Papyrus P124: 2 Corinthians 11:1–4 and 6–9 in a Greek Witness
P.Oxy. LXXII 4845, Gregory-Aland P124, is a sixth-century papyrus codex fragment preserving Paul’s appeal against rival preaching and his defense of preaching without financial burden to Corinth.
- Artifact date
- 6th Century
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- Oxford, United Kingdom, Ashmolean Museum, P. Oxy. 4845
What archaeologists can actually examine
P124 is the Gregory-Aland designation for P.Oxy. LXXII 4845, one fragment of a Greek papyrus codex of 2 Corinthians. It preserves portions of 11:1–4, where Paul asks his readers to bear with his jealousy and warns of another Jesus, spirit, or gospel, and 11:6–9, where he contrasts lack of rhetorical polish with knowledge and discusses preaching without burdening the Corinthians. The artifact supplies a sixth-century witness to this polemical sequence. It documents continued copying of 2 Corinthians on papyrus but does not identify Paul’s opponents or independently verify the financial and missionary circumstances described.
The fragment preserves a connected defense
P124 witnesses Paul’s warning about another gospel and his explanation of preaching without burdening Corinth.
Verse 5 is physically lost
The gap between 11:1–4 and 11:6–9 reflects damage and page survival, not evidence that the codex deliberately omitted the verse.
A later witness may carry earlier readings
Its sixth-century date does not make every reading late, though it remains centuries removed from Paul.
Layout figures require care
Counts of visible lines and reconstructed full-column lines describe different aspects of the damaged leaf.
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
The fragment originated in the Grenfell and Hunt excavations at Oxyrhynchus and entered the Egypt Exploration Fund’s papyrus collection. J. David Thomas published it as P.Oxy. 4845 in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXII in 2008, after which it was registered as P124. The Oxford collection preserves it, with modern catalogues differing in legacy wording between the former Sackler papyrology rooms and the Ashmolean association. Excavation establishes Oxyrhynchus as its recovery city, while the absence of a precise locus in accessible records leaves its ancient depositional setting unclear. Nothing identifies the copying workshop, reader, church, or route by which the codex leaf reached refuse.
What you are looking at
Only pieces of one papyrus codex leaf survive, written in Greek in a single column. CSNTM estimates approximately twenty-six lines per column, while summaries of the extant portion sometimes report fourteen visible lines; these figures describe reconstructed page layout and surviving text differently and should not be conflated. The fragment is badly broken, and letters at both sides of the lines require supplementation from the known Pauline sequence. Its two faces preserve separated portions within 2 Corinthians 11. The object retains enough lineation for textual comparison, but not a complete margin, page number, binding feature, or reliable inventory of the original codex.
Where it belongs in history
INTF and CSNTM date P124 to the sixth century by palaeography. No dated subscription survives. Its comparatively late date remains useful because manuscript age and reading age are not identical: a sixth-century copy can preserve wording inherited from much earlier exemplars. At the same time, it should not be presented as near-contemporary with Paul. Papyrus books continued to be made and used in Egypt alongside parchment codices. P124’s single surviving leaf cannot show whether the volume contained only 2 Corinthians, a Pauline corpus, or selected readings, nor whether it was copied at Oxyrhynchus rather than merely deposited there.
Consensus, questions, and debate
The manuscript’s designation, 2 Corinthians contents, Oxyrhynchus origin, sixth-century range, and fragmentary codex form are stable. Its value lies in individual variation units and page reconstruction, not in a broad text-type label inferred from a few damaged verses. The polemical language has generated extensive interpretation about rival missionaries, rhetoric, patronage, and the composition of 2 Corinthians, yet P124 is a witness to the received wording rather than new biographical evidence about those controversies. Differences between visible-line counts and estimated full-column counts also show why catalog descriptions must be read according to what is measured rather than harmonized carelessly.
The biblical record beside the artifact
The exact preserved ranges are 2 Corinthians 11:1–4 and 11:6–9. The first includes Paul’s betrothal metaphor, concern about deception like Eve’s, and warning against accepting a different Jesus, spirit, or gospel. The second contains his admission of unpolished speech, claim to knowledge, and defense of preaching without imposing financial cost, including support from other churches. Verse 5 is lost rather than intentionally omitted. These ranges should link directly to the Bible page. P124 aids reconstruction of the Greek text but cannot name the rival apostles, resolve Paul’s rhetorical strategy, or verify his funding history.
2 Corinthians 11:1–4
1Would to God ye could bear with me a little in [my] folly: and indeed bear with me.
2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.
3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [him].
A responsible historical conclusion
P124 preserves a concentrated part of Paul’s self-defense in which theological fidelity, rhetorical competence, and money are inseparable. The same leaf carries his alarm over another gospel and his explanation that he avoided becoming a financial burden. That physical conjunction helps readers see the argument as pastoral and social rather than as isolated proof texts. For textual criticism, the fragment adds an independently copied late-antique witness to 2 Corinthians. For book history, it shows continued use of papyrus for Pauline codices in the sixth century. Its significance is real without requiring claims that it resolves Paul’s opponents or letter composition.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
Manuscript P124
Center for the Study of New Testament ManuscriptsProvides the sixth-century date, Oxford custody, P.Oxy. shelfmark, material, fragment count, and estimated column layout.
INTF Manuscript Workspace P124
Institute for New Testament Textual Research, University of MünsterControls the official witness identity and verse-level collation.
P.Oxy. LXXII 4845
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, University of OxfordInstitutional context for the excavated fragment and its 2008 publication by J. David Thomas.
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Volume LXXII
Egypt Exploration Society, via Internet ArchiveThe published volume containing the editio princeps of P.Oxy. 4845, with its transcription, physical description, dating discussion, and plate reference.
Recto of P. Oxy. 4845 (P124), preserving 2 Corinthians 11:1–4. · Unknown ancient scribe / Oxford Imaging Papyri Project, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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