1 Corinthians 13:11, “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.” King James Version (KJV)
| Translation | 1 Corinthians 13:11 |
|---|---|
| ESV | When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up 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. |
| NIV | When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away 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. |
Also, see the meaning of Eyes Have Not Seen in the Bible.
Put Away Childish Things: Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
13:8-13 Charity is much to be preferred to the gifts on which the Corinthians prided themselves. From its longer continuance. It is a grace, lasting as eternity.
The present state is a state of childhood, the future that of manhood. Such is the difference between earth and heaven. What narrow views, what confused notions of things, have children when compared with grown men!
Thus shall we think of our most valued gifts of this world, when we come to heaven. All things are dark and confused now, compared with what they will be hereafter.
They can only be seen as by the reflection in a mirror, or in the description of a riddle; but hereafter our knowledge will be free from all obscurity and error. It is the light of heaven only, that will remove all clouds and darkness that hide the face of God from us.
To sum up the excellences of charity, it is preferred not only to gifts, but to other graces, to faith and hope. Faith fixes on the Divine revelation, and assents thereto, relying on the Divine Redeemer.
Hope fastens on future happiness, and waits for that; but in heaven, faith will be swallowed up in actual sight, and hope in enjoyment. There is no room to believe and hope, when we see and enjoy. But there, love will be made perfect.
There we shall perfectly love God. And there we shall perfectly love one another. Blessed state! how much surpassing the best below! God is love, 1Jo 4:8,16. Where God is to be seen as he is, and face to face, there charity is in its greatest height; there only will it be perfected.
Also, see the meaning of Fighting the Good Fight of Faith in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 13:11 | Poole Bible Commentary
The apostle compareth the state of believers in this life, compared with their state in another life, to the state of a child, compared to that of a man.
Look, as one, when he is a child, knoweth things imperfectly, and discourseth of them in the style and according to the knowledge of a child; but when he is grown up, he discourseth of them at another rate, according to the degree of knowledge which he hath acquired by instruction of others, or his own experience and observation: so it is with all of us; in this life we, like children, have a poor, low, imperfect knowledge of spiritual things, and accordingly discourse of them; but when we come to heaven, we shall know them and discourse of them in a more perfect manner.
Also, see the meaning of The Fool Says In His Heart There Is No God in the Bible.
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