The Church and Its Leaders

3 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit^(A) but as people who are still worldly^(B)—mere infants^(C) in Christ. ² I gave you milk, not solid food,^(D) for you were not yet ready for it.^(E) Indeed, you are still not ready.

³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,^(A) you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.^{(B) 4} Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.^(C)

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

² As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue,^(A) and on three Sabbath^(B) days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,^{(C) 3} explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer^(D) and rise from the dead.^(E) “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,”^(F) he said.

¹¹ Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,^(A) for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures^(B) every day to see if what Paul said was true.^(C)

¹⁶ The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.^(A) Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”^[a](B) meaning one person, who is Christ.

¹³ Until I come,^(A) devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture,^(B) to preaching and to teaching.

¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths^(A) of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!^{(B) 13} Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant,^(C) is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature,^(D) who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.^(E)

² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,^(A) so that by it you may grow up^(B) in your salvation,