Millar Burrows

Papyrology and Dating the New Testament

Papyrology has had a phenomenal impact on biblical study. Since many of the papyri date to the first century, it is possible to establish the nature of the grammar of that period and to date the composition of New Testament books. "Even in much later manuscripts, as we have seen, the type of Greek represented by the New Testament is that of the first century. Unless we resort to the wholly improbable hypothesis of a deliberate and remarkably successful use of archaic language, it is evident therefore that the books of the New Testament were written in the first century."