Limitation of Archaeology as a Proof

•It cannot prove the theological truths of the Bible.•Faith in Jesus that saves.•Remnant theology in the last days.

The Role of Archeology in New Testament Studies

It has enlightened our understanding of geographical setting in which some Biblical accounts/events occurred.

It has contributed to our understanding of the religious milieu of the NT world.

It helps to constrain the imagination of scholar who would mythologize the NT.

It has often recovers the evidence necessary for reconstructing the Biblical text.

1. It has enlightened our understanding of geographical setting in which some Biblical accounts/events occurred.

The Pool of Siloam(John 9)

Olympia, Greece

•And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. (2Tim 2:5 NAS)

•I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14 NAS)

• Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

(1 Cor 9:24 NAS)

2. It has contributed to our understanding of the religious milieu of the NT world.

•Gnostic library found in the Nag Hammadi (Egypt) provided information the kind of heresy the early Christian church had encountered.

•The discovery of the apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings does only testify the extensive literary activities, but also their religious beliefs.

•The Essenes/Qumran community in the Dead Sea vicinity provides further information on the beliefs of the Jews before the time of Christ.

3. It helps to constrain the imagination of scholar who would mythologize the NT.•Rudolph Bultmann tried to mythologize the NT, like the gospel of John. But the discovery of the biblical archaeologist on some places proved him wrong.

•Examples: Well of Jacob (John 4:2); Pool of Bethesda (John 5:2)

•Jacob’s well (John 4)

Pool of Betheseda

4. It has often recovers the evidence necessary for reconstructing the Biblical text.

•Discoveries of the ancient manuscripts help textual critics to come with the best reading of the NT Greek Bible.

•As result, we have updated versions of the Greek text incorporating the newer discoveries.

•Examples: UBS4 and NA27

The Discovery of theAncient Papyri

•The Codex Sinaiticus

•The Oxyrhynchus Papyri

•The John Rylands Papyrus

•The Chester Beatty Papari

•The Bodmer Papyri

1. Codex Sinaiticus

•Discovered in 1844 by K. von Tischendorfwhile visiting St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Egypt.

•A 4th-century (A.D.) manuscript containing most of the Old Testament and all New Testament books written in Greek.

•Now housed in British Museum.

2. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri

•Discovery began in 1897-1909 when the group of

B. P. Grenfell were commissioned to find papyri.

•From the thirteen seasons of digging, they found thousands of texts that include fragments of the Gospels, Acts, the Pauline Epistles, the General Epistles, and Revelation.

•They found it in a dump area.

•3875 documents have been published thus far.

•It contributes to the reading of the Greek text (NA 27). Twenty-five out of twenty-seven enumerated in its appendices are from Oxyrhynchus.

3. The John Rylands Papyri

•The oldest New Testament fragment yet found.

•It was found in 1920 by B. P. Grenfell.

•It contains John 18:31-33, 37-38 which was part of a codex that has been dated to about A.D. 125.

•One of its major contribution is determining the date of the composition of the Gospels.

•It was placed in John Rylands Library in England.

4. The Chester Beatty Papyri

•Chester Beatty, a well-know collector who purchased some papyri in Egypt.

•These documents were probably found in a cemetery or the ruins of a church in Aphroditopolis. Some were purchased by the University of Michigan.

•Michigan by sharing the materials they purchased.

•In 1930-31, Beatty purchased some papyri consisting parts of the OT, the NT, the apocalyptic book of Enoch, and homily of Melito of Sardis.

•Kenyon was able to publish an almost complete copy of the Pauline Epistles (dated about A.D. 200) from these manuscripts in cooperation with the University of Michigan.

4. The Bodmer Papyri

•Procured by Martin Bodmer in 1950s in Egypt.

•The twenty-two papyri include segments of the NT (e.g. John, portions of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude, portions of Luke, Acts, and the General Epistles) and some passages from the OT, early Christian literature, and Homer.

•It contributes on the reconstruction of the NT text.

•Some papyri are dated as early A.D. 200.

The Contributions of the Papyri•Fresh knowledge on the New Testament Canon

•Knowledge of the Basic Format of Ancient Letters

•Clarification of the Nature of the NT Greek

•Impact on Textual Criticism

•Insight into the Use of Divine Names in the New Testament Texts

•New Light on Ancient Words