How that by revelation he made known unto me the
mystery,
&c.] 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.
