The oldest identified scrap of the New Testament is P52, a credit-card-sized fragment of John 18 held in Manchester. For decades it was confidently dated to about AD 125 — which would place a copy of John within a generation of its writing. More recent palaeographers are more cautious, spreading the honest range across the second century. Either way it is early; exactly how early is genuinely argued.
- P52 is a small fragment of John 18, long dated to c. AD 125 (Roberts, 1935).
- Recent palaeographers (Orsini & Clarysse; Nongbri) widen the honest range to roughly AD 100–200.
What the evidence showsA copy of John's Gospel was already circulating in the second century, not long after it was composed — evidence against theories of a very late origin.
Where it stopsHandwriting can only be dated approximately. P52 fixes neither the exact year, nor the author, nor even a full page of text — only that John existed early.