²⁰ You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

⁵ They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

¹⁶ Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

¹³ Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.

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.

¹⁷ Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.

² Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,

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

Jesus’ Prayer of Thanksgiving

²⁵ At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.