1 Corinthians 13:11 Commentary

Paul illustrates verse 10 ('when that which is perfect is come') with a developmental analogy. Childhood gives way to adulthood — and with it, childish things are put away. Spiritually, the church now lives in its childhood; full maturity awaits Christ's return. The verse calls us to keep growing, knowing the partial yields to the perfect.

The Corinthians treated their spiritual gifts as marks of arrival. Paul reframes: even the most impressive gifts belong to spiritual childhood. The age to come will render them as quaint as a grown adult's old toys. The corrective is not to despise the gifts but to recognize their relative immaturity compared to what is coming.

'Spake' (elaloun), 'understood' (ephronoun), 'thought' (elogizomen) — all imperfect tenses describing habitual childhood activity. 'Put away' (katergeka) — perfect tense: have set aside permanently. The image is comprehensive — speech, understanding, and reasoning all change with maturity. Childhood is not bad; it is partial. Maturity reveals it as such.

The Christian life is developmental. Growth in grace is real but partial in this age. When Christ returns, what we now call mature will appear childlike compared to glorified existence. This verse cultivates both contentment with our present growth (childhood is appropriate for children) and longing for the perfect to come (we are not yet what we shall be, 1 John 3:2). It also calls us to keep growing — to not remain spiritually infantile when God is calling us to maturity (Hebrews 5:12-14).

Identify a childish pattern still operating in your spiritual life — pouting when prayer is unanswered, demanding immediate gratification, comparison and rivalry, theological tantrums, refusal to do the hard work of study and obedience. Name it. Put it away as something belonging to an earlier stage. Cooperate with the Spirit's work of maturing you. The goal is not adult sophistication but Christlike adulthood, ready for the perfect when it comes.