Study Desk

but do what pleases them and is for their good. We should do whatever helps everyone grow stronger in faith.

But I have written to you very openly about some things that I wanted you to remember. I did this because God gave me this special gift:

But as the Scriptures say, "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard about him will understand."

Everyone has heard that you do what you were taught, and I am very happy about that. But I want you to be wise about what is good and to know nothing about what is evil.

Praise God! He is the one who can make you strong in faith. He can use the Good News that I teach to make you strong. It is the message about Jesus Christ that I tell people. That message is the secret truth that was hidden for ages and ages but has been made known.

(I also baptized the family of Stephanas, but I don't remember that I myself baptized any others.)

Christ did not give me the work of baptizing people. He gave me the work of telling the Good News. But he sent me to tell the Good News without using clever speech, which would take away the power that is in the cross of Christ.

The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a problem for Jews, and to other people it is nonsense.

But Christ is God's power and wisdom to the people God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I told you the secret truth of God. But I did not use fancy words or great wisdom.

My teaching and my speaking were not with wise words that persuade people. But the proof of my teaching was the power that the Spirit gives.

We teach wisdom to people who are mature, but the wisdom we teach is not from this world. It is not the wisdom of the rulers of this world, who are losing their power.

But we speak God's secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began.

But as the Scriptures say, "No one has ever seen, no one has ever heard, no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

But God has shown us these things through the Spirit. The Spirit knows all things. The Spirit even knows the deep secrets of God.

We who have the Spirit are able to make judgments about all these things. But anyone without the Spirit is not able to make proper judgments about us.

As the Scriptures say, "Who can know what is on the Lord's mind? Who is able to give him advice?" But we have been given Christ's way of thinking.

I planted the seed and Apollos watered it. But God is the one who made the seed grow.