Childish Things

What I learned in English class rings true for interpreting the Bible:  keep the main thing the main thing.  Though some are always on the lookout for "fresh" interpretations to support what is not explicitly said, I believe the deepest meaning of the passage is often in plain sight.  It takes the Holy Spirit and humility to sit quietly and listen to discover profound truths God delights to reveal.

This happened for me the other day as I read 1 Corinthians 13, a passage familiar to many believers.  When I have heard people teach on the second half of it they often wade into debates and conflict concerning whether tongues and prophecy are valid in the church today (which is ironic because chapters 12 and 14 explicitly affirm they are) and what childish things we are to put away.  To use this chapter to debate these topics hijacks the passage from the context and clear meaning of the text which is profound in itself.

On the heels of exhorting people to desire spiritual gifts and not to forbid them, Paul in chapter 13 introduces how God's love is necessary to properly utilise spiritual gifts and how faith, hope, and love will endure after spiritual gifts are eliminated when we are glorified with Christ.  In short, Paul explained the most desirable and useful spiritual gifts today are mere child's play compared to the life which awaits us in eternal glory.  1 Corinthians 13:9-12 reads, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. ¹¹ 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. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

We do not need to wonder what Paul meant when he spoke of putting "away childish things" because he just told us by means of a personal example.  As a child he 1) spoke as a child, 2) understood as a child, and 3) thought as a child.  Meditating on each one of these aspects of own childhood (and children we have observed) helps us to understand the contrast Paul struck between operating in spiritual gifts in part and the glorified state in the presence of Jesus Christ when we see Him as He is in fullness.  Let us consider each one of these childish things Paul put away as he matured into adulthood and began following Jesus Christ.

• Spoke as a child:  children have limited diction and impatiently shout things like "Mine!" and "No!" and "I do it myself."  Infants babble and make sounds without meaning as they imitate their parents or siblings.  On the playground they shout, scream with delight, or call other children names.  They may threaten, "If you don't play it right, I'm not your friend anymore."  All this sounds familiar to us I'm sure.
• Understood as a child:  children are very concrete thinkers, unable to process abstract concepts.  Their understanding is limited and is filtered through who they trust:  if dad or mum said it, it's true without question.  They can be gullible and easily frightened.  The meaning of what people say around them goes right over their heads and they pay it no mind.  They have an innocence which comes from ignorance.
• Thought as a child:  the thoughts of children are very simple and often not connected with reality.  I remember my dad telling me a story of when he sank under the water in a public pool and likely would have drowned if the lifeguard had not sprang into action.  What were his thoughts as his life flashed before his eyes?  He was a bit disappointed at the prospects of missing fried chicken night and hoped the beard of the lifeguard wasn't scratchy.  Children are easily overwhelmed and imagine the entire world is ending over an insignificant event, like Chicken Little thinking the sky was falling because a small apple plonked on her head.

Paul went on from speaking as a child to doing so circumspectly with the wisdom of God in love.  He considered who he spoke to and the right way to convey his feelings and used God's truth to encourage, exhort, rebuke, and edify.  Instead of the limited understanding of a child Paul grew to discern good from wickedness, truth from error, and literal from figurative.  He understood the implications of truth claims and how scripture was to be rightly interpreted and applied personally.  Paul matured from thinking as a child to choosing scripture to filter his worldview rather than relying upon culture or tradition to direct him.  He put away suspicions, superstition, and self-centred thinking with the aim to please God, make disciples of Jesus, and love others.

Paul followed with another example, that "now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face."  Mirrors in Paul's day were often polished metal which were a far cry from seeing someone in person.  With all the spiritual knowledge Paul possessed and spiritual gifting he operated in by the power of the Holy Spirit he resembled a child compared to who God would glorify him to be; looking in a mirror which provided a dull and warped reflection of his own face would one day be lost and forgotten in the clarity which would surpass 8K resolution.  In the presence of the almighty God glorified the spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy would vanish, but love would remain as 1 Corinthians 13:13 says:  "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  The almost parenthetical placement of 1 Corinthians 13 between chapters 12 and 14 prevent the folly of downplaying the value and need of spiritual gifts now which are provided according to the will of the Holy Spirit.

I pray you are as blessed (or even more so!) as I was to consider in light of the great things God has provided today by the power of the Holy Spirit we have even more to look forward to when we are glorified in the presence of Jesus.  The ways we speak, understand, and think now resembles well the ways of a child compared to the apostle Paul, ways we will someday put off when we meet Jesus face to face.  A good application of the passage is not just to long for eternity but to recognise childish speaking, understanding, and thinking in us now, intentionally put it off, and put on the new man which is created after Christ Jesus.  Ephesians 4:14-15 makes the point "...that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ..."  Through the Holy Spirit God has given us the ability to know and do His will, to speak the truth in love and grow into the image of Christ.