1 Corinthians 14:20 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Howbeit in malice be ye children. — Better, however in evil be ye infants. There are three grades spoken of here in the original — infants, children, full-grown men. Their conduct in exalting these “tongues,” against which he has been warning them, is a proof that they are yet children in knowledge. They ought to be full-grown; the only thing in which they ought to be children is evil, and in that they cannot be too young, too inexperienced; they should be merely “infants.” (A similar thought occurs in 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 13:10-11.)