Put Away Childish Things: Growing Up in 1 Corinthians 13:11
Short answer: In 1 Corinthians 13:11, Paul uses the analogy of human development to describe spiritual growth. He writes, as 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, as 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, as 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. I have put away childish things." This is not a call to abandon childlike faith but to leave behind childish patterns of thinking, speaking, and acting in the church. The Corinthians were competing over spiritual gifts, suing one another, and tolerating sin while boasting of their maturity. Paul's point is that love is the mark of maturity, and love demands that believers grow up in how they think about themselves, one another, and God's purposes.
What the Passage Actually Says
1 Corinthians 13 is often read at weddings, but Paul wrote it to a divided church. The issue was not romance; it was spiritual pride. The Corinthians prized spectacular gifts and measured maturity by visible power. Paul interrupts their boasting with a chapter about love and then writes, as 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. I have put away childish things." He is not dismissing childhood as sinful. He is saying that childishness has a season, and that season is over.
The three verbs matter: spoke, felt, thought. Childish speech includes boastful claims and quarreling. Childish feeling includes jealousy and resentment when someone else is honored. Childish thinking includes shallow reasoning about God and the church. Paul does not say he stopped speaking, feeling, or thinking. He says the manner changed. Maturity is not the absence of these activities but the transformation of them. Grown-up speech is truthful and gentle. Grown-up feeling is other-centered. Grown-up thinking is governed by God's word rather than by the approval of the crowd.
The phrase "put away" is deliberate. Childish things are not merely outgrown automatically; they are set aside. Some habits must be deliberately abandoned. In the Corinthian context, that meant giving up the love of status, the thrill of rivalry, and the need to be the most impressive voice in the room. It meant allowing love to regulate every gift. Paul's personal example carries authority because he was not asking the Corinthians to do what he had not done himself. He had been a child; now he had become a man, and he acted like it.
This verse sits inside a larger argument about spiritual gifts. Chapters 12 through 14 address tongues, prophecy, and the ordering of worship. Chapter 13 explains that gifts without love accomplish nothing. Chapter 14 applies the principle: pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but use them for the building up of others. Verse 11 is the hinge. To keep using gifts in a childish way, for self-display, is to contradict the very love that gives gifts their value.
Childish Thinking in the Corinthian Church
The Corinthians had a reputation for confidence. They were proud of their wisdom, their freedom, and their spiritual experiences. Yet Paul repeatedly has to correct them. They were forming factions around favorite leaders and saying, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos." Elsewhere he tells them that they are still fleshly and walking like mere humans. The childishness was not in their intellectual capacity; it was in their willingness to let selfish ambition shape church life. They had strong opinions but weak love.
The problem with childish thinking is that it cannot see beyond itself. A child reasons from immediate wants: I am hungry, so I cry; I want that toy, so I take it. The Corinthians wanted the most visible gifts, the best seats, the highest honor. Paul wanted them to look to the interests of others. That shift cannot happen without a changed mind. It requires learning to ask what builds up the church rather than what makes me look important. This is the movement from milk to solid food, from spiritual infancy to adulthood.
Childish speaking is closely tied to childish thinking. The Corinthians were apparently competitive in their speech, each one wanting a turn, each one wanting to be heard. Paul's instruction in chapter 14 is that everything should be done for edification, and that worship should be orderly. A child speaks because he wants attention. An adult speaks because he has something to give. The same gift of tongues or prophecy can be exercised in either spirit. The difference is not the gift itself but the maturity of the one using it.
This is why Paul can say in 1 Corinthians 14:20, "Brothers, don't be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature." He does not want them to be naive about evil, but he does want them to be grown up in their thinking. There is a childishness that is innocent and a childishness that is selfish. Paul calls for the first to be preserved in regard to malice and the second to be abandoned in regard to understanding. That distinction keeps us from misreading 1 Corinthians 13:11 as a rejection of humility or simple trust.
Growing Up Is a Process, Not a Moment
Paul says, "Now that I have become a man." The Greek verb indicates a completed action with ongoing results. Maturity is a state, but it is reached through a process. No one becomes an adult in a single afternoon. In the same way, no Christian becomes mature overnight. The Corinthians wanted instant prestige without the slow work of character formation. Paul's language invites patience, not panic. If you are still struggling with childish patterns, the answer is not self-condemnation but continued growth in the ordinary means of grace.
That process includes Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and obedience over time. Hebrews 5:12-14 describes believers who should have been teachers but still needed someone to teach them the basics. The author says they have come to need milk, not solid food. The problem is not that milk is bad; the problem is that they never moved on. Growth is expected. It is possible to remain a child for decades, and it is also possible to grow quickly through trial and obedience. But in every case, growth requires nourishment and exercise.
It also requires humility. The Corinthians were confident that they already knew. Paul had to tell them that knowledge puffs up while love builds up. The person who thinks he has arrived is often the most childish of all. True maturity recognizes how much remains to be learned and is teachable. A mature Christian can receive correction without collapsing. They can say, I was wrong, and change course. That capacity is a greater sign of growth than any spiritual gift.
Growth is not measured by comparison with others. The Corinthians compared themselves with one another and became proud. Paul says that when he became a man, he put away childish things. His standard was not his neighbor but the call of God. Likewise, our growth is measured by Christ's likeness, not by whether we are ahead of the person beside us. That truth frees us from both pride and envy. We can rejoice when another matures because we are on the same team.
Childlike Faith Is Not Childish Faith
Some readers worry that putting away childish things means putting away simple trust. Jesus said that unless we become like little children, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He also said that whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it. So there is a childlikeness that is not childishness. Childlike faith trusts the Father without needing to control the outcome. Childish faith demands its own way and throws a fit when it does not get it.
1 Peter 2:2-3 uses the same imagery positively. It says, "as newborn babies, long for the纯 milk of the Word, that with it you may grow." Here the appetite of a baby is a model for us. A baby wants milk because it is life. But a baby does not stay a baby. The very craving for the Word is meant to produce growth. If we long for the Word but never digest it, something is wrong. The goal of spiritual appetite is spiritual maturity, not perpetual infancy.
So the distinction is this: childlike dependence is permanent; childish self-centeredness is temporary. We never outgrow our need for God. We never graduate from grace. But we do outgrow the need to be the center of attention, the need to win every argument, and the need to have our way. A mature believer can be strong and still kneel. A mature believer can know a great deal and still sit at the feet of Jesus. That is not regression; it is the fullness of grown-up faith.
Paul's own life illustrates this. He could say, "concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless." and yet he also said, as Philippians 3:12 says, "Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect." He was mature enough to admit he was still growing. That combination of confidence in Christ and humility about himself is the mark of a grown-up Christian. It is what the Corinthians lacked, and it is what 1 Corinthians 13:11 calls us to pursue.
Putting Away Childish Things in Church Life
Maturity shows up in how we treat other believers. A childish church fights over preferences: music style, seating, budgets, and who gets credit. A mature church asks what serves the mission and honors Christ. A childish church gossips and takes sides. A mature church speaks the truth in love and seeks reconciliation. Ephesians 4:14-15 says that we should no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men. Stability is a mark of maturity. It is the ability to remain anchored when opinions shift.
Maturity also shows up in how we handle disagreement. The Corinthians were taking one another to court before unbelievers. Paul was horrified. A childish believer insists on winning at any cost. A mature believer is willing to lose a point in order to preserve a relationship. That does not mean avoiding all conflict; sometimes conflict is necessary. But it does mean that our goal is not personal victory but the truth spoken in love. The mature person can be wronged and still forgive. That is not weakness; it is strength under control.
Another mark of maturity is the willingness to serve without recognition. Childish people need applause. Mature people can work in obscurity because they know God sees. Jesus taught that we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. The reward of the mature is not human praise but the Father who sees in secret. When we put away childish things, we put away the need to be noticed. We begin to serve because service is right, not because it will be acknowledged.
Finally, maturity shows up in how we use our gifts. The Corinthians wanted the spectacular gifts. Paul said to earnestly desire the greater gifts, but then he showed a more excellent way. Love is the greatest gift because it outlasts everything else. Prophecies will cease, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass away. Love never fails. The mature believer invests in what lasts. They use their gifts to build up the body, and they measure success by whether others are stronger, not by whether they are more impressive.
How Do You Actually Put Away Childish Things?
First, name the childish pattern honestly. Is it a quick temper? A need to control? A habit of complaining? A refusal to forgive? Paul was specific: spoke, felt, thought. We should be specific too. Vague resolutions do not change anything. Name the behavior before God and ask him to change it. Then bring it into the light with a trusted believer who can pray for you and hold you accountable. Growth happens in community, not in isolation.
Second, replace the childish pattern with a mature one. It is not enough to stop speaking foolishly; we must learn to speak what is helpful. It is not enough to stop thinking only of ourselves; we must actively consider others. Paul says to put away childish things, but he also says to pursue love. The Christian life is not just subtraction; it is addition. We put off the old and put on the new. That is the pattern of Ephesians 4, and it applies directly to this verse.
Third, expect the process to take time and to involve failure. Maturity is not sinless perfection. It is a direction. A grown-up Christian still sins, but they do not make peace with sin. They confess, receive forgiveness, and continue. The difference between a child and an adult is not that the adult never falls; it is that the adult gets up and keeps walking. If you stumble today, do not conclude that you are hopeless. Bring it to God and take the next step.
Fourth, look to Christ. He is the mature man, the one who always spoke and acted in love. He did not please himself. He came not to be served but to serve. When we fix our eyes on him, we become like him. That is the promise of the gospel. Growth is not self-improvement; it is the Spirit conforming us to the image of the Son. So we press on, not in our own strength, but in the grace that has already saved us.
Common Misreadings of 1 Corinthians 13:11
One common misreading treats this verse as a rejection of emotion or simplicity. Some conclude that mature Christians should be stoic and sophisticated, beyond childlike trust. But Paul does not say he put away feeling; he says he put away childish feeling. He still felt deeply, and he wept over churches and rejoiced in the Lord. The mature life is not less emotional; it is emotional in the right direction, with love at the center instead of self.
Another misreading treats this verse as a blanket condemnation of all spiritual gifts that seem less intellectual. Some have used it to say that tongues and prophecy were only for the church's infancy and should now be discarded. But Paul does not say that. He says childish use of gifts must go. In the very next chapter he tells the Corinthians to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that they may prophesy. The problem was never the gifts; it was the immature way they were used.
A third misreading treats maturity as a matter of age or knowledge. The Corinthians had knowledge, and they were proud of it. But knowledge without love is childish. A person can quote Scripture, hold a leadership position, and still act like a child when crossed. Maturity is not measured by how much you know but by how much you love. That is the standard Paul sets, and it confronts every one of us.
Biblical fidelity check
This passage establishes that spiritual growth from childishness to maturity is expected and real. It establishes that love, not giftedness, is the true measure of spiritual adulthood. It does not establish that adult believers should never be childlike in trust, nor does it establish that emotions or simple faith are immature. It also does not set an age or timeline for maturity. Paul speaks personally: he became a man and put away childish things. The verse is a description of normal Christian development, not a promise that every believer will reach the same level at the same pace.
A common misreading is that 1 Corinthians 13:11 is about leaving behind spiritual gifts or even leaving behind the church's early charismatic life. Paul does not say that. The context of chapters 12-14 is the proper use of gifts in the assembly. The childish thing being put away is the self-centered, competitive use of gifts, not the gifts themselves. Another misreading is that maturity means becoming hard and self-sufficient. But Paul immediately goes on to say that love is patient and kind and does not boast. Maturity, in this chapter, looks like love, and love always depends on God.
Other passages that speak to 1 Corinthians 13:11
If you want to go deeper into the themes of growth, humility, and love in the church, these studies will help. Start with the letter's opening call to unity in What Does 1 Corinthians 1:10 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application, which shows why a divided church is a childish church. Then consider the foundation of God's faithfulness in What Does 1 Corinthians 1:9 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application. For the big picture of the letter, read 1 Corinthians 1: Called, United, and Boasting in the Lord. And for the warnings and freedoms that accompany maturity, see 1 Corinthians 10: Warnings and Freedom. Each of these passages supports the call to grow up in love.
Frequently asked questions
Does 1 Corinthians 13:11 mean I should stop being childlike in my faith?
No. Jesus honored childlike trust and said we must receive the kingdom like a little child. What Paul puts away is childish self-centeredness, not childlike dependence. A mature believer still trusts God simply and deeply. The difference is that a child demands his own way, while a mature believer submits to God's way. So keep the trust; put away the tantrums, the jealousy, and the need to be first.
How do I know if I am still being childish in my spiritual life?
Look at how you respond when you do not get what you want. Do you sulk, lash out, or gossip? Look at how you handle correction. Do you receive it or defend yourself? Look at your speech: is it marked by love or by boasting and complaining? Look at your thinking: are you easily tossed around by every new idea? These are practical tests. None of us passes perfectly, but honest answers reveal where growth is needed.
Is spiritual maturity something I achieve or something God gives?
It is both. God gives growth, but we are commanded to work it out. Paul says, "For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." which implies effort, yet he also says, as 1 Corinthians 15:10 says, "By the grace of God I am what I am." We pursue maturity through Scripture, prayer, obedience, and fellowship, but the Spirit is the one who produces the fruit. So we labor, not in our own strength, but depending on the One who works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
