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 childish things.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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 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.
- BSB 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.
- NASB When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
- NLT When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As a child grows up, he puts away childish ways. Maturity replaces the limited understanding of childhood.
Overview
Paul illustrates the move from partial to complete with the analogy of growing up. Childhood speech, feeling, and thinking are set aside when maturity arrives. So too the present, partial gifts belong to the church's immaturity and will be left behind in the fullness God has promised His people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- 1 Cor 14:20Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.
- 1 Cor 3:1–2Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.
- Gal 4:1But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all;
- Eccl 11:10Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 13:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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