1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4

New International Version

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,^(A) but not the wisdom of this age^(B) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.^(C) ⁷No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery^(D) that has been hidden^(E) and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age^(F) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.^(G) ⁹However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”^[a]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—^(H)

¹⁰these are the things God has revealed^(I) to us by his Spirit.^(J)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts^(K) except their own spirit^(L) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²What we have received is not the spirit^(M) of the world,^(N) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom^(O) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^[b] ¹⁴The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God^(P) but considers them foolishness,^(Q) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵The person with the Spirit^(R) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”^[c]^(S)

But we have the mind of Christ.^(T)

The Church and Its Leaders

3 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit^(U) but as people who are still worldly^(V)—mere infants^(W) in Christ. ²I gave you milk, not solid food,^(X) for you were not yet ready for it.^(Y) Indeed, you are still not ready. ³You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling^(Z) among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? ⁴For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”^(AA) are you not mere human beings?