Writings: ChristianityPapyrus 457 of 10

Writings: Christianity

Papyrus 45

Papyrus 45 is a papyrus codex that held the four Gospels and Acts in Greek. Thirty leaves survive, held in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin and the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Its handwriting is usually dated to the third century CE, and scholars differ on how exactly handwriting can date a codex.

Last reviewed:

Three dates, kept apart

  1. The text's date: the tradition's view

    from the beginning of the second half of the first century CE (Matthew, Mark, Luke) to near its close (John), with Acts toward the end of the first century CE, by the four evangelists and Luke (Orthodox Church in America); the Catholic and evangelical statements used here give no year; this strip marks the four Gospels

  2. The text's date: critical scholars' view

    from about 70 CE (Mark) to the 90s CE (John), by authors the texts do not name (Dale Martin of Yale); this strip marks the four Gospels

  3. This copy made

    3rd century CE as usually given; Brent Nongbri holds that handwriting dating is less exact than often stated; the bar shows the usual date

  4. This copy found

    found in Egypt about 1930 (place uncertain); in Chester Beatty's hands by September 1930; published 1933

All four rows share one timeline. A row with no marker says why in words. How ancient texts are dated.

What it is

Papyrus 45, the first of the Chester Beatty biblical papyri, is a codex of the four Gospels and Acts in Greek, written on papyrus (a paper-like sheet pressed from reeds).12 Thirty leaves survive, each page a single column of about 32 to 33 lines in the Dublin record. They are held in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin and the Austrian National Library in Vienna.23 The leaves are damaged: in 1934 Chester Beatty's librarian recorded all thirty as more or less mutilated.1

How the copy was dated

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts lists the codex as third century. The Chester Beatty Library says most of its Greek biblical papyri date to the 3rd century.24 Timothy Mitchell, a reviewer of Brent Nongbri's book, adds that the paleographers Pasquale Orsini and Willy Clarysse have recently re-evaluated this codex as third century. Tommy Wasserman calls their 2012 study highly influential.51 The two catalog records state no method, but Orsini and Clarysse date the earliest New Testament papyri by comparative paleography, the comparison of handwriting.6

Brent Nongbri holds that this dating is less exact than often stated, and that paleography can set a range of possible dates but never a conclusive one.7 According to Mitchell, he adds that the securely dated handwriting samples scholars compare come almost entirely from rolls, while P45 is a codex. He notes that this treats rolls as showing every period in which a style was written, even though codices had largely replaced rolls by the end of the fourth century.5

The sources used here name no scholar who replies to Nongbri on the roll-and-codex point. Orsini and Clarysse's study of 2012 came six years before his book, a figure computed here.15

For the methods behind these dates, see how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The tradition's account

Irenaeus, an early church writer, teaches that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the four Gospels.8 The Orthodox Church in America's catechism holds that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were each written in the beginning of the second half of the first century, John near its close, and Acts, by Luke, toward the century's end.910 Catholic teaching, in the Second Vatican Council's Dei Verbum, holds that the four Gospels are of apostolic origin and gives no year.11

The Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message holds that the Bible was written by men divinely inspired.12 The evangelical Chicago Statement holds that source study must not reject a book's own account of who wrote it.13 Neither gives a year.

The historians' view

Dale Martin of Yale holds that modern scholars regard all four Gospels as anonymous, and that Mark came first, about 70 CE, with Matthew and Luke drawing on it.14 He holds that most scholars date Matthew to the 80s CE and that Luke was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. He holds that John may belong to the 90s CE, and treats Luke and Acts as one two-volume work.151617

The Catholic bishops' New American Bible, in an introduction that applies critical analysis, holds that John was probably written in the 90s CE, with its final editing between 90 and 100 CE. It adds that most modern scholars find the evidence does not support John, son of Zebedee, as its eyewitness.18

How it was found

No find-spot is named for this codex. Daniel Sharp and Brent Nongbri list it first among the Chester Beatty biblical papyri, generally thought to be one ancient collection found in Egypt about 1930, perhaps in the Fayum, a region of Egypt, or across the Nile near Aphroditopolis, a town.1 The Dublin library says Chester Beatty acquired Greek biblical papyrus codices in the 1930s as a group, and its page does not name this codex.4 Beatty's 1934 memorandum of a talk with the dealer Shaker Farag, which Jill Unkel quotes, says diggers found the papyri in earthenware jars near a monastery about 1928 to 1930, but the place names are blank.1

Frederic Kenyon's list of September 1930 records fragments of Luke and John and part of Acts, so Chester Beatty held them by then. More came from Michigan in 1932, and Kenyon published the thirty leaves in 1933.1

What it shows, and what it does not

On the usual dating, it shows the four Gospels and Acts being copied together in one book by the third century CE. The Dublin library counts them among the earliest surviving copies of New Testament books.24

It does not show when the four Gospels were first gathered into one book, or who wrote any of the five works and when. Its date rests on handwriting, and although it was bought in Egypt, no find-spot is recorded.514

Sources

  1. Garrick V. Allen, Usama Ali Mohamed Gad, Kelsie Gayle Rodenbiker, Anthony Philip Royle, and Jill Unkel (editors). The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri at Ninety: Literature, Papyrology, Ethics. De Gruyter (Manuscripta Biblica 10), 2023, Sharp and Nongbri, pp. 37 to 38 and note 14; Unkel, pp. 51 to 65 and 68; Wasserman, pp. 143 to 144 and 151. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  2. Manuscript P45. Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM), catalog record. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  3. Manuscript P45 (Vienna). Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM), catalog record. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  4. Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri. Chester Beatty, Dublin, tour description. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  5. Timothy N. Mitchell. Review: "God's Library," by Brent Nongbri. The Textual Mechanic (the reviewer's blog), 2018, blog post of September 9, 2018. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  6. Tommy Wasserman. Theological Palaeography Reassessment. Evangelical Textual Criticism (blog), summarizing a post by Larry Hurtado, 2013, blog post of March 11, 2013. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  7. Brent Nongbri. Palaeography, Codicology, and Assigning Dates to Early Christian Codices: A Review of God's Library. Variant Readings (the author's blog), 2018, blog post of September 12, 2018. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  8. Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 1. New Advent (from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, 1885), section 1. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  9. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, New Testament: Gospels. Orthodox Church in America, opening sections and the sections on Luke and John. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  10. Thomas Hopko. The Orthodox Faith, Volume I: Doctrine and Scripture, New Testament: Acts of the Apostles. Orthodox Church in America, opening paragraph. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  11. Second Vatican Council. Dei Verbum, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. Holy See, 1965, sections 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, and 22. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  12. Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Southern Baptist Convention, 2000, Articles I and VII. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  13. International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, summary statement, Articles XII and XVIII. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  14. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 2: From Stories to Canon. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-10-28.
  15. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 7: The Gospel of Matthew. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  16. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 9: The Gospel of Luke. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  17. Dale B. Martin. Introduction to New Testament History and Literature (RLST 152), Lecture 12: Johannine Christianity: the Letters. Open Yale Courses, Yale University, transcript. Accessed 2026-11-05.
  18. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. New American Bible, Revised Edition: Introduction to the Gospel according to John. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, introduction. Accessed 2026-11-05.