>The above statement was made by President Barack Obama in his inaugural address.

Cathleen Falsani, the Religion Columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, analyzes Obama’s use of 1 Corinthians 13: 11 in his inaugural address.

Falsani wrote:

How interesting that the Bible passage about growing up and putting away childish things (in the name of love) was chosen by our 47-year-old president and his 27-year-old chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau — perhaps the youngest team ever to craft a U.S. presidential inaugural address.

I wonder whether they chose the passage from 1 Corinthians in part to evoke another letter written by St. Paul. In 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul writes to his young friend Timothy, an evangelist in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor.

“Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young,” St. Paul told Timothy, “but be an example for other believers in your speech, behavior, love, faithfulness, and purity.”

As the American people begin to grasp the implications of the election of the first African-American to the Presidency of the United States, maybe the time has come to set aside childish things.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Barack Obama, Cathleen Falsani, Inaugural Address

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