1 Corinthians 13:11

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Here the apostle goes on to commend charity, and show how much it is preferable to the gifts on which the Corinthians were so apt to pride themselves, to the utter neglect, and almost extinction, of charity. This he makes out, I. From its longer continuance and duration: Charity never faileth. It is a permanent and perpetual grace, lasting as eternity; whereas the extraordinary gifts on which the Corinthians valued themselves were of short continuance. They were only to edify the church on... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

13 I may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I have not love, I am become no better than echoing brass or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy, I may understand all sacred secrets and all knowledge, I may have faith enough to remove mountains, but if I have not love I am nothing. I may dole out all that I have, I may surrender my body that I may be burned, but if I have not love it is no good to me. Love is patient; love is kind; love knows no envy; love... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child I spake as a child ,.... That cannot speak plain, aims at words rather than expresses them, delivers them in a lisping or stammering manner: hereby the apostle illustrates the then present gift of speaking with divers tongues, which was an extraordinary gift of the Spirit, was peculiar to some persons, and what many were very fond of; and yet this, in its highest degree and exercise, was but like the lisping of a child, in comparison of what will be known and expressed by... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:11

When 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 brute creation; and having no... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 13:11

Verse 11 11.When I was a child He illustrates what he had said, by a similitude. For there are many things that are suitable to children, which are afterwards done away on arriving at maturity. For example, education is necessary for childhood; it does not comport with mature age. (799) So long as we live in this world, we require, in some sense, education. We are far from having attained, as yet, the perfection of wisdom. That perfection, therefore, which will be in a manner a maturity of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The supremely excellent way of Christian love. This chapter has been in all ages the object of the special admiration of the Church. Would that it had received in all ages the loftier and more valuable admiration which would have been expressed by an acceptance of its lessons! Tertullian says that it is uttered "with all the force of the Spirit" ( totis Spiritus viribus ) . It is a glorious hymn or paean in honour of Christian love, in which St. Paul rises on the wings of inspiration... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

The eternal permanence of love. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Permanence of love. Why is it that the numerous objects around us are transient? On every side they appeal to us, connect themselves with hope and fear, enter into our business, awaken enterprise and ambition, and even inspire ardent love; yet they are ever passing away. Now, there must be a discipline in all this, and Christianity assures us what it means. It is that we may be trained in the midst of evanescence for that which is permanent. And this presupposes that there is not only an... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:11

I understood as a child, I thought as a child; I felt as a child, I reasoned as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things; now that I am become a man, I have done away with childish things. No specific time at which he put away childish things is alluded to, but he means that "manhood" is a state in which childishness should have become impossible. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 13:11

A child in time, a man in eternity. "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." From all the writings of Paul you cannot select an extract more beautiful, significant, and valuable than this chapter. It touches that which is the root of the universe, the heart of God, and the fountain of all virtue and blessedness —love. The subject of the words under our notice is the Christian a child in... read more

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