Why Does Paul Say “When I Was a Child, I Spoke Like a Child”?

Borrowed Light
Why Does Paul Say “When I Was a Child, I Spoke Like a Child”?

My kids are 14 and 11 now. They do not speak the same as they did a few years ago. But we still fondly remember some of the cute ways in which they would twist words and their meaning. “Kids Say the Darndest Things” is a television show dedicated to the cuteness of children talking like children. But if my kids were still using baby talk, we would be deeply concerned. When you’re an adult, and becoming an adult, you are expected to no longer engage in baby talk.

In 1 Corinthians 13:11 we read this:

“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.”

What does that verse mean? Is it talking about mature speech, or is it pointing to something else?

What Is the Context of This Verse?

Even if you are only vaguely familiar with the Bible, my guess is that 1 Corinthians 13 sounds a tad familiar. If you’ve attended more than a half dozen weddings, there is a good chance that you have heard this chapter quoted. This is known as the love chapter of the Bible. But it actually has a much broader context.

1 Corinthians 13 is in the middle of a discussion on the use of spiritual gifts within the body of Christ. The Corinthian church was a mess. It seems that they were arguing about many things and at times getting the application of the gospel completely backwards. It is no surprise, then, that the use (or rather misuse) of spiritual gifts was a cause for division within the body.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul outlines the proper use of spiritual gifts. But he closes the chapter by saying, “and I will show you a more excellent way.” What is that more excellent way? It is the way of love. The first part of 1 Corinthians 13 shows the emptiness of spiritual gifts apart from love. Then in verses 4-7 he paints a picture of love. (This is the section that we read often in weddings.) Verses 8-13, rather ironically, have proven to be a source of division within the church. These are hot button verses in discussions on cessationism (miraculous gifts have ceased) vs charismatism (the miraculous gifts are still exercised).

Your view on the continued use of spiritual gifts will likely have a bearing on how you interpret verse 11. For me, I think both sides are missing the overall context in which Paul is speaking.

What Does This Verse Mean?

It is quite evident that the problem at Corinth is not that some are going around engaging in baby talk. Rather there is something happening that is “childish” and not mature. To discover what the childish behavior is, one can look at the first few chapters of the letter.

In 1 Corinthians 3:1 we see that Paul could not address the Corinthians as mature (spiritual) people but had to address them as infants (people of the flesh). Why? Because there was “jealousy and strife” among them. They were bickering about who was following who. Everything you see described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 was not an apt description.

What, then, are the childish ways? I would argue that it is bickering and dividing over tertiary matters rather than following the way of love. It also has a bit of a new era vs old era bent to it as well. This is why verse 12 and 13 say what they do. Paul is making the argument that the way of love is the way of that which is eternal. The way of bickering and division is of the old man/old era that is passing away. Some day we will walk entirely in love. So, Paul’s illustration is telling the Corinthians to “grow up” in the faith by adopting the way of love.

How Does Growth from a Child to an Adult Relate to Our Faith?

Should you have a child-like faith? Or should you have a mature faith? The Bible seems to encourage both. This is not surprising. There are ways in which children are tremendous models of dependent faith and trust. But there are other ways in which children can be immature. When someone throws a tantrum for not getting their way, we say that such a person is being childish. It is the latter and not the former that Paul is referencing here. In one sense, we should always have a child-like faith. In another sense we should abandon the ways of childishness and have a more mature faith.

In the 1700’s, John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, wrote three letters outlining the difference between grace in the “blade,” the “ear,” and in the “full corn.” It’s a reference to Mark 4:28 and Newton uses it to show the growth in faith from a new believer to a more mature follower of Christ. He explains that the level of trust is really no different throughout — there is a child-like dependence even in maturity:

“He is in the same state of absolute dependence, as incapable of performing spiritual acts, or of resisting temptations by his own power, as he was at the first day of his setting out. Yet in a sense he is much stronger, because he has a more feeling and constant sense of his own weakness. The Lord has been long teaching him this lesson by a train of various dispensations; and through grace he can say, that he has not suffered so many things in vain. His heart has deceived him so often, that he is now in a good measure weaned from trusting to it; and therefore he does not meet with so many disappointments. And having found again and again the vanity of all other helps, he is now taught to go to the Lord at once for ‘grace to help in every time of need.’ Thus he is strong, not in himself, but in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

The more we grow in our relationship with Christ, the more we grow in a dependence upon Him. We realize our own weakness and our need for Jesus. This is, in part, what is meant by seeing in a glass dimly but someday seeing fully. To progress in faith is to see Christ more clearly.

What Does Paul Mean We Will Understand, or Know?

Paul has not left the discussion of spiritual gifts, though. His discussion here is about that which is temporary and that which is eternal. I would argue that the dominant theme of Paul’s thought is that bickering and division are childish and of the previous age. But I also believe part of his argument is about the nature of spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts are present to help us see. The exercise of spiritual gifts are to give us little slices into heaven. When one prophesies, we see a glimpse of the word of God. When one is healed, we see a foretaste of that which is to come. But these too are temporary. There will be a day in which spiritual gifts are no longer needed because we will see clearly. We will know Christ and be fully known.

This is where Paul’s analogy in verse 11 can also help us. Children have knowledge that is very limited, but they are not yet wise enough to know that their knowledge is limited. A mature adult realizes what they do not know and responds accordingly. But part of a childish way of thinking would be to continue to assume that the knowledge you know is all that there is to know. Schreiner says it well:

“When the eschaton comes, when the perfect becomes a reality, then believers shall know fully. The partial, the indistinct and the indirect will pass away and believers will have a full understanding. Just as God knows believers fully now, so they will fully comprehend and understand in the future. Saying that believers will know fully does not mean that they will enjoy infinite knowledge, as if they will become omniscient as God is omniscient. The illustration of childhood and adulthood assists us here. Believers will come to maturity in their knowledge and understanding. Presently, their knowledge is incomplete and like being a child compared to what shall be known in the future. This is not to say that what is known now is false or distorted; it is only to say that it is incomplete and fragmentary."

Ironically, there is much that can be argued about in this passage, and that should tell us that we continue to live in the present age. We do not yet see fully. As such we, like the Corinthians, argue about things like the use of spiritual gifts. But we should heed Paul’s argument here. Wherever you land on discussions about the use of spiritual gifts we should be governed by love. That is the central point of this passage.

Source
Thomas R. Schreiner, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2018), 281–282.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Westend61

Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing home is http://mikeleake.net and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a new writing project at Proverbs4Today.