Papyrus P133: 1 Timothy 3:13; 1 Timothy 4:1–8 in a Greek Witness
Papyrus P133, P.Oxy. LXXXI 5259, is a third-century Greek codex fragment preserving 1 Timothy 3:13–4:8 and currently the earliest cataloged papyrus witness to the letter.
- Artifact date
- 3rd Century
- Findspot
- Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
- Current location
- Oxford, United Kingdom, Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library, P. Oxy. 5259
What archaeologists can actually examine
P133 comprises three papyrus fragments from a codex leaf containing 1 Timothy 3:13–4:8. Enough survives to follow the end of the discussion of service, the warning about deceptive teachings, references to marriage and foods, and counsel concerning godliness and training. Published in 2016 as P.Oxy. 5259, it received the Gregory-Aland number P133. Its third-century hand makes it an unusually early witness to the Pastoral Epistles. That status concerns the earliest presently cataloged physical copy, not the date of composition or authorship of 1 Timothy. Fragmentation also means the manuscript is evidence for particular lines, not a complete early edition of the letter.
Earliest cataloged 1 Timothy papyrus
P133 is presently the earliest Gregory-Aland papyrus witness assigned to 1 Timothy, with an approximate third-century date.
A connected instructional unit
The fragments preserve portions from 1 Timothy 3:13 through 4:8, including teaching on service, food, marriage, and godliness.
Publication clarified identity
Jessica Shao's 2016 edition of P.Oxy. 5259 enabled its registration as Gregory-Aland P133.
Copy date is not authorship
The artifact demonstrates third-century circulation but cannot resolve when or by whom 1 Timothy was composed.
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 pieces came from the Oxyrhynchus excavations and remained among the Egypt Exploration Society's Oxford papyri until Jessica Shao prepared their first full edition in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXXI. Recognition of the text and registration as P133 followed publication. The Oxford object page supplies the controlled P.Oxy. number, passages, plate, and location. Like many Oxyrhynchus fragments, the surviving public record identifies the city but not a specific ancient house, church, or rubbish layer from which a social history could be reconstructed. The find therefore establishes circulation in the Oxyrhynchus environment while leaving the original owner, reader, and manufacture location unknown.
What you are looking at
Three fragments preserve parts of both sides of a papyrus codex leaf. The book hand is legible in places but edges and internal losses remove substantial wording. Editors locate fragments by fiber orientation, line spacing, and the continuous sequence of 1 Timothy. Nomina sacra and other scribal conventions situate the object within Christian manuscript practice, while page dimensions and line count are reconstructed rather than fully measurable. The piece is a copy made for reading, not an author's draft. Its sparse survival prevents conclusions about binding, decoration, the number of letters in the volume, or whether a single scribe produced the whole parent codex.
Where it belongs in history
The third-century date is palaeographic and should remain approximate. P133 has no dated subscription and has not been assigned a precise year through scientific testing. Within that limit, it significantly predates the great fourth-century parchment codices and demonstrates that 1 Timothy circulated in a Greek papyrus codex in Roman Egypt. This material fact is relevant to the reception history of the Pastoral Epistles. It does not prove that the letter was composed in the third century, nor does it settle debates about Pauline authorship. The Oxyrhynchus context supplies evidence for ancient circulation but not a named congregation or institutional library.
Consensus, questions, and debate
The passage identification, P.Oxy. number, codex format, and approximate third-century date are broadly accepted following Shao's edition and INTF registration. P133 is frequently described as the earliest manuscript of 1 Timothy, but the careful formulation is earliest currently registered papyrus witness. Palaeographic dates can move as comparative samples improve, and an older undiscovered copy is always possible. Individual readings deserve attention in critical apparatuses, but the fragment is too small to assign a comprehensive textual character. Scholarship on the Pastoral Epistles' date and authorship uses linguistic, historical, and literary arguments that this manuscript neither eliminates nor resolves.
The biblical record beside the artifact
First Timothy 3:13 concerns the standing gained through faithful service. First Timothy 4:1–5 warns about teachings that forbid marriage and foods received with thanksgiving; 4:6–8 contrasts bodily training with godliness. P133 physically preserves parts of this connected instruction and gives textual critics an early Greek witness for wording in a section often discussed in studies of asceticism, creation, and church leadership. The manuscript attests that these sentences circulated together by roughly the third century. It cannot decide their theological application, prove the identity of 'some' who would depart, or establish authorship simply by being early.
1 Timothy 4:1–8
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
7But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself [rather] unto godliness.
8For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
A responsible historical conclusion
P133 supplies rare material evidence for the early reception of 1 Timothy. The verses preserved move from recognized service to warnings about ascetic restrictions and then to disciplined godliness, letting readers encounter a coherent unit rather than a stray isolated word. The fragment also helps separate three questions often collapsed in popular treatment: when a surviving copy was made, when the letter was composed, and who wrote it. Archaeology directly answers only the first. Used carefully, P133 enriches textual criticism and the history of Christian books while modeling how an important 'earliest' claim can be stated without turning a small papyrus into proof of every contested conclusion.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
P.Oxy. LXXXI 5259: 1 Timothy 3:13–4:8
University of Oxford Sustainable Digital ScholarshipProvides exact identification, passage range, publication context, and Oxford custody.
INTF manuscript workspace P133
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, University of MünsterControls the Gregory-Aland identity and current manuscript registry record.
Graeco-Roman Memoirs 102 / The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXXI
Egypt Exploration SocietyWorking EES record for the volume that publishes P.Oxy. 5259, confirming its Pauline contents and first-edition context.
Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments
Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung, University of MünsterAuthoritative registry for shelfmark, contents, date, and bibliography of Greek New Testament manuscripts.