I Corinthians 13:11 · Bible study
1 Corinthians 13:11 Commentary: Childish Things Pass Away
Greek · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Paul uses the child-to-adult analogy to show that spiritual gifts are temporary, but love endures and perfect knowledge awaits in heaven.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Paul analogizes the partial knowledge of this age to childhood, which will be fully outgrown when the perfect (heaven) arrives.
- Key words: nēpios (infant/child), anēr (adult man), katargeō (render inoperative/abolish), logizomai (reason/judge).
- Main debate: What is “the perfect” (v.10) that will replace the partial? Options: the second coming, the final state, or the completed canon.
- Theological theme: The temporary nature of spiritual gifts and the permanence of love, grounded in eschatological hope.
- Best use: A pastoral correction for churches that prize experience or signs over character; a comfort that our present limitations are not final.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.
WEB World English Bible 2000
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
KJV King James Version 1769
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
When I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I reasoned as a child; when I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Cuando yo era niño, hablaba como niño, pensaba como niño, juzgaba como niño; mas cuando ya fuí hombre hecho, dejé lo que era de niño.
Quando eu era menino, falava como menino, sentia como menino, pensava como menino; mas quando me tornei homem, aniquilei as coisas de menino.
Lorsque j’ étais enfant, je parlais comme un enfant, je pensais comme un enfant, je raisonnais comme un enfant; lorsque je suis devenu homme, j’ ai fait disparaître ce qui était de l’ enfant.
Da ich ein Kind war, da redete ich wie ein Kind und war klug wie ein Kind und hatte kindische Anschläge; da ich aber ein Mann ward, tat ich ab, was kindisch war.
Toen ik een kind was, sprak ik als een kind, was ik gezind als een kind, overlegde ik als een kind; maar wanneer ik een man geworden ben, zo heb ik te niet gedaan hetgeen eens kinds was.
Quand’ero fanciullo, parlavo da fanciullo, pensavo da fanciullo, ragionavo da fanciullo; ma quando son diventato uomo, ho smesso le cose da fanciullo.
Pókim był dziecięciem, mówiłem jako dziecię, rozumiałem jako dziecię, rozmyślałem jako dziecię; lecz gdym się stał mężem, zaniechałem rzeczy dziecinnych.
Когда я был младенцем, то по-младенчески говорил, по— младенчески мыслил, по-младенчески рассуждал; а как стал мужем, то оставил младенческое.
我作 孩子 的時候，話語 像 孩子，心思 像 孩子，意念 像 孩子，既 成了 人，就把孩子的事 丟棄了。
When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Koine Greek)
New Testament · Koine Greek · I Corinthians 13:11
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse pictures the differences between our present partial knowledge and the full knowledge of heaven. The analogy is clear: as a child’s speech, feelings and reasoning give way to an adult’s, so the spiritual gifts that the Corinthians prized will be superseded by the perfect. Barnes notes that Paul compares our current knowledge with that of heaven like an infant’s broken speech versus an adult’s coherent thought. Clarke adds that our adult state of Christianity is far beyond natural infancy, and heaven is far beyond our best in this life. Vincent presses the Greek verb tenses: the imperfects (I was speaking, I was thinking, I was reasoning) describe continuous actions in childhood, while the perfects (I have become, I have done away with) point to a decisive, completed transition. All see the point: the partial gifts (prophecy, tongues, knowledge) are for our immature stage; they will cease when maturity comes.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- The perfect as the second coming: The 'then' (v.12) is consistently read as the eschaton; the analogy of adulthood matches the resurrection state.
- The perfect as the state of glory at death or general resurrection: Christians enter the full presence of God at death, but the final consummation includes the body. The wording 'face to face' supports immediate vision.
- The perfect as the mature church age (less common): A minority view that sees 'the perfect' as the completion of the New Testament canon; not supported by supplied commentators.
What is clear: Paul is contrasting our present limited knowledge with a future, complete knowledge that will render current gifts obsolete, and love is permanent.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the child/adult analogy | Paul uses the contrast to show that spiritual gifts (prophecy, tongues, knowledge) are temporary and will be superseded by the perfect state of heaven. | Some commentators (e.g., Barnes, Clarke) emphasize the intellectual limitation of our present knowledge; others (e.g., Gill, JFB) see a more direct allusion to the Corinthian fixation on tongues and prophecy. |
| Identity of 'the perfect' (to teleion) in v.10 | The perfect stands in contrast to the partial; it refers to a future state of completeness. | Historical Protestants (Calvin, Matthew Henry) identify it with the state of glory or the second coming. Some more recent interpreters suggest the completion of the New Testament canon (a minority view not in supplied commentaries). |
| Application of the verse to spiritual gifts today | The verse teaches that love is greater than any gift and that gifts are for the present age only. | Christians differ on whether the verse supports cessationism (gifts ended with the apostles) or continuationism (gifts remain but are subordinate to love). Both sides affirm the primacy of love. |
| Interpretation of the three verbs (speak, understand, reason) | The verbs parallel the gifts Paul has been discussing: tongues, prophecy, and knowledge. | Vincent sees a progression from childish prating to reasoned thought. JFB specifically assigns 'spake' to tongues, 'understood' to prophecy, and 'thought' (reasoned) to knowledge. Others treat them more generally as facets of immaturity. |
Historical & Cultural Context
First Corinthians addresses a congregation proud of spectacular spiritual gifts, especially tongues and prophecy (1 Cor 14). Paul has just declared that love never fails, while those gifts will pass (v.8). Verse 11 drives the point home with a universal human experience: growing up.
The Greek term for child is nēpios, meaning an infant or minor, one not yet of age. Paul used the same word in 1 Corinthians 3:1 to rebuke the Corinthians as “babies in Christ.” Here he contrasts nēpios with anēr (adult man), which in Greek usage emphasizes maturity and full stature. The three verbs, laleō (speak), phroneō (think or feel), logizomai (reason), likely correspond to the gifts Paul has mentioned: speaking in tongues, prophecy (which involves understanding), and knowledge. Vincent sees a progression from simple babble to connected reasoning, mirroring the Corinthians’ concentration on less mature gifts.
The perfect tense of gegona (“I have become”) and katērgēka (“I have done away with”) indicates a present state resulting from a past action: Paul has entered adulthood and now lives in that reality. The adverb de (“now”) signals the turning point. The “childish things” (ta tou nēpiou) are literally “the things of the child”, not just behaviors but a whole stage of existence.
For a church that measured spirituality by visible gifts, Paul’s analogy was humbling. Gifts, no matter how impressive, belong to the nursery. Real maturity looks like love, the only thing that never passes away.
Textual Notes
The textual tradition for 1 Corinthians 13:11 is stable. The consulted sources note no significant variants affecting the meaning of this verse. The verbs, tenses, and key terms (nēpios, anēr, katargeō) are consistent across major manuscripts.
Reception History
From the early church onward, this verse has been used to humble pride in spiritual gifts and to encourage hope for complete knowledge. John Calvin read it as an analogy of education: the present life is our school, and heaven is graduation. Matthew Henry applied it to the permanence of love over temporary gifts. In the Wesleyan tradition, Adam Clarke emphasized the vast gap between earthly and heavenly knowledge Isaac Newton famously echoed the sentiment, calling himself a boy playing on the seashore. The verse has also been cited in debates about the cessation of miraculous gifts, though its primary use remains pastoral, calling believers to set their hearts on what lasts.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Childhood is a stage of limitation, Every gift (speaking, understanding, reasoning) is partial and imperfect, like a child’s efforts. The Corinthians’ pride in gifts reveals they had not yet grasped this.
- Maturity is a decisive transition, The perfect tense verbs (“I have become,” “I have put away”) show a clean break. When the perfect comes, the partial will be left behind for good.
- Love is the sign of the adult, Verse 11 sits inside a chapter that exalts love as the permanent reality. Gifts without love are the noise of a child; faith, hope and love last.
Five-point outline
- The Corinthians valued spectacular gifts like children prize shiny toys.
- Paul uses ordinary human growth to illustrate a spiritual truth.
- Each verb, speak, understand, reason, names a specific gift (tongues, prophecy, knowledge) and shows its limits.
- The coming of adulthood renders childhood obsolete not by discarding it but by outgrowing it.
- The application: live now in the light of what is permanent, not what is passing.
Illustration hooks
- A child’s drawing of a family is priceless to a parent, but the adult artist would never frame it alongside a Rembrandt. Our best spiritual insights now are that drawing.
- Learning to speak a new language, at first you stumble over words; later the grammar becomes natural. Gifts are the training wheels; love is the mature ride.
- Looking back on a high-school diary: you once thought those concerns were life and death. Now you smile. So will heaven look at our present “great” knowledge.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does this mean we shouldn’t seek spiritual gifts? (Paul doesn’t forbid them; he puts them in their place, temporary, for now, always subordinate to love.)
- When exactly will the “perfect” come? (Christians differ, some say at the second coming, others at death, others at the completion of Scripture. All agree it is the age to come.)
- How do I know if I’m spiritually childish?
Leading a Discussion
Paul’s analogy of childhood and maturity is one of the most accessible images in Scripture. It invites us to consider our own growth, but also to see the temporary nature of the gifts we sometimes overvalue. As you discuss, keep the goal in view: love is the permanent marker of maturity.
Discussion questions
- Read 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. What specific gifts does Paul say will cease? Why does he choose these?
- Verse 11 lists three activities of a child: speaking, understanding, reasoning. How do these relate to the gifts mentioned in the chapter?
- Look at the Greek verbs: Paul uses imperfect tense for childhood actions but perfect tense for becoming an adult. Why is that shift significant?
- In what ways might a person or church today “speak as a child” spiritually, even while using mature vocabulary?
- Paul says “I have put away childish things.” Is this a single decision or an ongoing process? What does the grammar suggest?
- If the perfect is heaven, how should our present priorities change? What might we need to “put away” to pursue love more fully?
- How does this passage encourage you in areas where you feel spiritually immature? Where does it challenge your pride?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Ecclesiastes 11:10 | Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. |
| I Corinthians 3:1 | Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. |
| I Corinthians 3:2 | I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now, |
| I Corinthians 14:20 | Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature. |
| Galatians 4:1 | But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all, |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
11 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke draws a stark analogy: our present spiritual maturity is as incomplete as a child's babbling compared to an adult's speech. The future blessedness will surpass even the highest perfection attainable in this life, just as mature understanding surpasses the instincts of infancy.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes draws out the analogy between infancy and adulthood to show how vast the difference is between our present knowledge and what we will know in heaven. Our current understanding, speech, and reasoning are as weak and imperfect as a child's first efforts compared to a grown person's mature intelligence. What we now think wise will seem childish then.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin sees the child-to-adult change as a picture of our whole earthly life: we are still being taught, still in training, and still far from full wisdom. The perfect maturity that awaits us will put an end to these necessary helps, just as grown-ups leave behind the tools of childhood education.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes that Paul's Greek uses a word for "thought" that actually means "reasoned," the same word used elsewhere for "thinketh no evil." The phrase "put away childish things" describes not a single act but a completed, permanent change: since becoming a man, Paul has brought childish things to an irreversible end.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note applies the natural progression from childhood to adulthood to the Christian life: the partial gifts of prophecy and knowledge are like a child's speech and thinking. When believers reach spiritual maturity in heaven, these imperfect means will be set aside as naturally as a grown man puts away childish things.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill compares even the highest spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues to a child's lisping, so weak and imperfect are they next to heaven's knowledge. When believers become full-grown in glory, they will set aside such childish things entirely, and far clearer understanding and speech will take their place.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB connects each childish activity to a specific spiritual gift: speaking like a child points to tongues, understanding to prophecy, and reasoning to knowledge. The point is that even these gifts belong to immaturity; full Christian maturity leaves them behind.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange warns that the King James translation of agape as "charity" has misled many readers into thinking Paul is praising almsgiving above all else. For Lange, Paul is not exalting any single virtue but describing the root and spring of all virtues -- a love that makes any gift or sacrifice meaningful before God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry's key point is that charity, or love, outlasts every spiritual gift because it belongs to eternity itself. Prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are temporary tools for the church on earth, but love remains forever in heaven where all other gifts become unnecessary.
Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887
Vincent draws a fine distinction between two Greek words for thinking: one refers to the undeveloped, disconnected notions of a childish mind, while the other means connected, consecutive reasoning. He also notes the perfect tense of "become" reinforces that this growth from childish to adult thinking is already complete.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley highlights that our present knowledge is like an infant's compared to what we will have in the future. He stresses that putting away childish things is a voluntary and untroubled act, done willingly and without effort.