Papyrus P107: John 17:1–2 and 17:11
Papyrus P107, P.Oxy. LXV 4446, is a third-century Greek codex fragment preserving portions of Jesus' prayer in John 17, with early support for several minority readings.
- 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
P107 is a small papyrus fragment from a Gospel codex page, preserving John 17:1–2 on one face and a portion of 17:11 on the other. The original layout is estimated at about twenty-three letters per line and thirty-three lines per page, although the complete leaf dimensions cannot be recovered securely. Its short text includes several noteworthy readings: in 17:1 it agrees with Codices Washingtonianus and Regius in wording the petition 'give to him,' and in 17:11 it appears to support a longer clause associated with Codex Bezae as well as a closing phrase shared with Vaticanus and others. These agreements are valuable evidence but do not produce a coherent later text-type profile.
Fragments of Jesus' prayer
P107 preserves parts of John 17:1–2 and 17:11, linking the prayer's opening with the petition for the disciples' preservation and unity.
Mixed manuscript agreements
Its readings align variously with W, L, D, B, and others rather than forming a simple later text-type pattern.
Long reading is qualified
P107 appears to support an expanded clause in John 17:11, but damaged letters make the reconstruction appropriately tentative.
Page reconstructed from little
About twenty-three letters per line and thirty-three lines per page are estimated even though full leaf dimensions cannot be recovered.
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
P107 was excavated at Oxyrhynchus under the Egypt Exploration Society's program and published by W. E. H. Cockle in 1998 as P.Oxy. LXV 4446. It was then registered as Gregory-Aland P107 and placed in Oxford's papyrology collection, with parallel records at INTF and CSNTM. The excavation context establishes the recovery site more firmly than a modern antiquities-market history would, but it does not identify the codex's scribe or users. Nor does the public object summary preserve a detailed stratigraphic account. The fragment's identity rests on publication, script, and the matching Johannine sequence rather than an ancient title or ownership note.
What you are looking at
The fragment comes from a single-column papyrus codex page and preserves only small portions of three verses. Editors estimate approximately twenty-three letters per complete line and thirty-three lines per page. Because no full height or width survives, those figures are reconstruction aids rather than measurements of an intact leaf. The hand has been described as documentary or common with semi-literary features, appropriate to a practical book rather than deluxe calligraphy. Edge loss means that several readings depend on the fit of surviving letters within John 17. Even a plausible longer reading in verse 11 must therefore be presented with visible uncertainty. The object offers textual traces, not a complete page or continuous prayer.
Where it belongs in history
Catalogs place P107 in the third century, often the early third, through palaeographic comparison. The date is approximate and cannot be reduced to a narrow span without stronger evidence. As a papyrus codex witness to John 17, it joins several early Johannine fragments from Oxyrhynchus and contributes to the picture of the Gospel's Egyptian circulation. That cluster may reflect real use, but it is also shaped by what survived and was excavated. P107 does not reveal whether John circulated alone, in a multi-Gospel codex, or in another collection. Its page density suggests a planned literary book but says little about whether its readership was private, communal, or liturgical.
Consensus, questions, and debate
P107 is especially instructive because its few readings do not all cluster with one later manuscript family. Peter Head notes agreement with W and L in 17:1, apparent support for a longer Bezan reading in 17:11, and agreement with B and others in the final clause. Such a mixed pattern is common in early fragmentary witnesses and cautions against treating text types as rigid ancient editions. The long reading in 17:11 is partly reconstructed, so its citation should remain qualified. Specialists agree on the artifact's identity and broad date but cannot characterize the missing Gospel from this sample. Individual agreements inform local decisions; they do not demonstrate direct copying from any surviving codex.
The biblical record beside the artifact
John 17:1–2 opens Jesus' prayer: the hour has come, the Son asks to be glorified so that he may glorify the Father, and authority over humanity is connected with giving eternal life. John 17:11 turns to the disciples who remain in the world and asks the Holy Father to keep them in his name so that they may be one. P107 preserves fragments of these lines and thereby links glory, authority, preservation, and unity on a single leaf. Its readings matter for the Greek wording of the prayer, but the papyrus is evidence of transmission, not independent verification that Jesus spoke the prayer verbatim or that the Fourth Gospel records an eyewitness transcript.
John 17:1–2
1These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
A responsible historical conclusion
P107 adds an early material witness to one of John's most theologically concentrated passages. Its mixed agreements show that third-century copying cannot always be mapped neatly onto the later Alexandrian, Western, or Byzantine categories. That is historically valuable: it suggests a transmission landscape in which readings circulated in combinations not preserved by complete later manuscripts. The fragment also shows the difference between secure identification and tentative wording. John 17 can be recognized, line length estimated, and several readings compared, while uncertainty remains wherever fibers and letters are gone. P107 therefore matters less for dramatic claims than for the disciplined, reading-by-reading reconstruction of the early Greek Gospel.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
P.Oxy. LXV 4446: John XVII 1–2, 11
University of Oxford Sustainable Digital ScholarshipProvides exact artifact identity, passages, Oxford custody, and publication documentation.
Manuscript P107
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsConfirms the Gregory-Aland identity, material, date, shelfmark, format, and surviving verses.
INTF manuscript workspace P107
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, University of MünsterProvides the controlled official manuscript identity used in New Testament critical research.
Some Recently Published New Testament Papyri from Oxyrhynchus
Tyndale BulletinAnalyzes P107's reconstructed layout, individual readings, manuscript agreements, and evidentiary limits.