Writing materials

There are two basic types of texts that were preserved: texts written on papyrus and texts written on animal skin, which we call parchment or vellum.

It was common practice in the Greco-Roman world for people to write on wax tablets, which were made of a piece of wood that had been coated with wax. Whatever was inscribed on the tablets could be easily erased by simply rubbing it out. People also wrote on pottery shards and other such materials.

However, when people wanted to write something for more official purposes or for preservation, they might write on papyrus. "Papyrus" is the word from which we get our word "paper." For many centuries, it was the most commonly used writing material, made from the papyrus plant that grew in the Nile River delta. People who made papyrus sheets would remove the center section of the stalk from the plant, and that center section would be cut into strips. These strips were laid side by side, and a second layer of these strips would then be added at perpendicular angles to the first layer. The wet strips would naturally paste together, and the sheets that they formed would serve as a relatively durable writing material. These smaller sheets could be glued together, and they would often be used for scrolls.

"It has been estimated that Paul's shorter letters would have been written on a single papyrus sheet, while the Gospel of Luke would have required a papyrus roll about 30 feet long" (Black, 15).

Unfortunately, as useful as papyrus was in its day, it was not well-suited for preservation. Many papyri have been recovered in Egypt, which has a very dry climate. However, other conditions were less favorable. Most of the papyri on which NT texts were written are in very bad shape. The earliest papyrus we have (p52), which contains John 18.31-34, 37-38, comes from about 125 CE. The latest papyrus comes from the eighth century.

By the fourth century, people were writing on parchment much more frequently. Early parchment manuscripts of the NT are called "uncials," because they are written in Greek capital, or "uncial," letters. The most important of these is called Codex Sinaiticus, and it dates from the fourth century. A codex is a text in the form of a bound volume, like a book, as opposed to a scroll, which is flat and rolled up for storage.