 to 2 Thessalonians 1:2 with gaps, so 2 Thessalonians followed 1 Thessalonians; page numbers 207-208 suggest a Pauline collection. They dated it late third or fourth century, likely late third." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-2-thessalonians" }, { "letterId": "1-timothy", "summary": "Clear, attributed use of 1 Timothy appears from about AD 180 in Irenaeus, then Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and the Muratorian list (if second-century). Polycarp (c. 110-140) probably draws on it; 1 Clement and Ignatius offer only possible echoes. Tertullian says Marcion's mid-second-century edition lacked it. The earliest known copy is P133, a third-century papyrus fragment.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 70, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clement 61.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome (traditional attribution)", "work": "1 Clement", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clem. 61.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "For Thou, O heavenly Master, King of the ages, givest to the sons of men glory and honor and power over all things that are upon the earth.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (letter of the Roman church to Corinth)", "date": "Usually c. AD 95-97 (proposals run from c. 70 to c. 140)", "note": "A prayer for rulers calls God 'King of the ages', the Greek title in 1 Timothy 1:17, near themes of 1 Timothy 2:1-3. Such language was traditional in Jewish prayer, and many date 1 Timothy after 1 Clement, so dependence cannot be shown." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Ignatius, To Polycarp 3.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to Polycarp", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Pol. 3.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Let not those that seem to be plausible and yet teach strange doctrine dismay thee.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Polycarp", "date": "Conventionally c. AD 105-117; some argue the 140s", "note": "Warns against those who 'teach strange doctrine', one rare Greek verb found in the New Testament only at 1 Timothy 1:3 and 6:3; Magnesians 8.1 adds 'antiquated fables'. Shared anti-heretical vocabulary could explain this without literary dependence." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Polycarp, Philippians 4.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Letter to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Phil. 4.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "But the love of money is the beginning of all troubles. Knowing therefore that we brought nothing into the world neither can we carry anything out", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140", "note": "Two sayings on money follow 1 Timothy 6:10 and 6:7 in reverse order, the second introduced as known teaching ('knowing therefore'). Many scholars infer dependence, though both sayings had proverbial parallels; von Campenhausen (1951) even proposed that Polycarp wrote the Pastorals." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, on Philemon, Titus and Timothy", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "author": "Anonymous (Muratorian Fragment)", "work": "Canon Muratorianus, in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5 (printed among the Fragments of Caius)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Canon Muratorianus 3, on Philemon, Titus and Timothy (ANF 5:603)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "He wrote, besides these, one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed; but yet these are hallowed in the esteem of the Catholic Church, and in the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment (Latin list of New Testament books)", "date": "Usually c. AD 170-200; a minority argue for the 4th century", "note": "Counts two letters to Timothy among Paul's: personal letters that the universal Church nonetheless holds sacred and uses for church order. It shows reception, not authorship, and survives mainly in a Latin manuscript of about the eighth century." }, { "dateFrom": 176, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Heresies 1, preface 1 (also 2, preface 1; 3.3.3)", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "AH 1, preface 1", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103100.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Inasmuch as certain men have set the truth aside, and bring in lying words and vain genealogies, which, as the apostle says", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180", "note": "Opens by quoting 1 Timothy 1:4 as words of 'the apostle'; names his target 'knowledge falsely so called' (1 Timothy 6:20; Book 2 preface); says Paul mentions Linus 'in the Epistles to Timothy' (3.3.3). Shows attribution to Paul c. 180, not authorship." }, { "dateFrom": 195, "dateTo": 210, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Stromata 2.11", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata, Book II (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2)", "translator": "William Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Strom. 2.11", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02102.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Convicted by this utterance, the heretics reject the Epistles to Timothy.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (Miscellanies)", "date": "c. AD 195-210", "note": "Cites 1 Timothy 6:20-21 as words of 'the apostle' to Timothy, then reports that heretics, convicted by that saying, reject the Epistles to Timothy. Around 200 the letters were received in Alexandria yet contested by some heretical groups." }, { "dateFrom": 200, "dateTo": 299, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P133", "source": { "sourceKey": "ntvmr-liste", "author": "Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, Münster", "work": "Kurzgefasste Liste (NTVMR), P133", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P133 (INTF docID 10133)", "url": "https://ntvmr.uni-muenster.de/community/vmr/api/metadata/liste/search/?docID=10133&detail=page", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 133 (P.Oxy. LXXXI 5259)", "date": "3rd century (dated by handwriting)", "note": "Fragments of one papyrus leaf from Oxyrhynchus with parts of 1 Timothy 3:13-4:8, published in 2016: the earliest known copy. The surviving leaves of P46 (c. 200) end before the Pastoral letters; the earliest complete text is in Codex Sinaiticus (4th century)." }, { "dateFrom": 207, "dateTo": 212, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.21", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "5.21", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "I wonder, however, when he received (into his Apostolicon) this letter which was written but to one man, that he rejected the two epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus, which all treat of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Tertullian on Marcion's edition of Paul", "date": "c. AD 207-212 (reporting Marcion, active c. 138-161)", "note": "Says Marcion's mid-second-century edition of Paul kept Philemon but 'rejected' both letters to Timothy and Titus. Some see a motive in 1 Timothy's approval of marriage, foods and the Law (1 Timothy 1:8; 4:3-4); others think Marcion never had them or that they postdate him." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-1-timothy" }, { "letterId": "2-timothy", "summary": "Irenaeus (c. 180) is the earliest securely dated writer to quote 2 Timothy as Paul's, naming 'the Epistles to Timothy'; Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and the Muratorian list follow. Polycarp probably alludes to it earlier; Ignatius and 1 Clement offer only possible echoes. Marcion's edition lacked it. Codex Sinaiticus (fourth century) is the earliest manuscript; no earlier papyrus survives.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 90, "dateTo": 100, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clement 45:7", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Church of Rome (traditionally Clement of Rome)", "work": "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clement 45:7", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "not knowing that the Most High is the champion and protector of them that in a pure conscience serve His excellent Name", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement", "date": "usually dated c. AD 95-97", "note": "Clement says God protects those who serve him 'in a pure conscience', close to 2 Timothy 1:3. The phrase is brief and recurs in 1 Timothy 3:9; many scholars date 2 Timothy after 1 Clement, so dependence either way is unproven." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 10:2", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Smyrnaeans", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 10:2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "My spirit is devoted for you, as also are my bonds, which ye despised not, neither were ashamed of them. Nor shall He, who is perfect faithfulness, be ashamed of you, even Jesus Christ.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Smyrnaeans", "date": "c. AD 110 (some argue later, to c. 140)", "note": "Ignatius thanks the Smyrnaeans for not being ashamed of his bonds and calls Christ 'perfect faithfulness', resembling 2 Timothy 1:16 and 2:13; To Polycarp 6:2 resembles 2 Timothy 2:4. Shared prisoner and soldier imagery, and Luke 9:26, may explain the likeness." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "probable-allusion", "locator": "Polycarp, To the Philippians 9:2", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "work": "Letter to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Polycarp, To the Philippians 9:2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "For they loved not the present world, but Him that died for our sakes and was raised by God for us.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp, To the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140", "note": "Polycarp says Ignatius, Paul and others 'loved not the present world', inverting 2 Timothy 4:10 on Demas; 5:2 ('reign with Him') resembles 2 Timothy 2:12. The phrasing is distinctive but brief. Von Campenhausen (1951) argued Polycarp himself wrote the Pastorals; few accept this." }, { "dateFrom": 180, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.3.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus of Lyons", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.3.3", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103303.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180-189", "note": "Linus appears in the New Testament only at 2 Timothy 4:21. In 3.14.1 Irenaeus quotes 2 Timothy 4:10-11 as Paul's own words to show Luke stayed with him. He cites it without argument, as an accepted letter." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 375, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, sec. 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "author": "Anonymous", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Canon Muratorianus)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, sec. 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "He wrote, besides these, one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed; but yet these are hallowed in the esteem of the Catholic Church, and in the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "usually c. AD 170-200; some argue fourth century", "note": "Lists one letter to Titus and two to Timothy among Paul's, personal in origin but honoured for church order. Usually placed at Rome c. 170-200; Sundberg and Hahneman argued for a fourth-century date, which would make it a later witness." }, { "dateFrom": 195, "dateTo": 210, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Stromata 2.11", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata, Book II (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 2)", "translator": "William Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Stromata 2.11", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02102.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Convicted by this utterance, the heretics reject the Epistles to Timothy.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. AD 200", "note": "After quoting 1 Timothy 6:20, Clement says heretics reject 'the Epistles to Timothy'. He quotes 2 Timothy 2:1-2 as Paul's (Stromata 1.1) and 2 Timothy 1:7-8 as written 'to Timothy' (4.7). He does not name the heretics." }, { "dateFrom": 207, "dateTo": 212, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.21", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3)", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.21", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "I wonder, however, when he received (into his Apostolicon) this letter which was written but to one man, that he rejected the two epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus, which all treat of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Tertullian, Against Marcion (on Marcion's Apostolikon)", "date": "c. AD 207-212, reporting Marcion's edition of the 140s", "note": "Marcion's ten-letter Apostolikon (c. 140s) lacked both letters to Timothy and Titus. Tertullian says Marcion rejected them; others think he did not know them, or that they were not yet written. Tertullian himself cites 2 Timothy 1:14 as Paul's (Prescription 25)." }, { "dateFrom": 300, "dateTo": 399, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland 01, British Library folio 295b", "source": { "sourceKey": "museum-record", "author": "Codex Sinaiticus Project", "work": "Codex Sinaiticus: See the Manuscript (2 Timothy 1:1)", "locator": "Folio 295b (quire 86, folio 3v): 1 Timothy 6:9-21 and 2 Timothy 1:1-15, scribe A", "url": "https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manuscript.aspx?book=48&chapter=1&lid=en&side=r&verse=1&zoomSlider=0", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Codex Sinaiticus (Gregory-Aland 01)", "date": "fourth century", "note": "The earliest known manuscript of 2 Timothy, which begins on British Library folio 295b. No earlier papyrus survives. P46 (early third century) lacks the Pastorals in its surviving leaves; whether its lost leaves held them is debated. Vaticanus breaks off at Hebrews 9:14." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-2-timothy" }, { "letterId": "titus", "summary": "Titus is securely attested from about AD 180: Irenaeus quotes it as Paul's, Clement of Alexandria names it, and the Muratorian list includes it, if the list is second-century. Earlier contacts in 1 Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp are only possible echoes. Tertullian reports Marcion's collection (140s) lacked it; its earliest manuscript, P32, is dated by handwriting to about AD 200-300.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 90, "dateTo": 100, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "1 Clement 1.3; 2.7", "source": { "sourceKey": "first-clement-lightfoot", "author": "Clement of Rome", "work": "First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "1 Clement 2.7", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Ye repented not of any well-doing, but were ready unto every good work.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "1 Clement (Clement of Rome)", "date": "c. AD 96 (most date 90-100)", "note": "Its 'ready unto every good work' (2.7) matches Titus 3:1; 1.3 addresses Titus 2's groups: older men, the young, wives cherishing husbands and managing households. But 2 Timothy 2:21 is similar, and household teaching was common stock, so shared tradition may explain both." }, { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 117, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Magnesians 8.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Magnesians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Magnesians 8.1", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-magnesians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Be not seduced by strange doctrines nor by antiquated fables, which are profitless. For if even unto this day we live after the manner of Judaism, we avow that we have not received grace", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Magnesians", "date": "c. AD 105-117 (some date later)", "note": "Warns against 'antiquated fables, which are profitless' tied to living by Judaism, recalling Titus 1:14 and 3:9. But fables also appear in 1 Timothy, strange teachings in Hebrews 13:9, and anti-Judaizing polemic was widespread; nothing is distinctive enough to prove use." }, { "dateFrom": 110, "dateTo": 140, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Philippians 4.1-2", "source": { "sourceKey": "polycarp-philippians-lightfoot", "author": "Polycarp", "work": "Epistle to the Philippians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot", "year": "1891", "locator": "Philippians 4.2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/polycarp-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "and then our wives also, to walk in the faith that hath been given unto them and in love and purity, cherishing their own husbands in all truth and loving all men equally in all chastity, and to train their children in the training of the fear of God.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Polycarp of Smyrna, To the Philippians", "date": "c. AD 110-140", "note": "He probably uses 1 Timothy (4.1). His charge to wives (4.2) resembles Titus 2:4-5 but echoes 1 Clement 1.3's 'cherishing their own husbands', so dependence on Clement or common teaching is likelier. Campenhausen (1951) even proposed Polycarp wrote the Pastorals; few follow him." }, { "dateFrom": 175, "dateTo": 189, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.3.4; 1.16.3", "source": { "sourceKey": "irenaeus-against-heresies-anf", "author": "Irenaeus", "work": "Against Heresies", "translator": "A. Roberts and W. H. Rambaut", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Heresies 3.3.4", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103303.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth; as Paul also says, A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject;", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies", "date": "c. AD 180 (Book 3 written under Bishop Eleutherius)", "note": "Quotes Titus 3:10-11 as Paul's words right after the story of Polycarp rebuffing Marcion; 1.16.3 again cites Paul's command to avoid heretics after two warnings. Among the first datable attributions to Paul, it shows reception, not who wrote the letter." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 375, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian fragment, on Paul's letters", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Muratorian fragment §3 (ANF numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "He wrote, besides these, one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed; but yet these are hallowed in the esteem of the Catholic Church, and in the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian fragment", "date": "Late 2nd century, or 4th century (debated)", "note": "Lists Titus with Philemon and 1-2 Timothy as personal letters honoured for church discipline. The Latin copy is 7th-8th century; many date the original to the late second century, but Sundberg (1973) and Hahneman (1992) argue for the fourth." }, { "dateFrom": 193, "dateTo": 210, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Stromata 1.14; 1.8", "source": { "sourceKey": "clement-alexandria-stromata-anf", "author": "Clement of Alexandria", "work": "Stromata", "translator": "W. Wilson", "year": "1885", "locator": "Stromata 1.14", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02101.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "Epimenides the Cretan, whom Paul knew as a Greek prophet, whom he mentions in the Epistle to Titus, where he speaks thus: One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Clement of Alexandria, Stromata", "date": "c. AD 198-203 (after AD 192)", "note": "Names 'the Epistle to Titus' and quotes Titus 1:12-13 as Paul citing the Cretan prophet Epimenides; Stromata 1.8 also cites Titus 1:10. Written after Commodus's death in 192, where Book 1's chronology ends." }, { "dateFrom": 207, "dateTo": 212, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.21", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "P. Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Against Marcion 5.21", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "I wonder, however, when he received (into his Apostolicon) this letter which was written but to one man, that he rejected the two epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus, which all treat of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Tertullian on Marcion's Apostolikon", "date": "c. AD 207-212, reporting Marcion's collection of the 140s", "note": "Reports that Marcion's Apostolikon (c. 140s) omitted 1-2 Timothy and Titus, and says he rejected them. Others argue Marcion never knew the Pastorals, or that they were written later, some think partly against him; Tertullian himself treats Titus as Paul's." }, { "dateFrom": 200, "dateTo": 299, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P32; P.Ryl. 5 (Manchester, John Rylands Library, Gr. P. 5)", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "author": "Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts", "work": "Manuscript P32 (CSNTM digital manuscript collection)", "locator": "GA P32 (Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Gr. P. 5)", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/Manuscript/Group/GA_P32", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 32 (P32)", "date": "About AD 200 or later in the 3rd century (by handwriting)", "note": "Preserves Titus 1:11-15 and 2:3-8 from a codex leaf, dated only by handwriting: third century (Hunt 1911), c. 200 (CSNTM). Gathergood (2013) argues at least one text preceded Titus in the codex. P46's surviving leaves lack the Pastorals." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-titus" }, { "letterId": "philemon", "summary": "Philemon is first firmly attested in Marcion's collection of Paul's letters (c. 140-160), reported by Tertullian. The Muratorian list names it as Paul's; Tertullian treats it so. Ignatius may faintly echo it. No clear quotation is known from 1 Clement, Polycarp, Justin, Irenaeus or Clement of Alexandria, perhaps because it is so short. The oldest manuscript, P87, is third-century.", "witnesses": [ { "dateFrom": 105, "dateTo": 150, "grade": "possible-echo", "locator": "Ign. Eph. 1.3; 2.1-2; 6.2", "source": { "sourceKey": "ignatius-lightfoot", "author": "Ignatius of Antioch", "work": "Epistle to the Ephesians", "translator": "J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer", "year": "1891", "locator": "Ign. Eph. 2.1-2", "url": "https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-ephesians-lightfoot.html", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "even so may the Father of Jesus Christ refresh him -- together with Onesimus and Burrhus and Euplus and Fronto; in whom I saw you all with the eyes of love. May I have joy of you always, if so be I am worthy of it.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians", "date": "c. 110; some date it later", "note": "Just after naming bishop Onesimus, Ignatius writes 'may I have joy of you', the verb of Philemon 1:20, unique in the New Testament. Yet he repeats the wish elsewhere, Onesimus was a common slave name, and John Knox's identification of the two men is unproven." }, { "dateFrom": 138, "dateTo": 161, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 5.21.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.21.1 (Marcion's Apostolicon)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "I wonder, however, when he received (into his Apostolicon) this letter which was written but to one man, that he rejected the two epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus, which all treat of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Marcion's Apostolikon, as reported by Tertullian", "date": "c. 140-160; reported c. 208", "note": "Earliest firm evidence: Marcion's ten-letter collection of Paul included Philemon. The report comes from a hostile witness about sixty years later; Epiphanius (fourth century) lists it too. Tertullian says its brevity spared it Marcion's editing." }, { "dateFrom": 170, "dateTo": 400, "grade": "canon-list", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, sec. 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "source": { "sourceKey": "muratorian-fragment-anf", "author": "Anonymous (Muratorian Fragment)", "work": "Muratorian Fragment (Canon Muratorianus)", "translator": "S. D. F. Salmond", "year": "1886", "locator": "Muratorian Fragment, sec. 3 (ANF 5 numbering)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0510.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "He wrote, besides these, one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in simple personal affection and love indeed; but yet these are hallowed in the esteem of the Catholic Church, and in the regulation of ecclesiastical discipline.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Muratorian Fragment", "date": "c. 170-200, or fourth century", "note": "Lists Philemon with Titus and 1 and 2 Timothy as letters to individuals written in personal affection, yet honoured by the church. Most date it c. 170-200, probably at Rome; A. C. Sundberg (1973) and G. M. Hahneman (1992) argue for a fourth-century date." }, { "dateFrom": 200, "dateTo": 299, "grade": "manuscript", "locator": "Gregory-Aland P87; Köln, Institut für Altertumskunde, Inv. Nr. 12", "source": { "sourceKey": "csntm", "author": "Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts", "work": "CSNTM manuscript catalogue: GA P87", "locator": "GA P87 (3rd century; Köln, Institut für Altertumskunde, Inv. Nr. 12)", "url": "https://manuscripts.csntm.org/manuscript/View/GA_P87", "publicDomain": false, "quote": "", "role": "catalogue-record" }, "witness": "Papyrus 87 (Gregory-Aland P87)", "date": "Third century", "note": "Oldest surviving copy: a fragment of one codex leaf, with parts of Philemon 1:13-15 on one side and Philemon 1:24-25 on the other, dated by handwriting to the third century. P46's surviving leaves lack Philemon; complete copies begin with fourth-century codices such as Sinaiticus." }, { "dateFrom": 207, "dateTo": 212, "grade": "named-explicitly", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.21.1", "source": { "sourceKey": "tertullian-against-marcion-anf", "author": "Tertullian", "work": "Against Marcion", "translator": "Peter Holmes", "year": "1885", "locator": "Adv. Marc. 5.21.1 (Philemon's brevity)", "url": "https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/03125.htm", "publicDomain": true, "quote": "To this epistle alone did its brevity avail to protect it against the falsifying hands of Marcion.", "role": "primary-text" }, "witness": "Tertullian, Against Marcion", "date": "c. 207-212", "note": "In a chapter headed 'On the Epistle to Philemon' in modern editions, Tertullian treats it as Paul's letter to one man but quotes no verse. Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria never quote it, so he is its earliest securely dated mainstream witness." } ], "canonicalUrl": "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence#reception-philemon" } ], "contentDigest": "9da6cc6e3de8cfb4b45a9bdcad5ec0c3203ef99efb0a530381c6218aad6093cd" }