Paul and Apollos, Servants of Christ

3 Dear brothers and sisters,^[a] when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people.^[b] I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ.

¹³ For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.

¹⁴ But people who aren’t spiritual^[a] can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. ¹⁵ Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.

¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

⁶ Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.

²⁰ Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind.

Struggling with Sin

¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.

We Harvest What We Plant

6 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer^[a] is overcome by some sin, you who are godly^[b] should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

²³ Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”