Ephesians 3:3 means that the apostle Paul received a direct revelation from God about a previously hidden plan, the inclusion of non-Jewish people in God’s promises through Christ. Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus, a mostly Gentile congregation, and he is reminding them that the truth he teaches did not come from human guesswork but from God himself.
How that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words…
Ephesians 3:3 (WEB)
What Ephesians 3:3 Means
The verse begins with “by revelation,” which tells us the knowledge did not come through study, tradition, or ordinary reasoning. Paul says God opened his understanding and made something known to him. The word “mystery” in the Bible does not mean a puzzle to be solved. It refers to a truth that was hidden for a time and has now been disclosed by God.
Paul then says he “wrote before in few words.” He is pointing back to an earlier part of his letter, or to an earlier letter, where he briefly outlined this truth. He is not claiming to have said everything there is to say. He is saying he has already touched on this, and now he will expand on it.
The verse does not promise that every believer will receive private visions or special messages. It describes how God gave this particular understanding to Paul as an apostle, entrusted with carrying the good news to the nations. What it does teach is that God chooses to reveal his purposes, and that those purposes are worth listening to carefully.
The Context of Ephesians 3:3
Ephesians is traditionally attributed to Paul, written while he was imprisoned, a detail he mentions in the verses just before this one. The letter was addressed to believers in and around Ephesus, a major city in what is now western Turkey, and many of them had come from a Gentile background, meaning they were not ethnically Jewish. Verse 1 opens with Paul calling himself a prisoner “on behalf of you Gentiles,” which places his suffering in service to these readers.
Verses 4 through 6 explain what the mystery actually is: that Gentiles are “fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers” of God’s promise in Christ. Read in this light, verse 3 is the hinge of the argument. Paul is saying that the astonishing claim he is about to make, that Gentiles stand equal with Jewish believers, rests on a revelation he received directly, which gives it weight and authority.
Key Phrases in Ephesians 3:3
Ephesians 3:6
That the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News…
(WEB)
This verse states the content of the mystery directly, naming the Gentiles as fellow heirs and partakers of the promise. Reading it immediately after verse 3 helps show what Paul was revealing and why it mattered so much.
A Short Prayer From Ephesians 3:3
Lord, thank you for revealing your purposes to us, not because we earned your understanding but because you chose to make it known. Open my eyes to see the people you have welcomed, including those I might have been tempted to overlook or keep at a distance. Help me to read your Word with humility, returning to its truths with a willing heart. Make me faithful to pass on what I have received, so that others may also come to know the good news of Christ. Amen.
