The Apostle Paul and childhood

Paul the Apostle - icon by Rublev

There's a line in the writings of Paul the Apostle which has always struck me as a bit curious. In his famous discourse on the nature of love - 1 Corinthians 13 - which is often read out at weddings and major events, he speaks about the transition from childhood to adulthood:

'When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I become a man, I put childish ways behind me.' (NIV translation) (Actually, the possibly more familar Authorised Version says: 'I put away childish things')

The expression 'put childish ways behind me'/ 'I put away childish things' always struck me as a bit laboured and elaborate.

Then, recently, I discovered something which may help explain it: ancient Greek children became young adults at age 12 and 'were expected to throw away their toys, dedicating them to Apollo (for boys) or Artemis (for girls).'

Perhaps that's why Paul draws out the point: since there was a strong demarcation between child and adult status in Greek society, even marked with a ceremony of giving away your toys.


ancient Greek toys: did the young Paul have a toy horse like the one on the right ?

Paul would have had a mixed cultural background: raised in a Jewish family in Tarsus, but surrounded by Greek culture, and under Roman rule (though, as pious Jews, Paul's parents would not have had Paul dedicate his toys to pagan gods.)

I'd never have connected Paul with Toy Story 3, but both of course address the issue of what you do with your toys when you grow out of childhood ....

Reading:
1 Corinthians 13, The Bible
Ancient Greece - Collins Gem (p 131) by David Pickering