“Of the entire New Testament,” I said, “what is the earliest portion that we possess today?” Metzger didn’t have to ponder the answer. “That would be a fragment of the gospel of John, containing material from chapter eighteen. It has five verses—three on one side, two on the other—and it measures about two and a half by three and a half inches,” he said. “How was it discovered?” “It was purchased in Egypt as early as 1920, but it sat unnoticed for years among similar fragments of papyri.
