Papyrus 46 (𝔓46) — 1 Corinthians 15
Died, Buried, and Raised
The short answerWhat is this leaf?
This is a leaf of Papyrus 46 — the earliest substantial copy of the letters of the Apostle Paul, written around AD 200 — carrying the opening of 1 Corinthians 15, the greatest chapter on the resurrection in the New Testament. On these two sides Paul sets down what he calls the message “of first importance”: that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, to the Twelve, to James, and last of all to Paul himself.
This little creed — 1 Corinthians 15:3–5 — is widely thought to be older than any of Paul’s letters, a formula the earliest Christians already recited. Papyrus 46 is its oldest surviving copy. The leaf is remarkably well preserved, so most of what you see is real ink; this page shows you exactly which letters survive and which are supplied, and even a place where an ancient corrector struck out a slip of the pen.
The featureThe oldest copy of the oldest creed
“Of first importance.” In 1 Corinthians 15:3–5 Paul quotes a formula he says he “received” and “delivered” — ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΑΜΑΡΤΙΩΝ, “for our sins” — a compact statement of the gospel that most scholars date to within a few years of the crucifixion, older than any letter Paul wrote. This leaf of Papyrus 46 is the earliest copy of it that survives anywhere: Christ died, was buried, was raised, and appeared.
A corrector caught a slip. In verse 2 the first scribe’s pen ran ahead and repeated the word ΚΑΤΕΧΕΙΝ (“to hold fast”) before it was due; an ancient corrector struck it out. You can see the deleted word on your replica — a small, human moment of an early Christian scribe fixing his own copy of these words.
Line by lineThe Greek exactly as it sits on the leaf
Transcribed from the INTF transcription (NTVMR, 𝔓46 folio 57) and shown in the majuscule capitals the scribe used, with the original line breaks. Sacred names keep their overline. The photograph sits beside each side so you can compare the letters directly.
Front — 1 Corinthians 14:34–15:5 (“Christ died… was raised… appeared”)
Back — 1 Corinthians 15:6–15 (the witnesses; “if Christ has not been raised”)
Word by wordRead it, sound it out, and see the meaning
The whole leaf, word by word: the Greek on the leaf, a transliteration to sound it out, and a word-for-word English gloss, with the smooth translation after each passage. Sacred names carry the scribe’s overline. Words in a gold box appear (at least partly) on the fragment; grey words in [brackets] are supplied; the struck-through word is the corrector’s deletion.
“As the law also says” — 1 Corinthians 14:34–35
34 …as the law also says. 35 If they want to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the assembly. (A short horizontal stroke — a paragraphos, the scribe’s section mark — fills the end of this line; see the notes on 14:34–35.)
Did the word of God come only to you? — 1 Corinthians 14:36
36 What? Was it from you that the word of God went out? Or did it come to you alone?
A command of the Lord — 1 Corinthians 14:37–38
37 If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him recognize the things which I write to you, that they are the commandment of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.
Let all be done decently and in order — 1 Corinthians 14:39–40
39 Therefore, brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking with other languages. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
The Good News I preached to you — 1 Corinthians 15:1–2
1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. (Before “if you hold firmly” the first scribe mistakenly repeated the word ΚΑΤΕΧΕΙΝ; a corrector struck it out.)
Christ died for our sins — and was raised — 1 Corinthians 15:3–4
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (This is the earliest written form of the Christian creed — and P46 is its oldest surviving copy.)
Seen by Cephas, then the Twelve — 1 Corinthians 15:5
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then to five hundred, to James, to all — 1 Corinthians 15:6–7
6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, (The top of the back of the leaf is lost; the surviving text resumes mid-verse at “…most of whom remain.”)
Last of all, to me — 1 Corinthians 15:8–9
8 and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God. (“Last of all” is spelled ΕΣΧΑΤΟΝ; the tiny Τ is lost at the line break.)
By the grace of God I am what I am — 1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not in vain, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
So we preach, and so you believed — 1 Corinthians 15:11
11 Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
If Christ is preached as raised… — 1 Corinthians 15:12–13
12 Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
If Christ has not been raised — 1 Corinthians 15:14–15
14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain. 15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up…
Reading the detailsTextual notes
The corrector’s deletion (15:2). The first hand wrote “…the word I preached to you ΚΑΤΕΧΕΙΝ if you hold firmly” — accidentally writing ΚΑΤΕΧΕΙΝ (“to hold fast”) just before the closely related ΚΑΤΕΧΕΤΕ (“you hold fast”). A corrector struck the stray word out; we show it deleted, not part of the reading.
The sacred names. Surviving as ink are ΘΥ (God, 14:36; 15:10 twice; 15:15), ΚΥ (Lord, 14:37), ΧΡΣ (Christ, 15:3; 15:12) and ΧΣ (Christ, 15:13–14). At the torn end of the leaf the accusative ΧΝ (Christ) is half-supplied.
Everyday spellings. The scribe writes as he spoke — ΥΜΕΙΝ for ΥΜΙΝ (“to you”), ΓΕΙΝΩΣΚΕΤΩ and ΓΕΙΝΕΣΘΩ with the added iota — the ordinary phonetic spellings of the period.
On 14:34–35. The instruction about women keeping silence in the assembly stands here in its usual place, and the scribe marks the end of the paragraph with a short horizontal stroke (a paragraphos). Some scholars debate whether these verses were original to Paul; on this leaf they are present and unmarked apart from that ordinary section stroke.
The manuscriptAt a glance
| This leaf | Folio 57: 1 Corinthians 14:34–15:5 (front) · 15:6–15 (back) |
|---|---|
| Whole codex | The letters of Paul as one book (Romans, Hebrews, 1–2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians) |
| Date | c. AD 175–225 (about the year 200) |
| Discovered | Egypt (the Fayum region); acquired in the 1930s |
| Held at | Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (P. Chester Beatty II); other leaves at the University of Michigan |
| Gregory–Aland no. | 𝔓46 (INTF doc. ID 10046) |
| Format | Single-quire papyrus codex; single column, ~26 lines per page here |
| Text type | An early Alexandrian-type text of the Pauline letters |
Why it mattersThe foundation of the faith, at the source
For Paul, everything stands or falls here: “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.” The creed he quotes in 15:3–5 is the earliest summary of the Christian message we possess — and the list of witnesses that follows is the earliest written record of the resurrection appearances.
Papyrus 46 lets us read those foundational words in the oldest copy that survives, written within about a century and a half of Paul himself. For a passage this central, there is no earlier continuous witness.
Own this leaf
Manuscript Shop produces a museum-grade facsimile of this leaf of Papyrus 46 on real Egyptian papyrus, reproducing both sides — the creed and the witnesses of the resurrection — at its true size.
ReferencesSources
- Transcription (surviving text): INTF transcription of 𝔓46, New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room, doc. ID 10046, folio 57 (1 Corinthians 14–15).
- Manuscript images: Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (P. Chester Beatty II); photographs from the Manuscript Shop listing.
- Editio princeps: F. G. Kenyon, The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, Fasciculus III: Pauline Epistles (London, 1936–37).
- Text & significance: Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece; K. Aland & B. Aland, The Text of the New Testament.
- Word-for-word glosses follow standard tagged Greek New Testament data (STEP Bible, Tyndale House; Berean Interlinear).
- Smooth translation: World English Bible (public domain), ebible.org.