hebrews as an instructional appendix to romans 265
the situation as “very simple,”90 arguing that Hebrews was bumped closer
to the beginning of the codex in order to keep First and second corinthi-
ans together.91 In my view, however, the solution may not be so plain. to
begin with, apart from this case, trobisch makes a very strong case for the
relevance of the longest to shortest rule:
this codex of the letters of paul was made out of one single quire.... If
a codex is made out of one quire, the scribe must carefully calculate how
much text the book will have to hold before he starts to write. once he is
past the middle page there is no way to correct a mistake.... one can imag-
ine how difficult the calculation was.92
Violation of this principle of book production should probably be based
on more than a perceived formality (i.e., keeping First and second corin-
thians together). It is unclear how trobisch can so hastily dismiss it. what
is more, trobisch’s “very simple” answer does not explain why Hebrews
was not placed after second corinthians, a resolution that both keeps First
and second corinthians together and less flagrantly interrupts the lon-
gest to shortest rule. second corinthians and Hebrews are, as trobisch
points out, very similar in length.93 a more persuasive explanation for the
violation of order finds a positive (e.g., Hebrews belongs after romans or
before the corinthian correspondence), rather than just a negative (not
break up corinthian correspondence) solution. one possibility is a per-
ceived connection between romans and Hebrews. In my view, paul’s cli-
mactic yet enigmatic answer to the problem of sin in 3:21–3194 provoked
the creation of “appendix: Hebrews,” an aim that was known or obvious
to the compiler of 픓46.95Interestingly, 픓13 (225–250 ce: an opisthograph
probably containing romans and Hebrews only) may afford a second
such example.96
90 Paul’s Letter Collection, 16.
91 Paul’s Letter Collection, 17.
92 Paul’s Letter Collection, 15.
93 Paul’s Letter Collection: see table 3, 17.
94 together with the thesis statement in 1:16–17, the terseness of rom 6:10, attention to
the Jews in romans 9–11 and perhaps other factors.
95 see michael w. Holmes, “the text of p46: evidence of the earliest ‘commentary’ on
romans?” in thomas J. Kraus and tobias nicklas (eds.), New Testament Manuscripts: Their
Texts and Their World (tent 2; leiden: brill, 2006), 180–206.
96 discovered by b. p. Grenfell and a. s. Hunt in oxyrhynchus, egypt, 픓13 is cur-
rently housed at the british library (Inv. nr. 1532) and laurentian library (psI 1292). the
surviving text is twelve columns, of 23 to 27 lines each, from a scroll. It contains only
Hebrews (2:14–5:5; 10:8–22; 10:29–11:13; 11:28–12:17). as it uses pagination (e.g., 47–50), we
know that Hebrews was preceded by only one book in the original scroll. It was probably
romans as in 픓46 (often agrees with Vaticanus; 80% with 픓46). 픓13 is the largest papyrus