3 See what great love^(A) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^(B) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^{(C) 2} Dear friends,^(D) now we are children of God,^(E) and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^[a](F) we shall be like him,^(G) for we shall see him as he is.^{(H) 3} All who have this hope in him purify themselves,^(I) just as he is pure.^(J)

⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,^(A) but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,^{(B) 5} so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.^(C)

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

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

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

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts^(N) except their own spirit^(O) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning^(A) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^(B) groan^(C) inwardly as we wait eagerly^(D) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.^(E)