Ephesians 6:19

That utterance may be given me, that I may open my mouth... — This hardly renders the original “that word may be given me in opening my mouth.” The “opening the mouth” — an expression always used of solemn and deliberate utterance — seems taken for granted. What the Apostle desires them to pray for is that “word may be given him” — “the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8), according to our Lord’s promise (Matthew 10:19), “It shall be given you in the same hour what you shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.” Then he adds as a consequence of this — to make known in plainness of speech the mystery of the gospel. For to make known a mystery in simplicity needs not only boldness to speak, but also the knowledge of the true word of God.

The mystery of the gospel. — The word “gospel” being used emphatically is, of course, the mystery of the new and universal grace of God to the Gentiles of which he speaks at large in Ephesians 3:1. This was “made known to him;” he desires inspiration “to make it known” to others.