chapter xvi

. belongs to this Ephesian epistle or only the first twenty

verses, while verses 21-23 belong to the original Epistle to the Romans. Improbable as this may appear at the first glance, it admits of an easy explanation. It may be due to the fact that Romans once stood at the end of the collection of Pauline epistles. Or we may suppose that the commendatory epistle for Phœbe addressed to Ephesus and the Epistle to the Romans were written at the same time, and that in sending them off, the sheet containing the former by some mistake slipped in before the last sheet of the Roman epistle. On this view, the first benediction in verse 20, ἡ χάρις ... μεθ’ ὑμῶν, would belong to the Ephesian epistle, while the second, ἡ χάρις ... μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν to the Roman. The uncial L would then be right in retaining both, while D E F G will have omitted the benediction the first time it occurred, and א A B C the second time.

At the same time it cannot be disguised that there are difficulties in connection with the close of