is known as the recto and the side showing the vertical layer of fibers is the verso. The method of laying down the sheets would alter the appearance when the codex was opened. A recto page might face a verso page, but some might prefer to have recto facing recto and verso facing verso.

Some early codices with two narrow columns of writing to a page were probably copied from rolls with as little disarrangement of the original layout as possible. Conversely, when the back of an old roll containing an epitome of Livy was reused by an economical Christian he copied from a codex of Hebrews and even inserted the page numbers. Such a reused roll is called an opisthograph.

WHY THE CODEX WAS PREFERRED

Why was the codex chosen in preference to the rolls so widely used and familiar? At first it was not possible to buy a codex from those in the book trade, and because some codices reveal that they were made from cut-up rolls very definite reasons must have prompted these early amateurish experiments. That the four Gospels could be put together in one codex was a great advantage, whereas they would not make up a convenient roll, for Matthew would require thirty feet, Mark about nineteen, Luke about thirty-one and John about twenty-four, or 104 feet altogether. The third-century Chester Beatty codex of the Gospels and Acts would have needed five rolls and the Numbers-Deuteronomy one, three rolls. In a codex required texts could be located much quicker than in a roll, and this meant much to the early Christians, who really used their Scriptures. Even pocket codices have been discovered, the smallest of which (P. Literary London 204, 3rd century A.D., Psalm 2) has a page size of about three inches by two, with twelve lines of writing. The value of a convenient form of reference was quickly appreciated. Lastly, the codex was cheaper, because both sides of the papyrus sheet were used.

Another value of the codex was the protection it gave to the inspired books of Scripture. Today the codex can still give its testimony to the Bible canon. When we find nine of Paul’s epistles bound into one codex (Chester Beatty P⁴⁶) and including the epistle to the Hebrews, we know that this letter was received on the same level as the other epistles. The codex would establish a link between the various inspired writings and make it more difficult to insert an unrecognized work into the collection. And the fact that the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures was soon transferred from the roll to the codex shows that it was frequently used and not considered in any way inferior to the new writings.

The universal use of the codex in Christian circles in the second century, even for the Septuagint, shows that its adoption must go back to the first century A.D. This can explain the loss of the ending of Mark’s Gospel more readily than can the roll, for it would be quite possible for the last leaf to get lost. The roll, on the other hand, was generally rolled with the ending inside, so the beginning would suffer most damage, borne out by the greater number of ends of rolls that have survived than beginnings.

Can we now visualize the scene as the Christian Greek Scriptures began to take shape? What of Matthew, that writer of tax receipts and recorder of the first Gospel? “He had lived with a pen in his hand most of the day; and can it then be supposed that when he left his business for what he saw to be a far higher interest, his habit of writing would be dropped?”⁵ asks the writer of one account of the growth of the Gospels. His first notes may have been made in a parchment notebook, and when his Gospel was finished it would probably circulate in glorified notebook or codex form. As other Gospels were completed they would be put with Matthew’s Gospel. As the demand grew for more copies the codex form would be exploited to the full and copies would travel far and wide, its convenience making it possible for traveling ministers like Paul, Timothy and Titus to have pocket codices. When ministers like these returned to visit the congregations they would doubtless commend the brothers for their progress in using their newly received codices, though not forgetting to encourage those still using rolls.

The second-century codex forcibly demonstrates three points. It confirms the authenticity of God’s Word, almost closing the gap between the actual time of the apostles and the earliest manuscripts now extant. It reveals how anxious the early Christians were to give the Scriptures a great circulation, reducing the comparatively high price of books so that all could read these precious words of life. It helps us to see how much they referred to their copies and why they wanted to be able to find the places quickly and easily. May we be like those enthusiastic early Christians and use our Bibles, carefully examining them to prove the true faith as did those of ancient Beroea.—Acts 17:11.

REFERENCES

¹ A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, by Arndt and Gingrich. page 503.

² The Palaeography of Greek Papyri, by F. G. Kenyon, page 25.

³ Here and There Among the Papyri, by G. Milligan, page 54.

⁴ The Codex, by C. H. Roberts, pages 184-186.

⁵ The Growth of the Gospels, by Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, pages 5, 6.

“A Thousandth Part of the Entire Text”

MANY are the variations said to exist in the different manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures. This has caused some to wonder just how much substantial variation there is, that is, differences that really matter. It will be enlightening to note what Westcott and Hort said on the subject in their Introduction to the New Testament:

“With regard to the great bulk of the words of the N.T., . . . there is no variation or other ground of doubt. . . . The proportion of words virtually accepted on all hands as raised above doubt is very great, not less, on a rough computation, than seven-eighths of the whole. The remaining eighth therefore, formed in great part by changes of order and other comparative trivialities, constitutes the whole area of criticism. If the principles followed in the present edition are sound [and they are generally accepted as being sound], this area may be very greatly reduced. Recognizing to the full the duty of abstinence from preemptory decision in cases where the evidence leaves the judgment in suspense between two or more readings, we find that, setting aside differences of orthography [spelling], the words in our opinion still subject to doubt only make up about one-sixtieth of the whole New Testament.

“In this second estimate the proportion of comparatively trivial variations is beyond measure larger than in the former; so that the amount of what can in any sense be called substantial is but a small fraction of the whole residuary variation, and can hardly form more than a thousandth part of the entire text. Since there is reason to suspect that an exaggerated impression prevails as to the extent of possible corruption in the N.T., which might seem to be confirmed by language here and there used in the following pages, we desire to make it clearly understood beforehand how much of the N.T. stands in no need of a textual critic’s labors.” Yes, not more than a thousandth part of the Christian Greek Scriptures is open to question as to just what is the correct reading.