Key Points

• Research suggests P86, a Greek New Testament papyrus from 225-275 CE, contains Matthew 5:13–16, 22–25 and supports the Alexandrian text-type, aligning with early manuscripts like Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus.
• It seems likely that P86 has no significant variants, reinforcing the reliability of the New Testament text for conservative evangelicals.
• The evidence leans toward P86 being valuable for understanding early Bible transmission, with its documentary hand offering an unexpected detail about its practical use in the third century.

Direct Answer

Overview

P86, also known as Inv. Nr. 5516, is an early fragment of the New Testament, dated to around 225-275 CE. It contains parts of Matthew 5, specifically verses 13–16 and 22–25, which include teachings like being the “salt of the earth” and reconciling with others. This manuscript is housed in Cologne, Germany, at the Institut für Altertumskunde der Universität zu Köln.

Significance and Textual Alignment

Research suggests P86 aligns with the Alexandrian text-type, which conservative evangelical scholars like Edward D. Andrews and Philip W. Comfort prioritize. This means it matches early and reliable manuscripts like Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, giving confidence in the accuracy of these Bible passages. It seems likely that P86 has no major differences from the standard text, making it a strong witness to how Matthew 5 was preserved early on.

Unexpected Detail

What’s interesting is P86’s documentary hand, a style typically used for everyday documents, not formal books. This suggests it might have been a practical copy for personal or community use, offering a glimpse into how early Christians handled scripture in daily life.

The Documentary Hand: These scribes were often accustomed to writing documents, such as business records or minor official documents. Their work is characterized by non-uniform lettering, with the initial letter on each line often larger than the rest. The lines of letters may not be even.

Why It Matters

For those who value the Bible’s reliability, P86 reinforces the idea that the New Testament text has been faithfully passed down. Its early date, around 150-200 years after Matthew was written (around 60-80 CE), shows the text’s early copying and spread, especially as it was found in Europe, indicating Christianity’s reach.

Survey Note: Detailed Analysis of P86 and Its Textual Implications

Introduction and Background

P86, designated as Inv. Nr. 5516 in the Gregory-Aland numbering, is an early Greek New Testament papyrus manuscript containing portions of Matthew 5:13–16 and 22–25. Dated to approximately 225-275 CE, it is housed in the Institut für Altertumskunde der Universität zu Köln in Cologne, Germany. This manuscript is significant for textual criticism, particularly from a conservative evangelical perspective, as it aligns with the Alexandrian text-type, which is prioritized by scholars like Edward D. Andrews and Philip W. Comfort. These scholars consider early papyri and codices such as Vaticanus and Sinaiticus as foundational authorities, only turning to other text types like Western, Byzantine, and Caesarean, along with versions, lectionaries, and patristic quotations, when there is a heavy burden of proof.

Content

The content of P86 includes key teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, such as:

P86 preserves portions of Matthew 5:13–16 and 5:22–25, which are part of the Sermon on the Mount. These verses include Jesus’ well-known teachings on being the “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” (Matt 5:13–16) as well as instructions on anger and reconciliation (Matt 5:22–25). The surviving text is fragmentary but clearly identifiable: on the recto (front) side are Matthew 5:13–16, and on the verso (back) are Matthew 5:22–25. Notably, the fragment’s break means that Matthew 5:17–21 are missing (likely lost due to damage), indicating that those verses were once on the same leaf between the extant portions. P86’s text can be aligned with standard Greek editions to reconstruct these passages. For example, it contains Jesus’ saying: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?… You are the light of the world…” (Matt 5:13–14) as well as “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment…” (Matt 5:22).

• Matthew 5:13 (UASV): “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown outside to be walked over by men.”
• Matthew 5:14-16 (UASV): “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hillN7 cannot be hidden; nor do men light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all the ones in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in the heavens.”
• Matthew 5:22-25 (UASV): “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever says to his brother, ‘You fool,’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the fire of Gehenna. If, then, you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to an agreement quickly with your opponent while you are going with him on the way, lest your opponent hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.”

These passages are central to Christian ethics and discipleship, making P86’s preservation crucial for understanding the text’s early transmission.

Textual variations: In terms of wording, P86’s text closely matches the Alexandrian form of these verses, with only minor variations. When compared with Codex Vaticanus (B) and Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ) – two key 4th-century Alexandrian manuscripts – P86 shows remarkable agreement. For instance, in Matthew 5:22 P86 likely omits the phrase “without cause” (εἰκῇ in Greek) after “whoever is angry with his brother,” just as Vaticanus and Sinaiticus do​. This omission is characteristic of the older Alexandrian text, whereas later Byzantine manuscripts (and the King James Version) include “without a cause” (“whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause…”). The absence of “εἰκῇ” in P86 aligns it with the stricter form of Jesus’ saying found in early manuscripts, indicating that the copyist of P86 inherited a text unexpanded by that additional phrase. Another notable variation in P86 occurs in Matthew 5:13 regarding the word for “to be trampled.” Most manuscripts (including ℵ and B) read καταπατεῖσθαι (“to be trampled underfoot”), but P86 seems to have had a slight anomaly. Scholars examining the papyrus observed that it may have originally lacked the prefix “κατα-” (reading πατεῖσθαι, “to be trodden”), with a corrector possibly adding the κατα later to conform the text. This suggests a small scribal oversight or correction – an example of what Aland called an “alien reading” in P86. Aside from such details, P86 does not insert any extra words, nor does it omit any known essential words that its Alexandrian peers retain. The fragment supports the usual Alexandrian wording of Matt 5:16 (“glorify your Father in heaven”) and Matt 5:23–25 (the instructions to reconcile with one’s brother and settle with one’s adversary) with no significant divergences. In summary, no major textual deviations are found in P86; its differences are minor and typically either align with known variants in other Alexandrian witnesses or represent isolated scribal slips. These observations reinforce P86’s character as a reliable copy of Matthew, substantially confirming the standard Alexandrian text of the Sermon on the Mount.

Physical Characteristics and Provenance

P86 is a papyrus codex fragment, meaning it comes from an ancient book (codex) made of papyrus sheets. The extant piece is only a portion of a single leaf, measuring about 9.5 × 8 cm in its current state. It preserves 10 lines of text on the recto (front) and 11 lines on the verso (back). From the surviving text and layout, scholars estimate the original page to have been around 14 × 28 cm with approximately 31 lines per page. This suggests that the codex was of moderate size, perhaps a hand-held Gospel book. The material is papyrus (pressed and woven reeds), which was the common writing material in Egypt in antiquity. The fragment is now brown and somewhat brittle, with visible fiber patterns, typical of ancient papyri. There are lacunae (gaps) where the papyrus has deteriorated, resulting in missing text (for example, much of Matt 5:17–21 is lost due to a large gap between the preserved sections).

The handwriting of P86 is noteworthy. The Greek letters are written in an uncial script (majuscule capital letters), but with an informal style that “resembles documentary script”. This means the scribe was likely writing in a less formal, more utilitarian hand, rather than the elegant book-hand seen in some deluxe manuscripts. The letters in P86 are not overly ornamented; they are somewhat uneven, and spacing between letters is minimal, resulting in a scriptio continua (continuous script without word separation). Certain letters (for instance, epsilon, theta, and sigma) have forms that help date the manuscript to the 4th century. Punctuation is used sparingly: the scribe employs high points (·) occasionally to indicate pauses. There are also instances of a diaeresis (¨) over initial upsilon or iota to mark a vowel that starts a word (not a diphthong), as noted on line 3 of the recto and line 7 of the verso. Additionally, a rough breathing mark ( ̔) is visible in one place (line 3 of the verso), indicating awareness of proper pronunciation (e.g. adding an “h” sound to an initial vowel). These features show that the scribe, while writing in a somewhat informal style, still followed conventions to aid reading. The text is written in a single column on each side (the fragment is too small to determine margins or full column width, but given the estimated page size, it was likely a single-column layout of around 14 cm width). There are no surviving decorations or illustrations on P86, and given its small size, we see no section headings or nomina sacra in the extant portion (though the scribe likely did use nomina sacra elsewhere, as was customary for sacred names). The fragment has suffered damage: edges are torn, and parts of lines are missing especially on the left side of the recto and the right side of the verso, which corresponds to the inner margin area (this could indicate the fragment broke near where it was bound). Scholars have carefully transcribed the surviving letters and sometimes can reconstruct the lost parts by comparison with other manuscripts of Matthew. For example, even if half a word is missing, the known text of Matthew 5 can often fill in the gap. Overall, P86’s physical condition is typical for papyri of its age – fragmentary but legible – and it has been stabilized and preserved by conservators at the Cologne collection. Its paleographic characteristics (such as letter shapes and use of punctuation) not only aid in dating but also place it within the normal range of late antique Christian manuscripts, suggesting it was produced by a scribe familiar with biblical texts but writing in a provincial context (as opposed to a highly trained calligrapher).

Textual Content and Transcription

The textual content of P86, as provided in the transcription, includes:

• Recto:
  • Line 1: 13δε τ̣ο̣ α̣λ̣ας̣ μ̣α̣ρ̣α̣νθη ε̣[ν τ]ινι αλ̣ι̣σθ[ησ
  • Line 2: ε
  • Continuing with verses 14-16, and then 22-25, though the transcription is fragmentary and has some unclear parts, denoted by dots and brackets.

Given the fragmentary nature, reconstructing the exact text is challenging, but based on the provided information and comparison with the standard text, P86 appears to match the Alexandrian reading. For example:

• Matthew 5:13 (UASV): “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown outside to be walked over by men.”
• The transcription’s “δε τ̣ο̣ α̣λ̣ας̣ μ̣α̣ρ̣α̣νθη ε̣[ν τ]ινι αλ̣ι̣σθ[ησ” corresponds to “But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again,” aligning with the standard text.

Due to the agreement with B (Vaticanus) and א (Sinaiticus), as noted, there are no significant variants identified, reinforcing its textual reliability.

Textual Character and Variants

The text of P86 is unequivocally of the Alexandrian text-type, which is known for its concise and controlled transmission of the New Testament text. Kurt Aland assigned P86 to Category II, meaning it is a manuscript of high quality with a basically Alexandrian text displaying some minor peculiar readings. In practical terms, P86’s wording aligns very closely with the great Alexandrian codices like Codex Vaticanus (B) and Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ) for the verses it contains. This alignment is evidenced by its agreements in omitting later expansions and preserving the more original form of the text. As mentioned, one clear example is the omission of “without cause” in Matthew 5:22, which P86 shares with Codex B and ℵ​. Another is the consistent wording in Matt 5:13–16, where P86 supports the same phrases as B/ℵ (e.g., “It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men” in 5:13, matching the Alexandrian version).

Despite its predominantly Alexandrian character, P86 has a few peculiar (alien) readings that do not strictly follow the standard Alexandrian text. These could be due to scribal error or idiosyncratic influences. For instance, the possible lack of “κατα-” in “καταπατεῖσθαι” (Matt 5:13) in the original writing of P86 is a reading not found in Vaticanus or Sinaiticus (which include the full form) – this appears to be an isolated quirk of P86. However, such a variance does not align P86 with a different text-type; rather, it likely reflects a momentary omission by the scribe (since dropping a short prefix could happen inadvertently). There is no strong evidence in these fragments of any Western text-type influence (the Western text, exemplified by Codex Bezae, tends to have more paraphrastic or expanded readings, which P86 does not show). Likewise, Byzantine influence is absent – Byzantine manuscripts consistently include certain expansions (like “without cause” in 5:22, or additional clarifying words), none of which appear in P86. The Alexandrian tradition, to which P86 belongs, is actually the opposite of the later Byzantine in many of these variants: where the Byzantine text smooths or adds, Alexandrian keeps the harder, shorter reading, which is what we see in P86. There is also no hint of the so-called Caesarean text-type in P86’s short sample. The Caesarean type (a hypothesized mixed text-type found in some Gospel manuscripts like family 1 and 13 in Mark) has certain peculiar readings, but Matthew 5:13–16,22–25 in P86 does not show agreements with any distinctive “Caesarean” readings (and in fact, for these particular verses, the Caesarean manuscripts don’t significantly differ from Alexandrian anyway). Thus, P86’s text can be described as purely Alexandrian with minor singular readings – it’s very much in line with what we find in Egypt-based textual witnesses.

Given its age and fidelity, P86 is considered a reliable witness to the original text of Matthew’s Gospel. Its close agreement with Codex Vaticanus (one of the most respected textual witnesses for the New Testament) is especially noteworthy. In places where P86 and other early Alexandrian manuscripts agree, it bolsters our confidence that this wording goes back to a very ancient exemplar – likely very close to what Matthew originally wrote. In a conservative evangelical perspective, this is significant: it means that even by the early 300s A.D., the Christians in Egypt had copies of Matthew that were substantially the same as the autographs (originals), with only trivial differences. P86, therefore, contributes to the stable mosaic of manuscript evidence confirming the New Testament text. Its Category II status reminds us that no manuscript is perfect – each has the occasional odd reading – but P86’s “alien” readings are few and minor. Textual critics weigh P86’s testimony alongside other manuscripts, and in critical editions of the Greek New Testament (like the Nestle-Aland 28th edition), readings from P86 are cited in the apparatus. In nearly all cases, P86 supports the established critical text (which heavily relies on Alexandrian witnesses). Where it differs, the variation is usually not adopted as the main text but noted for scholarly interest. For example, if P86 were our only copy, we would still have an essentially accurate text of Matthew 5:13–16, 22–25, with only minute uncertainty about a letter or word here or there. In conclusion, P86’s textual character is that of a faithful Alexandrian copy. It reinforces the view that the New Testament text was preserved with great care. As a 4th-century manuscript in the Alexandrian lineage, P86 stands as a conservatively valued proof that the words of Matthew’s Gospel were transmitted over time with a high degree of integrity and only minimal, non-theological variations. Such a finding resonates with evangelical scholars’ trust in God’s providence in preserving Scripture, as even a small papyrus fragment like P86 testifies to the “settled” text of the Gospel well before the era of medieval manuscripts.

Comparison with Other Manuscripts

Other early papyri, such as P1 (Rylands 457), also cover parts of Matthew 5 and are from a similar period, dated to the third century. P1, like P86, agrees with the Alexandrian text-type, providing additional confirmation of the text’s consistency across early witnesses. Later manuscripts like Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, both from the fourth century, further solidify this text type’s authority. For example, P1 and P86 both support the reading in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in the heavens” (UASV), aligning with the Alexandrian tradition. Western, Byzantine, and Caesarean texts, along with versions, lectionaries, and patristic quotations, are consulted only as a last resort, and P86’s alignment with B and א does not necessitate such comparison.

Evaluation from a Conservative Evangelical Perspective

From a conservative evangelical standpoint, P86’s support for the Alexandrian text-type in Matthew 5 reinforces the belief in the preservation of the original New Testament text. As Psalm 119:160 states, “ The sum of your word is truth, and all your righteous judgments endure forever” (UASV), and 2 Timothy 3:16 affirms, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (UASV). Therefore, P86 is a crucial piece of evidence that the text has been faithfully transmitted. Its early date, around 150-200 years after Matthew’s composition (traditionally dated to 45 CE), and its documentary hand, suggest it was used in practical settings, possibly for teaching or personal study, highlighting the active engagement with scripture in the early church.

Chronological and Historical Context

Dated to the third century, P86 was produced approximately 150-200 years after the composition of Matthew’s Gospel, which is traditionally dated to around 60-80 CE based on internal evidence and early church tradition. This manuscript’s existence testifies to the early and widespread copying of the New Testament texts, ensuring their preservation for future generations. Its presence in Europe, as indicated by its current location in Cologne, highlights the spread of Christianity and its scriptures beyond the initial regions of the Roman Empire, such as Judea and Asia Minor, by the third century.

Detailed Table of Variants

Verse	P86 Reading	Standard/Alexandrian Reading	Classification
5:13-16, 22-25	Matches B and א	Matches B and א	No significant variants

This table confirms P86’s alignment with the Alexandrian text, with no noted variants, reinforcing its reliability.

Conclusion

P86 (Inv. Nr. 5516) is a valuable early witness to the New Testament text, specifically supporting the Alexandrian text-type in Matthew 5:13–16 and 22–25. Its agreement with key manuscripts like Vaticanus and Sinaiticus provides confidence in the accuracy of the text used by conservative evangelical scholars. The documentary hand offers an unexpected detail, suggesting practical use in the early church, and its early date and European location underscore the text’s preservation and spread. As such, P86 plays a significant role in the textual criticism of the New Testament, affirming the reliability of the scriptures.

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