100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
66. Papias (A.D. 70 – 130)
Papias was bishop of Hieraopolis and a colleague of Polycarp. Papias wrote a five volume treatise entitled “An Exposition of the Lord’s Reports.” Unfortunately, this work has been entirely lost to history except for a few quotations made in other ancient historical works. Enough of his work does remain, however, to strongly argue for the reliability of the New Testament.
Although Papias did not hear the Apostles first hand, his work makes it clear that he did receive their teachings from those that did. Eusebius A quoted Papias at length, who stated that Mark had acted as Peter’s interpreter, and wrote his Gospel based on Peter’s recollections. Matthew, stated Papias, originally recorded his Gospel in Hebrew. Papias also made mention of the epistles of 1 John and 1 Peter specifically. Of interest is the fact that Papais made mention of a story of a woman caught in adultery who was brought before the Lord. This is very likely recorded in John chapter 8. B
66. Papias (A.D. 70 – 130) - Notes and References
A. This information regarding Gospel authorship and the acceptance of 1 John and 1 Peter recorded in Eusebius, The Church History, 3.39.
B. This portion of scripture is often disputed, with many commentaries insisting that the older and “better” manuscripts do not contain it.
According to Codex Baroccianus 142, a work by Philip of Side (a 5th century work entitled “Ecclesiastical History”, Papias recorded in his second volume that he had interviewed personally the daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8-9) He also reported that some of those that had been healed and raised by the Lord survived until the time of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138).