How old are the oldest original writings?

[mark_a]

Not copies of originals, but actual originals. And who wrote them?

 

[JimG]

Are you talking about the manuscripts of the books of the bible? If so, I don’t think that there are any original manuscripts. That is, nobody has a parchment written by Moses own hand, or even by Mark or Luke or John’s own hand. Somebody else let me know if I am correct in this.

 

[mark_a]

JimG:

Are you talking about the manuscripts of the books of the bible? If so, I don’t think that there are any original manuscripts. That is, nobody has a parchment written by Moses own hand, or even by Mark or Luke or John’s own hand. Somebody else let me know if I am correct in this.

I guess my original post was kinda vague. I meant from the Church fathers.

Thanks

 

[JimG]

mark a:

I guess my original post was kinda vague. I meant from the Church fathers.

Thanks

Now, that one I am clueless about. Someone else will have to answer.

 

[Bishopite]

mark a:

Not copies of originals, but actual originals. And who wrote them?

Are your talking about the copies we now have of the original Greek New Testament manuscripts?

If you are speaking of the original New Testament manuscripts written by the apostles and others, those don’t exist any longer.

The original manuscripts are the only “inspired” manuscripts that were written. All of the other ones we posses today are copies of the originals but are still the infallible word of God. The codex’s [complete NT books of the bible with a bound spine] which exist today are from the 4th century. Those codex’s include the codex Alexandrinus, codex Siniaticus and codex Vaticanus, the Vaticanus is of course the sole property of the Vatican. This codex is considered the oldest of all three dating around 325 AD.

We do have fragments, actually we have thousands of fragments. Of the fragment copies of NT Scripture, the oldest one is called the Chester Beatty papyri discovered in 1930 and dates from somewhere in the first century 85 AD. and is a portion of the book of Romans and Hebrews and looks like this:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[Bishopite]

mark a:

I guess my original post was kinda vague. I meant from the Church fathers.

Thanks

Alright I see what you are asking. The writtings from the early Church fathers go back to the first century. Here is one of the early successors of the first pope, St. Peter. It was written scholars say in 80 AD. Pope Clement l is speaking about apostolic succession and writting to the Corinthians. Some Scripture verses (but not all) that support apostolic succession are…

2 Tim 2:2-- “and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Acts 1:20-- "For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it'; and His office let another take.’

Pope Clement I

“Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry” (*Letter to the Corinthians *42:4–5, 44:1–3 [A.D. 80]).