A fragment of papyrus no bigger than an iPhone has brought about lively debate in religious communities since its debut at a Coptic scholars’ conference in Rome last month.

Harvard Divinity School professor Karen L. King presented the piece, claiming it to be part a fourth-century gospel. The validity of this claim will be scrutinized closely, as the papyrus includes a sentence referring to Jesus’ wife.

Dr. Hector Avalos, a religious studies professor at Iowa State, provided his insight on the piece, which will undergo chemical testing later this month.

“Whenever you discover any sort of text, the best kind of discovery is when it’s found at the archaeological site,” said Avalos. “This text was not found like that. It was found on the black market, which makes it immediately somewhat suspicious.”

Avalos said the testing of the papyrus itself is less relevant than the testing of the ink used. “Forgers know that they can go out on the black market and buy old papyrus,” said Avalos. “Even though the paper itself might be old, the ink won’t be if it’s a modern forgery.”

The Vatican has already condemned the finding in their newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. An article written by the editor Gian Maria Vian said, “Substantial reasons would lead one to conclude that the papyrus is indeed a clumsy forgery.”

Avalos knows the woman behind this finding, Karen L. King, personally. “She is known to be a careful scholar. She is very well known, and so this is not a case of some crackpot. But scholars have been fooled too.”

The line that has drawn so much attention reads, “Jesus said to them, ‘my wife…’” in Coptic, a late Egyptian language.

Avalos said the most interesting aspect of this papyrus might be the implications if it is found to be authentic.

“If he is talking about his own wife, then it implies that some people believe Jesus was married, which of course orthodox Christianity does not believe,” Avalos said.

Despite substantial ongoing debate, a verdict on the papyrus probably won’t be reached for some time. “I think we’ll be arguing about it for years or decades,” Avalos said. “I’m in the wait-and-see camp.”