1 Corinthians 14:20

My Notes

What Does 1 Corinthians 14:20 Mean?

Paul prescribes a paradoxical maturity: brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Be not children (paidia — little children, infants, the very young) in understanding (phresin — thinking, mental perception, intelligence) — the Corinthians were acting like spiritual infants in their thinking — specifically about spiritual gifts (the context of chapters 12-14). Their fascination with tongues, their competitive use of gifts, and their disorder in worship reflected immature thinking. Paul says: stop being babies in how you think. The thinking must grow up even when the experience is exciting.

Howbeit in malice (kakia — evil, wickedness, ill-will, the disposition to harm) be ye children — the exception: in malice, stay childlike. Children are not sophisticated in evil. They do not scheme, manipulate, or plot with the complexity of adults. Their malice is undeveloped. Paul says: keep it that way. Be unsophisticated in evil. Be inexperienced in wickedness. Be childish in your capacity for harm.

But in understanding be men (teleioi — mature, complete, fully developed adults) — in understanding, be adults. The word teleioi describes the full-grown, the complete, the person who has reached developmental maturity. The thinking about spiritual matters — gifts, worship, community life — must be adult-level. Mature. Thoughtful. Complex where complexity is needed.

The paradox: childlike in evil, adult in understanding. The world reverses this: sophisticated in evil, childish in understanding. The Corinthians had it backwards: they were children in thinking (immature about gifts) and presumably adults in malice (v.20 addresses their competitive, divisive use of gifts). Paul inverts the pattern: grow up in your thinking. Stay small in your capacity for harm.

The verse addresses the persistent temptation to be impressed by the spectacular while remaining immature in the substantive. The Corinthians were dazzled by tongues but could not think carefully about how gifts serve the body. The childishness was in the area that matters most: understanding. The maturity was needed where the excitement was loudest: the exercise of spiritual gifts.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What does 'children in understanding' describe about the Corinthians' immaturity — and where do you see spiritual childishness in the church today?
• 2.Why does Paul command childlikeness 'in malice' — and what does unsophisticated evil look like practically?
• 3.How does the paradox (mature in understanding, childish in evil) invert what the world typically produces?
• 4.Where has your spiritual excitement outpaced your spiritual thinking — and what would mature understanding look like in that area?

Devotional

Be not children in understanding. Stop thinking like babies. The Corinthians were fascinated by the spectacular — speaking in tongues, dramatic displays of spiritual gifts — but they could not think maturely about what the gifts were actually for. The excitement was high. The understanding was low. And Paul says: this has to change. The thinking must grow up.

In malice be ye children. Here is where childishness is appropriate: evil. Stay small in your capacity for wickedness. Stay unsophisticated in your ability to harm, to scheme, to manipulate. Children are not good at malice — they lack the experience, the patience, and the complexity to be truly destructive. Paul says: keep it that way. Be a baby at being bad.

But in understanding be men. In thinking — be adults. Mature. Complete. Fully developed. The understanding of spiritual realities — how gifts work, how worship serves the body, how love governs everything (chapter 13) — requires adult-level thinking. The excitement of spiritual experience does not exempt you from the discipline of spiritual reflection. The feelings may be childlike. The thinking must not be.

The world gets this backwards: sophisticated in evil, childish in understanding. Experts at manipulation, beginners at wisdom. Highly developed in the capacity for harm, underdeveloped in the capacity for discernment. Paul says: reverse it. Be the opposite of what the world produces: mature in thinking, infantile in malice.

Where are you childish in understanding? Where has the excitement of spiritual experience outpaced the maturity of spiritual thinking? And where have you become too sophisticated in evil — too skilled at the small malices of gossip, competition, resentment, and manipulation? The prescription is a paradox: grow up in your mind. Stay small in your malice. Be men where you are babies. Be babies where you are men.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture