Oxyrhynchus 840, found in 1905, is a single small vellum parchment leaf with 45 lines of text written on both sides in a tiny neat hand that dates it to the 4th century, almost square, less than 10 cm across; the text probably dates from before 200, but no more is determinable from this evidence. In his introduction in The Complete Gospels, Philip Sellew notes that this fragment was likely a talisman text, kept as an amulet, perhaps worn around the neck. The text itself has been dated to the first half of the second century. Sellew calls it "similar to the New Testament gospels in its style and tone."
The fragment begins with the end of a warning to an evildoer who plans ahead, but who doesn't take the next life into account. There follows sections of a narrative unparalleled in any other known gospel tradition, about Jesus' encounter with "a Pharisee, a leading priest" who tries to order Jesus and the disciples out of the Temple as ritually unclean. Jesus responds by contrasting ritual cleanliness, gotten by bathing with water used by dogs and pigs, like a harlot, against the life-giving water that comes down from heaven in baptism.
Jesus is called "Savior" (Greek: Σωτήρ), which is rare in the New Testament, but not unparalleled. The author of the fragment also believes that laymen have to change their clothes to enter the temple, for which there is no other evidence. The author is distinctly hostile to Judaism, but as he knows little about it, the text is presumably not from Judea; the author's vague grasp of details of Temple rituals have suggested a Johannine circle, perhaps in Syria.
Read more about this topic: Oxyrhynchus Gospels