1 Corinthians 13:11
“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.”
What does 1 Corinthians 13:11 mean?
Paul is describing the natural process of growing up, where we naturally shed the ways of childhood as we mature. He's speaking in the first person to make his point feel personal and relatable, but he's really talking about spiritual maturation in the church at Corinth, which was struggling with divisions and immature behavior. The beautiful thing here is that growth isn't forced or shameful, it just happens. A child speaks, feels, and reasons differently than an adult, and that's exactly how it should be at each stage. Paul's not shaming anyone for where they are, but gently pointing out that clinging to childish patterns when you're capable of more is like refusing to put on adult clothes. When you know better and can do better, putting away old ways becomes less about giving something up and more about stepping into who you're becoming.