Ephesians 3:3
3 How that [hoti] by [kata] revelation [apokalupsis] he
made known [gnorizo] unto me [moi] the mystery; [musterion]
(as [kathos] I wrote afore [prographo] in [en] few words, [oligos] KJV-Interlinear
3 that
by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in
brief. NASB
Paul was educated within
the Jewish educational system. He also
received training from within the Roman system of education. His scriptural knowledge likewise came from
the scriptures, but here he mentions another source of knowledge, and that is
knowledge received direct from God. Knowledge
revealed directly from God to him.
The mystery, herein
referred to has many components. But primarily
this is in reference to the change in the emphasis and presentation of the
gospel and the scriptures, not from Jewish sources, but now from gentile
sources.
Throughout the Old
Testament, the source of doctrine was held in the custody of the Jewish people. But due to their failure in disseminating the
scriptures to the world, and their attempt to keep it all to themselves, and
furthermore, because of their drifting far, far away from the true principles
taught in the scriptures, then they not only lost that custodial privilege
after they rejected the Messiah, of whom the scriptures were written, but they
also lost their whole way of life within the celebrated feasts and sacrifices.
As to the prior text that
Paul had written and now refers to, nothing further is mentioned to identify
that prior writing. Most commentaries merely
speculate as to that source.
Even verse two alludes to
prior knowledge that both Paul and his readers already possessed.
And even though Paul wrote
the majority of the books that are included in our New Testament, it is most
likely that he wrote many other letters, that did not make it into the Bible,
and probably have been lost to history.
In any case, knowledge of
these things did not begin with Pauls writing, but had already existed long
before Paul and others had begun writing the New Testament as we know it today.
What is important in this
verse, is that knowledge already existed for people to learn and know about,
prior to the writing of these books, and that the knowledge that was written or
revealed, did not come from man, but came from God.
Therefore these subjects
are not the product of human invention, but of divine revelation.
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