Ephesians 3:3

Amplified Bible

and that by [divine] revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I have already written in brief.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
God let me know his secret plan by showing it to me. I have already written a little about this.

Revised Standard Version
how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For by revelacion shewed he this mistery vnto me as I wrote above in feawe wordes

Hebrew Names Version
how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,

New American Standard Bible
that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before briefly.

New Century Version
He let me know his secret by showing it to me. I have already written a little about this.

Update Bible Version
how that by revelation was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words,

Webster's Bible Translation
That by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words;

English Standard Version
how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

World English Bible
how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
as I wrote before in few words,

Weymouth's New Testament
and that by a revelation the truth hitherto kept secret was made known to me as I have already briefly explained it to you.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For bi reuelacioun the sacrament is maad knowun to me, as Y aboue wroot in schort thing,

English Revised Version
how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words,

Berean Standard Bible
that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

Contemporary English Version
In fact, this letter tells you a little about how God has shown me his mysterious ways.

American Standard Version
how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words,

Bible in Basic English
How by revelation the secret was made clear to me, as I said before in a short letter,

Complete Jewish Bible
and that it was by a revelation that this secret plan was made known to me. I have already written about it briefly,

Darby Translation
that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me, (according as I have written before briefly,

International Standard Version
and how this secret was made known to me through a revelation, just as I wrote about briefly in the past.Acts 22:17,21; 26:17-18; Romans 16:25; Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 1:9-10; Colossians 1:26-27;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have written to you in few (words);

Murdock Translation
that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, (as I have [fn] written to you in brief,

King James Version (1611)
How that by reuelation hee made knowen vnto me the mysterie, (as I wrote afore in few words,

New Living Translation
As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me.

New Life Bible
I wrote a little about this to you before. In a special way, God showed me His secret plan.

New Revised Standard
and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words,

Geneva Bible (1587)
That is, that God by reuelation hath shewed this mysterie vnto me (as I wrote aboue in fewe wordes,

George Lamsa Translation
For the mystery was made known to me by a revelation; as I have briefly written you before,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
How that, by way of revelation, was made known unto me the sacred secret, - even as I before wrote in brief, -

Douay-Rheims Bible
How that, according to revelation, the mystery has been made known to me, as I have written above in a few words:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For by reuelation shewed he the misterie vnto me (as I wrote afore in fewe wordes:

Good News Translation
God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this,

Christian Standard Bible®
The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above.

King James Version
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

Lexham English Bible
According to revelation the mystery was made known to me, just as I wrote beforehand in brief,

Literal Translation
that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief,

Young's Literal Translation
that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few [words] --

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For by reuelacion was this mystery shewed vnto me, as I wrote aboue in fewe wordes:

Mace New Testament (1729)
having revealed to me the secret, I now mention'd in short,

New English Translation
that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly.

New King James Version
how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,

Simplified Cowboy Version
As I've written before, God yanked me out of the saddle and showed me his crazy plan.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

Legacy Standard Bible
that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

Contextual Overview

¹For this reason [because I preach that you and believing Jews are joint heirs] I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— ²assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was entrusted to me [to share with you] for your benefit; ³and that by [divine] revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I have already written in brief. ⁴By referring to this, when you read it you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵which in other generations was not disclosed to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit; ⁶[it is this:] that the Gentiles are now joint heirs [with the Jews] and members of the same body, and joint partakers [sharing] in the [same divine] promise in Christ Jesus through [their faith in] the good news [of salvation]. ⁷Of this [gospel] I was made a minister by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of His power. ⁸To me, [though I am] the very least of all the saints (God's people), this grace [which is undeserved] was graciously given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the incomprehensible riches of Christ [that spiritual wealth which no one can fully understand], ⁹and to make plain [to everyone] the plan of the mystery [regarding the uniting of believing Jews and Gentiles into one body] which [until now] was kept hidden through the ages in [the mind of] God who created all things. ¹⁰So now through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God [in all its countless aspects] might now be made known [revealing the mystery] to the [angelic] rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

by: Ephesians 1:17, Acts 22:17, Acts 22:21, Acts 23:9, Acts 26:15-19, 1 Corinthians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 2:10, Galatians 1:12, Galatians 1:16-19

the mystery: Ephesians 3:9, Romans 11:25, Romans 16:25, Colossians 1:26, Colossians 1:27

as I: Ephesians 1:9-11, Ephesians 2:11-22

afore: or, a little before

Reciprocal: Matthew 13:11 - mysteries Matthew 21:42 - and it is Luke 8:10 - Unto Acts 13:41 - for 1 Corinthians 2:16 - But 1 Corinthians 4:1 - mysteries 1 Corinthians 4:7 - who 1 Corinthians 14:2 - howbeit 1 Corinthians 15:51 - I show Galatians 1:11 - that Ephesians 6:19 - the mystery 1 Timothy 3:16 - the mystery 1 Peter 5:12 - I have Revelation 1:1 - Revelation Revelation 10:7 - the mystery

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate it."

Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree]."

Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth; In pain you will give birth to children; Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband, And he will rule [with authority] over you and be responsible for you."

Genesis 3:17
Then to Adam the LORD God said, "Because you have listened [attentively] to the voice of your wife, and have eaten [fruit] from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it'; The ground is [now] under a curse because of you; In sorrow and toil you shall eat [the fruit] of it All the days of your life.

Genesis 20:6
Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this in the integrity of your heart, for it was I who kept you back and spared you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not give you an opportunity to touch her.

1 Chronicles 16:22
"Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm."

Job 1:11
"But put forth Your hand now and touch (destroy) all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face."

Job 2:5
"But put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh [and severely afflict him]; and he will curse You to Your face."

Job 19:21
"Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has touched me.

1 Corinthians 7:1
Now as to the matters of which you wrote: It is good (beneficial, advantageous) for a man not to touch a woman [outside marriage].

Gill's Notes on the Bible

How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery,.... Or "is made known unto me": so the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version. The Gospel, which is sometimes called a mystery, the mystery of the Gospel, the mystery of godliness, and the mystery of faith: the several doctrines of the Gospel are the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; such as a trinity of persons in the Godhead, the union of the two natures in Christ, the saints' union to Christ, and communion with him, the resurrection of the dead, and the change of living saints, and the whole doctrine of salvation by Christ, of justification by his righteousness, pardon by his blood, and atonement by his sacrifice; and this was made known to the apostle, not in a mere notional and speculative way, but in a spiritual and saving manner; not by men, for he was not taught by men, nor did he receive it from them, but had it by the revelation of Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

as I wrote afore in few words: in the two first chapters of this epistle, which are a compendium of the mystery of the Gospel, in its several parts; as predestination, election, redemption, regeneration, and salvation by free grace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

How that by revelation - see the notes at Galatians 1:12. He refers to the revelation which was made to him when he was called to the apostolic office, that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, and that he was converted for the special purpose of carrying it to them; see Acts 9:15; Acts 22:21.

Unto me the mystery - The hitherto concealed truth that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; see the notes, Ephesians 1:9, on the meaning of the word “mystery.”

As I wrote afore in few words - Margin, “a little before.” To what this refers commentators are not agreed. Bloomfield, Doddridge, Rosenmuller, Erasmus, Grotius, Locke, and others, suppose that he refers to what he had written in the two previous chapters respecting the plan of God to call the Gentiles to his kingdom. Calvin supposes that he refers to some former epistle which he had written to them, but which is now lost. Hc remarks in regard to this, “If the solicitude of Paul be rightly considered; if his vigilance and assiduity; if his zeal and studious habits; if his kindness and promptitude in assisting his brethren, it is easy to suppose that he wrote many epistles publicly and privately to this place and to that place. But those only which the Lord saw necessary to the welfare of his church has he taken care to have preserved.” In this opinion there is nothing in itself improbable (compare introduction to Isaiah, section 5 (1)), but it may be doubted whether Paul here refers to any such epistle. The addition which he makes, “whereby, when ye read,” etc., seems rather to imply that he refers to what he had just written.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ephesians 3:3. By revelation he made known unto me — Instead of εγνωρισε, he made known, εγνωρισθη, was made known, is the reading of ABCD*FG, several others, both the Syriac, Coptic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala, with Clemens, Cyril, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Damascenus, and others: it is doubtless the true reading.

The apostle wishes the Ephesians to understand that it was not an opinion of his own, or a doctrine which he was taught by others, or which he had gathered from the ancient prophets; but one that came to him by immediate revelation from God, as he had informed them before in a few words, referring to what he had said Ephesians 1:9-12.