Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224
Standard abbreviation: P. Oxy. 1224
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 605; CANT 3
VIAF: 2987159478279027990007
Category: Agrapha and Fragments
Related literature: Gospel of Thomas, Q
Compiled by Thomas A. Wayment, Brigham Young University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Wayment, Thomas A. “Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/papyrus-oxyrhynchus-1224/.
Created November 2021. Current as of February 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Discovered at Oxyrhynchus, P. Oxy. 1224 contains a Christian gospel-like text that is unknown from any other sources. It is preserved on two small papyrus fragments with three partial columns of writing. The text of fragment one is almost unintelligible with only a few disconnected words and no complete sentences. The text of the second fragment is more substantial, and the two columns of writing have approximately five to six lines of text each. Almost no lines are complete, but several are nearly so, thus giving some context for restoring the fragmentary lines. The text has been dated on paleographic grounds to the third or fourth century CE. At one time, the fragments belonged to an early codex, and page numbers are still visible: 139, 1[73], and 174. The number of pages that are lost between the first fragment and the second raises the possibility that they might belong to different texts, although it is generally assumed that they belong to the same text.
Parallels to Mark 2:17 and Luke 9:50 indicate that the text was similar to the Synoptic Gospels but also independent of them. In the surviving lines, Jesus approaches the narrator who speaks in the first-person, and asks him why the narrator is discouraged. The other surviving lines report an encounter with interlocutors who include priests, and in some restorations of the text Pharisees, about Jesus dining with sinners (cf. Mark 2:17 and par.). Jesus (?) is also called on to defend his new doctrine and his new baptism (?). Finally, Jesus (?) remarks on his enemies and draws on the saying that those who are not against him are standing with him (Mark 9:38–41 and par.).
Scholars have pushed for an early date of composition, with some arguing for its composition being sometime in the mid-first century. Historically, these suggestions were made in comparison to the Synoptic source Q and the Gospel of Thomas, to which P. Oxy. 1224 contains some similarities. Without further evidence to draw from, such conclusions lack objective proof. The text, what little remains of it, appears to be a Synoptic like account and not a commentary on one of the gospels. Together with the pericope where Jesus defends his teachings, the first-person narrator who is weighed down or concerned separates the text from the canonical Gospels and may point to a personal journey to engage Jesus or his followers.
Named historical figures: Jesus Christ, Pharisees (?).
Geographical locations: none.
2. RESOURCES
“Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224.” TextExcavation (Greek text and English translation).
“The Oxyrhynchus 1224 Gospel.” Early Christian Writings.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Gr. th. e. 8 (P) (P. Oxy. 1224) (3rd/4th cent.)
Bernhard, Andrew E. Other Early Christian Gospels: A Critical Edition of the Surviving Greek Manuscripts. New York: T&T Clark, 2007 (Greek text, pp. 100–101, black and white images, pp. 114–19).
Blumell, Lincoln, and Thomas A. Wayment. Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2015 (pp. 275–81).
Ehrman, Bart D., and Zlatko Pleše. The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 (Greek text and English translation, pp. 267–73).
Grenfell, Bernard P., and Arthur S. Hunt, eds. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri X. London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1914 (editio princeps with English translation, pp. 1–10, no. 1224).
Kraus, Thomas J. “Other Gospel Fragments.” Pages 264–79 in Gospel Fragments. Edited by Thomas J. Kraus, Tobias Nicklas, and Michael J. Kruger. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009 (Greek text and English translation, pp. 268–75, images pls 14–15).
Wayment, Thomas A. The Text of the New Testament Apocrypha (100–400 CE). New York: T&T Clark, 2013 (pp. 192–94, images pp. 406–407).
Wessely, Carl. “Le plus anciens monuments du christianisme écrits sur papyrus II.” PO 18 (1924): 345–509 (Greek text and French translation, pp. 490–93).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Brannan, Rick. Greek Apocryphal Gospels, Fragments and Agrapha: A New Translation. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017 (pp. 163–67).
Ehrman, Bart D., and Zlatko Pleše. The Other Gospels: Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 (pp. 140–42).
Elliot, J. K., ed. The Apocryphal New Testament. Clarendon: Oxford University Press, 2005 (pp. 35–36).
Jeremias, Joachim, and Wilhelm Schneemelcher, eds. “Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1224.” Page 100 in vol. 1 of New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McL. Wilson. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox 1991.
Miller, Robert J., ed. The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version. Sonoma CA: Polebridge Press, 1992 (pp. 416–18).
3.2.2 French
Bertrand, Daniel A. “Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224.” Pages 417–19 in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens: Tome I. Edited by François Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade; Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1997.
3.2.3 German
Lührmann, Dieter, and Egbert Schlarb. Fragmente apokryph gewordener Evangelien in griechischer und lateinischer Sprache. Marburg Theologische Studien 59. Marburg: Elwert 2000 (pp. 170–77).
Kraus, Thomas J. “Der Papyrus Oxyrhynchus X 1224.” Pages 370–73 in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter. Band 1: Evangelien und Verwandtes. 12. Auflage, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2012.
3.2.4 Italian
Bonaccorsi, Giuseppe. Vangeli Apocrifi. Florence: Fiorentina, 1948 (p. 40).
Erbetta, Mario. Gli Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 1, p. 107).
Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrif del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (vol. 1, pp. 421, 447–48).
3.3 General Works
Charlesworth, Scott D. Early Christian Gospels: Their Production and Transmission. Papyrologica Florentina, 47. Firenze: Edizioni Gonnelli, 2016.
Crossan, John Dominic. Sayings Parallels: A Workbook for the Jesus Tradition. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1986.
Dunkerley, Roderic. “The Oxyrhynchus Gospel Fragments.” HTR 23 (1930): 19–37.
Dunkerley, Roderic. Beyond the Gospels. Hammondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1957.
Dunkerely, Roderic. “The Oxyrhynchus Gospel Fragments.” HTR 42 (1949): 19–37.
Epp, Eldon J. “The New Testament Papyri at Oxyrhynchus in Their Social and Intellectual Context.” Pages 497–520 in Perspectives on New Testament Textual Criticism. NovT Sup 116. Leiden: Brill, 2005.
Evans, Craig, and James Charlesworth. “Jesus in the Agrapha and Apocryphal Gospels.” Pages 210–62 in The Historical Jesus: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies: Volume IV, Lives of Jesus and Jesus Outside the Bible. Edited by Craig Evans. Routledge: London and New York, 2004.
Foster, Paul. “Papyrus Oxyrhynchus X 1224.” Pages 59–96 in Early Christian Manuscripts: Examples of Applied Method and Approach. Edited by Thomas J. Kraus and Tobias Nicklas. TENTS 5. Leiden: Brill, 2010.
Gagné, André. “The Gospel of Thomas in a Monastic Context: Reading the Text as a Spiritual Exercise.” Pages 121–34 in The Nag Hammadi Codices as Monastic Books. Edited by Hugo Lundhaug and Christian H. Bull. STAC 134. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.
Glenn, W. Edward, and Darian Lockett, eds., Canon Formation: Tracing the Role of Sub-Collections in the Biblical Canon. T&T Clark: Edinburgh, 2023 (p. 231).
Hofius, Otfried. “Unknown Sayings of Jesus.” Pages 336–60 in The Gospel and the Gospels. Edited by P. Stuhlmacher. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992.
Hurtado, Larry W. The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006.
Jeremias, Joachim. Unknown Sayings of Jesus. 2nd ed. London: SPCK, 1964.
Klostermann, Erich. Apocrypha. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1929. (= Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Übungen, 3. Edited by H. Lietzmann.)
Nicklas, Tobias. “Gospel Fragments on Papyrus.” Pages 22–37 in Early New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by J. Christopher Edwards. Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022 (pp. 30–31).
Schmid, Andreas. “P.Oxy. X 1224, Fragment 2 recto, Col I: Ein neuer Vorschlag.” ZAW 80 (1989): 276–77.
Stoker, W. D. Extracanonical Sayings of Jesus. Society of Biblical Literature Resources for Biblical Study 18; Scholars Press: Atlanta, 1989.