1 Corinthians 13:11

1 Corinthians 13:11 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)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 put the ways of childhood behind me.
• English Standard Version (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.
• New King James Version (NKJV)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.

Context of 1 Corinthians 13:11

9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:11 word by word

ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος, ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐφρόνουν ὡς νήπιος, ἐλογιζόμην ὡς νήπιος· ὅτε γέγονα ἀνήρ, κατήργηκα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Whenὅτεhote ho te hē te tō te · whenG3753
• I wasεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• a childνήπιοςnēpios · childG3516
• I spakeλαλέωlaleō · to speakG2980
• asὡςhōs · as/whenG5613
• I understoodφρονέωphroneō · to reasonG5426
• I thoughtλογίζομαιlogizomai · to countG3049
• butδέde · thenG1161
• I becameγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• a manἀνήρanēr · manG435
• I put awayκαταργέωkatargeō · to abateG2673

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 13:11

• 1 Corinthians 3:1Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 14:20Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind.
• Ecclesiastes 11:10So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless.
• Galatians 4:1Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 13:11

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11When I was a child - This future state of blessedness is as far beyond the utmost perfection that can be attained in this world, as our adult state of Christianity is above our state of natural infancy, in which we understand only as children understand; speak only a few broken articulate words, and reason only as children reason; having few ideas, little knowledge but what may be called mere instinct, and that much less perfect than the instinct of the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11When I was a child - The idea here is, that the knowledge which we now have, compared with that which we shall have in heaven, is like that which is possessed in infancy compared with that we have in manhood; and that as, when we advance in years, we lay aside, as unworthy of our attention, the views, feelings, and plans which we had in boyhood, and which we then esteemed to be of so great importance, so, when we reach heaven, we shall lay aside the…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-13Verses 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…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8-13Love, unlike spiritual gifts, will endure forever.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1111. When ... a child--(1Co 3:1; 14:20). I spake--alluding to "tongues." understood--or, "had the sentiments of." Alluding to "prophecy." I thought--Greek "reasoned" or "judged"; alluding to "knowledge." when I became ... I put away--rather, "now that I am become a man, I have done away with the things of the child."Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Corinthians 13:11

• Charitableness
• Children
• Knowledge
• Love
• Readings, Select
• Religion
• Righteous
• Righteousness
• Sanctification
• Wisdom

In the dictionaries

• Charity
• Child
• Childish
• Love
• Prophesy
• Tongues, Gift of
• Vaunt
• Abstinence
• Babe
• Busybody

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 13

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings