What is the earliest physical evidence of the use of the name IHSOU or an equivalent nomina sacra such as IH?
The oldest mention of YHWH is probably the Byt Yhwh Ostracon. The name is also mentioned in the Mesha Stele of about the same age (9th Century BCE). For interest, the "House of YHWH" was not only used to denote the temple, but also the people of YHWH (cf. Ps. 27:4, Eph. 2:19 etc.). As far as I know, IHSOU is the Greek rendering of Yashua ("God brings salvation"), that we know in English as Jesus. The earliest reference I can find is manuscript P52. Of course, that might just be the first case in which the name was used in a Christian context. Of course, it was already known in the name/abbreviation "Joshua" - Moses' protege (Neh. 8:17) - "... the oldest name containing the divine name Yahweh, and means ‘Yahweh is help’ or ‘Yahweh is salvation’" (New International Dictionary of the New Testament Theology)
I haven't a clue. It was intended as an honest question. The earliest reference of which I'm aware is Papyrus Egerton 2, dated to paleographically to around 200 CE, and the Chester Beatty P46.
No. While the presumption is that the Rylands Papyrus 457 (P52) represents the earliest scrap of John 18, the site makes clear that neither "IHSOUN" (Recto) nor "IHSOUS" (Verso) were preserved.
Very interesting reading. I'm sure many people had much to say about Jesus and his followers at that time. I wonder what's left to discover? There must be more manuscripts around... I found a nice website in the process: http://www.gospels.net, which claims to have all the primary texts relating to Jesus.
You're sure? Based on what physical evidence? I've edited your link. You had included the comma as part of the URL. You might find Kirby's excellent Early Christian Writing to be of interest.
Probably not. But it's no use ignoring their existence. Anyway, anything antique interests me Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
ConsequentAtheist, It doesn't match with what is written in the Bible. The number 1 rule is: if there is no Love, there is no Truth. One of those books for example, talks about Jesus' childhood. It would be really good if we knew His childhood. However, in the second chapter or so, He "withers" another kid as if he was a tree. That's just stupid, totally against the rule number 1. Yes, He withered a tree. No, He doesn't wither people. He withered the tree to pass a simbolic message, but He never hurts anyone.
Brilliant. Reliability is determined by canonicity. Canonicity is determined by reliability. Thanks to the pervasive application of such doctrinal censorship, nothing about the Bible is reliable. All we know is that it contains the sanitized story that the victors of the various doctrinal wars against "heresy" wished to present.
John 13:35 "35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Very self-explanatory. Whoever follow this scripture is a follower of Jesus (i.e. Christian). Whoever doesn't that and say that is a Christian, then it is a liar, a "false prophet". 1 John 4:1 "1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. " Matthew 24:10-12 "10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold," To understand the Bible you must know how to read it. It is pretty easy, just read it as a normal book. Don't get an scripture from the middle and say that it contradicts another from before, cause things on earth are always changing. You have to keep in mind that there is a timeline. You cannot say that the book of Revelations comes before Matthew, cause it doesn't. When you think about the timeline, have in mind that there are three main times in the Bible: before Old Testament, Old Testament and New Testament. To read the Bible in the light of those three times is very important.
