1 Corinthians 13:11 (ESV)

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

Paul plays with the double meaning of the word perfect in 1 Corinthians 13:10, which can also mean mature. Again he speaks in the first-person singular, likening the revelatory gifts (prophecy, knowledge, and tongues) to the ways in which he spoke, thought, and reasoned in his childhood.

In using this comparison Paul is not belittling the revelatory gifts. He is simply arguing that there will come a time when these gifts will have served their purpose. Just as he gave up childish ways when he became a man, the church will willingly part with the revelatory gifts when God’s perfect revelation has come.

It is possible (again depending on one’s interpretation of the preceding verses) that Paul is referring not merely to the revelatory gifts, but to revelation itself as being partial and immature. Although Scripture contains everything which we need to know for salvation and for righteous living, there is still much that Scripture does not reveal to us. Believers in heaven have a much fuller understanding of the things of God than do believers on earth.