diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
index 1a40b7e2c13cbfa25ac70b5bd199f9beea26b3a6..2ade36d0750275397fe5819e1e812f08b911dc82 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
@@ -115,9 +115,11 @@ class SparkSession private(
 
   /**
    * A wrapped version of this session in the form of a [[SQLContext]], for backward compatibility.
+   *
+   * @since 2.0.0
    */
   @transient
-  private[spark] val sqlContext: SQLContext = new SQLContext(this)
+  val sqlContext: SQLContext = new SQLContext(this)
 
   /**
    * Runtime configuration interface for Spark.