Papyrus P106: John 1:29–35 and 1:40–46
Papyrus P106, P.Oxy. LXV 4445, is an early-third-century Greek leaf from the opening of John, preserving John the Baptist's witness and the first disciples, including the notable reading 'the Chosen One of God' in John 1:34.
- Artifact date
- 3rd century
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- Papyrology Rooms, Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, Oxford, United Kingdom
What archaeologists can actually examine
P106 is the stained upper portion of a papyrus codex leaf preserving John 1:29–35 and 1:40–46. It averages about twenty-five letters per line and is reconstructed at thirty-six lines per page, with an original leaf near 12 by 23.5 centimeters. Page numbers three and four survive in the upper margin, showing that this was the second leaf of a codex beginning with John. Calculations suggest a complete Gospel of roughly seventy pages and probably a John-only volume. Textually, P106 is the earliest secure Greek witness to 'the Chosen One of God' rather than 'the Son of God' at John 1:34, alongside other minority and singular readings.
Pages three and four
Surviving pagination identifies the fragment as the second leaf of a codex that began with John's Gospel.
Likely John-only book
Line count and pagination imply roughly seventy pages for the Gospel, making a single-Gospel codex the most economical reconstruction.
Chosen One in John 1:34
P106 is the earliest secure Greek support for 'the Chosen One of God,' a genuine alternative to 'the Son of God.'
Not a uniform text
Minority agreements, omissions, and singular readings caution against identifying P106 wholesale with any later major manuscript.
Follow the evidence from discovery to debate
Move through the find in a deliberate order: establish its provenance, examine the surviving object, place it in time, and then weigh the scholarly interpretation.
How the find came to light
Excavated at Oxyrhynchus for the Egypt Exploration Society, P106 was published by W. E. H. Cockle in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri volume LXV in 1998 and entered the Gregory-Aland register as P106. The leaf is held in Oxford's papyrology collection, with catalog controls in Oxford's portal, INTF, CSNTM, and the International Greek New Testament Project transcription. The findspot is secure, but no owner or ancient library context survives. Pagination supplies unusually valuable internal evidence for the codex's beginning. It does not, however, establish who commissioned the book, whether it was read publicly, or whether it was copied at Oxyrhynchus rather than arriving there during use.
What you are looking at
The surviving stained fragment measures about 8.8 by 13 centimeters and comes from the top of a single leaf. Reconstructed dimensions are approximately 12 by 23.5 centimeters, with thirty-six lines and roughly twenty-five letters per line. Greek page numbers three and four appear in the upper margins. Because the text begins very near John's opening, those numbers permit a stronger book reconstruction than an unpaginated scrap would allow. The script is upright and plain, written with carbon ink using a narrow pen. Staining, holes, and edge loss make several readings difficult. Editors therefore distinguish clearly visible letters from restorations, even where John's sequence makes the missing wording highly probable.
Where it belongs in history
P106 is usually assigned to the first half of the third century on palaeographic grounds. No colophon, coin, or scientific analysis fixes its date. Its pagination and compact single-column layout show a planned codex rather than an isolated excerpt. The low page numbers and estimated total strongly favor a volume beginning with and probably containing only John, though the loss of all later leaves prevents certainty about appended material. P106 belongs to the broader evidence for the Fourth Gospel's Egyptian circulation in the third century. It should not be converted into a precise claim about the size, organization, or theology of an unknown Christian community merely because it was found among Oxyrhynchus papyri.
Consensus, questions, and debate
The major debate concerns John 1:34. P106 securely supports ho eklektos, 'the Chosen One,' an early Greek reading otherwise represented later in Greek and in early versions. Some scholars judge it transcriptionally prior because a scribe might replace an unfamiliar title with John's common 'Son of God'; others retain 'Son' on broader manuscript and internal evidence. P106 also has minority word order and omissions in 1:31–42 plus singular readings, showing that it cannot simply be equated with one later codex. Page numbers support a John-only reconstruction, but that remains probabilistic. Textual affinity with later Alexandrian witnesses is real in places without constituting a complete text-type profile.
The biblical record beside the artifact
John 1:29–35 presents John the Baptist identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God, recalling the descending Spirit, and bearing witness to his identity; verses 40–46 narrate Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael entering the disciple story. P106 preserves pieces of both sequences. At 1:34 it reads 'the Chosen One of God,' whereas most manuscripts, including P66 and P75, read 'the Son of God.' The alternate title coheres with messianic election language and has Greek, Latin, and Syriac support, but its existence does not settle the initial wording automatically. P106 witnesses what one early codex read; it does not independently verify John's testimony or the disciples' encounters.
John 1:29–35
29¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
30This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
32And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
34And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
35¶ Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
A responsible historical conclusion
P106 contributes unusually rich evidence for one fragment. Pagination clarifies the codex's architecture; physical reconstruction estimates the scale of a complete Gospel; and the John 1:34 reading supplies early evidence in a long-running Christological and text-critical discussion. The leaf therefore joins book history, scribal practice, and interpretation. Its value is not that it overturns every other witness or proves a preferred theology, but that it prevents the early text of John from being flattened into uniformity. Readers can see that an early Egyptian copy transmitted recognizable Johannine narrative while preserving meaningful wording differences that modern editors must weigh through external and internal evidence together.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
P.Oxy. LXV 4445: John I 29–35, 40–46
University of Oxford Sustainable Digital ScholarshipProvides exact artifact identity, passage ranges, Oxford custody, and publication documentation.
Manuscript P106
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsConfirms material, date, shelfmark, fragmentary codex form, and Gospel contents.
INTF manuscript workspace P106
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, University of MünsterSupplies the controlled Gregory-Aland identity and official manuscript registry context.
Some Recently Published New Testament Papyri from Oxyrhynchus
Tyndale BulletinAnalyzes pagination, page reconstruction, textual variants, and the significance and debate surrounding John 1:34.
A Transcription of P106
International Greek New Testament Project, University of BirminghamProvides a project transcription prepared for critical-edition work on the Greek text of John.