Papyrus P15: 1 Corinthians 7:32–40 in a Greek Witness

Grenfell and Hunt recovered the leaf during the Egypt Exploration Fund's work at ancient Oxyrhynchus, the rubbish mounds of which preserved administrative papers, private letters, literature, and Christian books. They published it as number 1008 in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part VII. Under the distribution practices of the period, the papyrus entered an Egyptian public collection and was long cited as Cairo Egyptian Museum JE 47423. More recent Bibliotheca Alexandrina documentation and manuscript scholarship identify P.Oxy. 1008 as BAAM 0543, while some catalogues continue the older Cairo reference. This custody discrepancy should be reconciled immediately before publication rather than concealed. The archaeological origin is much firmer than for many purchased papyri: Oxyrhynchus is the documented provenance, although the precise mound, room, original church, and owner of the codex are not recoverable from the surviving catalogue description.

The surviving object is a fairly substantial leaf from a papyrus codex, written in Greek in a single broad column. The reconstructed page held roughly thirty-eight lines, enough to carry the end of Paul's discussion of circumcision, slavery, marriage, singleness, and changing worldly conditions before crossing into the question of food offered to idols. Page sequence and content demonstrate a codex rather than a literary roll. The script has often been called a competent documentary or reformed documentary hand, reminding readers that 'biblical manuscript' does not imply deluxe calligraphy. Nomina sacra and ordinary scribal abbreviations belong to Christian copying practice, while corrections and individual spellings must be evaluated line by line. The broken margins remove portions of some lines, yet the continuous passage is sufficiently extensive for textual comparison and for estimating page layout in the lost Pauline book.

The traditional date is the third century, based on comparison of handwriting with dated papyri; no colophon supplies a year. Earlier editions sometimes placed it nearer the fourth century, and recent palaeographical work cautions against narrow dates for literary hands. The leaf belongs to the strong documentary and book culture of Roman Egypt, where Greek remained a principal language of Christian Scripture. A 2026 codicological study by Brent Nongbri reexamines P15 together with P16 and argues that their scripts and physical design warrant renewed consideration as remains of one Pauline codex. If that proposal is correct, the book contained at least 1 Corinthians and Philippians. If not, the two leaves still show comparable third- or fourth-century Pauline copying at Oxyrhynchus. The dossier should report the proposed union as a scholarly argument, not silently merge two registered manuscripts.