Are Spiritual Gifts Just for "Baby" Christians? A Fresh Look at 1 Corinthians 13

For many, 1 Corinthians 13 is the "love chapter"—a beautiful, poetic passage often read at weddings, celebrating patience, kindness, and endurance. But beneath these familiar verses lies a challenging and perhaps surprising message from the Apostle Paul: a call for the church to grow up.

​In a recent sermon at First Grace Gospel Church, Pastor Mike Morris unpacked this chapter not as a standalone poem, but as the heart of a larger argument about spiritual maturity. This post explores four counterintuitive takeaways from that message, revealing what it truly means for believers to move from the nursery of faith to spiritual adulthood.

1. Spiritual Gifts Were Meant to Be Outgrown
Pastor Morris presented a powerful analogy: miraculous gifts like tongues, prophecy, and divine knowledge were like "training wheels," "sippy cups," and "ABC books" for the early church. They were good, necessary, and vital tools for a church in its infancy. But Paul’s argument is even more specific than a general comparison. He directly connects the childish actions of 1 Corinthians 13:11 to the very gifts he says will cease. He links "spake as a child" to speaking in tongues, "understood as a child" to prophecy, and "thought as a child" to the gift of knowledge. The surprising implication is that for a church to insist on using these "childish things" today is not a sign of advanced spirituality, but of immaturity. The goal was always to outgrow the need for them, just as an adult puts away the tools of childhood. Paul's point is that growth means moving beyond the things that were once essential."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." — 1 Corinthians 13:11

2. The "Perfect" Thing That Arrived Was the Complete Bible
A common interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:10 is that miraculous gifts will cease when "that which is perfect is come"—often understood as the second coming of Christ. However, the sermon argued for a different meaning: the "perfect thing" that was to arrive was the completion of Scripture. The pastor's logic is that since gifts like prophecy, tongues, and knowledge were partial forms of communication, they were rendered obsolete by God's complete and final communication: the finished Word. The Greek word for "perfect," telios, means mature or complete. To reinforce this, Paul uses the exact same word when urging the Corinthians to "be men" (telios) in their understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20) and again in his final charge to "be perfect" (telios), meaning mature (2 Corinthians 13:11). This isn't a one-off idea; it's a consistent theme."When we have the perfect word of God... the full revelation that he needs us to know, then these things are going to stop... we don't need any more prophecies. We've got it all."

3. Love Isn't a Gift You Receive; It's a Muscle You Build
Pastor Morris drew a sharp contrast between spiritual gifts and charity (love). Gifts were given freely by God, without merit or work. Even the Corinthian church, which Paul called carnal and immature, operated in powerful spiritual gifts. There was no correlation between having a gift and being spiritually mature. Charity—the "more excellent way"—is entirely different. It is not something that simply falls into a believer's lap. It is a learned behavior that requires time, effort, spiritual discipline, and hard work to develop. This is precisely why it is the true hallmark of a mature church. The ultimate goal isn't just to receive miraculous powers, but to build the spiritual muscle and develop the Christ-like character required to love others sacrificially."Charity is something that's learned. It's a learned behavior. It doesn't come naturally... that's why Paul calls it a better way."

4. The Goal of Growing Up is Stability, Not Spectacle
Why was Paul so insistent that the church grow up? His concern, as stated in Ephesians 4:14, was to protect believers from being "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine." A church fixated on spectacular signs and wonders is spiritually vulnerable, like an impressionable child. A mature church's focus shifts. It moves from the "arena of the spectacular" to the "stimulation of understanding" of God's will through His Word. Having the complete Bible provides a firm, unshakable foundation that solves the childish problems of division and strife that plagued the Corinthian church. As Pastor Morris explained, when everyone is working from the same foundation, "we're all using the same textbook." This creates true unity and peace. Maturity trades the temporary thrill of the miracle for the lasting stability of the truth."Paul anticipates that as the church matures, her concerns will be less in the arena of the spectacular and more in the stimulation of understanding." — Liberty Commentary on the New Testament. The Christian life, as presented through Paul's words, is a journey from a necessary childhood phase, supported by spectacular signs, to a mature adulthood founded on the complete truth of Scripture. This grown-up faith is not expressed through miraculous power, but through the difficult, daily, and deliberate work of love. It’s a call to move from depending on spiritual training wheels to walking firmly on the solid ground of God's finished Word. The question for us is profound. Are we seeking the spectacular signs of our spiritual childhood? Or are we committed to the hard, daily work of building a mature, "grown-up" faith?