1 Corinthians 14:20
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Jesus calls us to be more like children. Paul tells us to me more like adults. Are Jesus and Paul in conflict?
No. Jesus and Paul are answering different questions and addressing different ideas.
Jesus is stating that we need to have faith the way a child has faith. A child believes their authority for the authority's sake. Children assume the information they are being taught is true and beneficial and a worthy way of viewing the world around them. In this life, that can be for better or for worse pending on the authority source in said child's life. Nevertheless, Jesus said our faith must be like that in our devotion and childlike devotion to the Father.
Paul is stating that we need to have faith the way a man wrestles and meditates and owns his convictions through study, prayer, counsel, and conversation. A child does not know much about much. That is ok in many regards as Jesus points out, but not sufficient for articulating and preaching the Sacred and Imperishable Proclamation of Eternal Salvation
In our thinking we are to be mature. In our faith we are to be childlike. With regard to evil we should be as infants; newbies if you will. Not well seasoned veterans with expansive resumes from which to draw points of reference. We should not mull over evil and devise schemes and plans in our hearts that darken and devour our inner man. We should not be experts in sin.
So obey Jesus and Paul and honor God as our Father (the way a toddler does their daddy) and honor your God as our Father (the way a man chooses to surrender everything to Jesus because he has counted the cost and found Jesus alone worthy of his life and thoughts)
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Jesus calls us to be more like children. Paul tells us to me more like adults. Are Jesus and Paul in conflict?
No. Jesus and Paul are answering different questions and addressing different ideas.
Jesus is stating that we need to have faith the way a child has faith. A child believes their authority for the authority's sake. Children assume the information they are being taught is true and beneficial and a worthy way of viewing the world around them. In this life, that can be for better or for worse pending on the authority source in said child's life. Nevertheless, Jesus said our faith must be like that in our devotion and childlike devotion to the Father.
Paul is stating that we need to have faith the way a man wrestles and meditates and owns his convictions through study, prayer, counsel, and conversation. A child does not know much about much. That is ok in many regards as Jesus points out, but not sufficient for articulating and preaching the Sacred and Imperishable Proclamation of Eternal Salvation
In our thinking we are to be mature. In our faith we are to be childlike. With regard to evil we should be as infants; newbies if you will. Not well seasoned veterans with expansive resumes from which to draw points of reference. We should not mull over evil and devise schemes and plans in our hearts that darken and devour our inner man. We should not be experts in sin.
So obey Jesus and Paul and honor God as our Father (the way a toddler does their daddy) and honor your God as our Father (the way a man chooses to surrender everything to Jesus because he has counted the cost and found Jesus alone worthy of his life and thoughts)
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