Fathers

1 Corinthians 13

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Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 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. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

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What the Fathers say

1 Corinthians 13:11

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child; but now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things." Next he points out also how great is the distance between the two, and that our deficiency is no small one.

Homily on 1 Corinthians 34 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Having said that with the coming of the perfect "that which is in part" will be done away with, he at the same time presents an example by which he explains how great the difference is between present and future knowledge. For now we are like infants, but then we shall be men. "Then I spoke as a child." This corresponds to languages. "I thought as a child." This corresponds to the prophecies. "I reasoned as a child." This corresponds to knowledge. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Clement of Alexandria

"When I became a man," again Paul says, "I put away childish things." It is not incomplete size of stature, nor a definite measure of time, nor additional secret teachings in things that are manly and more perfect, that the apostle, who himself professes to be a preacher of childishness, alludes to when he sends it, as it were, into banishment; but he applies the name "children" to those who are under the law, who are terrified by fear as children are by bugbears; and "men" to us who are obedient to the Word and masters of ourselves, …

The Instructor Book 1 ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says: When I was a child, he clarifies what he had said above: first, he clarifies the major, namely, with the coming of the perfect the imperfect ceases; secondly, he clarifies the minor, namely, that knowledge and prophecy are imperfect (v. 12). He shows the first by a likeness of the perfect and imperfect found in bodily age. Hence, he first describes the imperfect state of bodily age, saying: When I was a child, namely, in age, I spoke as a child, i.e., as befitted a child, by babbling. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗