1 Corinthians 14:20

20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

1 Corinthians 14:20 in Other Translations

KJV
20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
ESV
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
NLT
20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind.
MSG
20 To be perfectly frank, I'm getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head - your adult head? It's all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that's needed there. But there's far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility.
CSB
20 Brothers, don't be childish in your thinking, but be infants in evil and adult in your thinking.

1 Corinthians 14:20 In-Context

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
21 In the Law it is written: “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 4:14; Hebrews 5:12,13; 1 Peter 2:2
  • 2. Jeremiah 4:22; Matthew 10:16; Romans 16:19
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