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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.
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.
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.
CSB 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 put aside 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.
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.

What does 1 Corinthians 13:11 mean?

Paul has written that when "the perfect," comes, meaning Christ, He will reveal all things to us. For now, our knowledge about God and His ways is partial. Then, when we're with Him in eternity, we will know fully (1 John 3:1–2).

One reason God gives spiritual gifts to believers now is for us to build each other up. Those abilities are meant to "grow up" the church. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 4:11–12: "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."

That passage shows that, eventually, the church will mature to the point that we reach the "fullness of Christ." This will happen only after He arrives, but it is the course we are currently on. The gifts are needed to keep the process going until He comes, then they will be needed no longer.

To illustrate this idea, Paul refers to himself as first a child, who lived in childish ways, and then as an adult who put away that childish understanding of the world when he became a man. The same will happen for believers when Christ returns. Our partial understanding about God will become full, mature "knowing."
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