Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

2 And this was the way it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I didn’t come with fancy words or human wisdom. I preached to you the truth about God’s love. ² My goal while I was with you was to talk about only one thing. And that was Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. ³ When I came to you, I was weak and very afraid and trembling all over. ⁴ I didn’t preach my message with clever and compelling words. Instead, my preaching showed the Holy Spirit’s power. ⁵ This was so that your faith would be based on God’s power. Your faith would not be based on human wisdom.

God’s Wisdom Through the Holy Spirit

⁶ The words we speak to those who have grown in the faith are wise. Our words are different from the wisdom of this world. Our words are different from those of the rulers of this world. These rulers are becoming less and less powerful. ⁷ No, we announce God’s wisdom. His wisdom is a mystery that has been hidden. But before time began, God planned that his wisdom would bring us heavenly glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this world understood God’s wisdom. If they had, they would not have nailed the Lord of glory to the cross. ⁹ It is written that

¹⁰ God has shown these things to us through his Spirit.

The Spirit understands all things. He understands even the deep things of God. ¹¹ Who can know the thoughts of another person? Only a person’s own spirit can know them. In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world. We have received the Spirit who is from God. The Spirit helps us understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ That is what we speak about. We don’t use words taught to us by people. We use words taught to us by the Holy Spirit. We use the words taught by the Spirit to explain spiritual truths. ¹⁴ The person without the Spirit doesn’t accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. These things are foolish to them. They can’t understand them. In fact, such things can’t be understood without the Spirit’s help. ¹⁵ The person who has the Spirit can judge all things. But no human being can judge those who have the Spirit. It is written,

But we have the mind of Christ.

The Church and Its Leaders

3 Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t speak to you as people who live by the Holy Spirit. I had to speak to you as people who were still following the ways of the world. You aren’t growing as Christ wants you to. You are still like babies. ² The words I spoke to you were like milk, not like solid food. You weren’t ready for solid food yet. And you still aren’t ready for it. ³ You are still following the ways of the world. Some of you are jealous. Some of you argue. So aren’t you following the ways of the world? Aren’t you acting like ordinary human beings? ⁴ One of you says, “I follow Paul.” Another says, “I follow Apollos.” Aren’t you acting like ordinary human beings?

⁵ After all, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? We are only people who serve. We helped you to believe. The Lord has given each of us our own work to do. ⁶ I planted the seed. Apollos watered it. But God has been making it grow. ⁷ So the one who plants is not important. The one who waters is not important. It is God who makes things grow. He is the important one. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose. The Lord will give each of them a reward for their work. ⁹ We work together to serve God. You are like God’s field. You are like his building.

¹⁰ God has given me the grace to lay a foundation as a wise builder. Now someone else is building on it. But each one should build carefully. ¹¹ No one can lay any other foundation than what has already been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ. ¹² A person may build on it using gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw. ¹³ But each person’s work will be shown for what it is. On judgment day it will be brought to light. It will be put through fire. The fire will test how good each person’s work is. ¹⁴ If the building doesn’t burn up, God will give the builder a reward for the work. ¹⁵ If the building burns up, the builder will lose everything. The builder will be saved, but only like one escaping through the flames.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple? Don’t you know that God’s Spirit lives among you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. God’s temple is holy. And you all together are that temple.

¹⁸ Don’t fool yourselves. Suppose some of you think you are wise by the standards of the world. Then you should become “fools” so that you can become wise. ¹⁹ The wisdom of this world is foolish in God’s eyes. It is written, “God catches wise people in their own evil plans.” (Job 5:13) ²⁰ It is also written, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of wise people don’t amount to anything.” (Psalm 94:11) ²¹ So no more bragging about human leaders! All things are yours. ²² That means Paul or Apollos or Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All are yours. ²³ You are joined to Christ and belong to him. And Christ is joined to God.