1 Corinthians 3:6–7

Context

This passage comes from 1 Corinthians, the letter the apostle Paul sent to the church in Corinth. That church was divided into factions aligned with particular leaders, whose members said, "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos" (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:4). Paul had founded the church (Acts 18). Apollos later ministered in the region of Achaia and helped the believers there (Acts 18:24–28). Paul describes this sequence with an agricultural image: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). In the preceding verse 5, he calls the two men "ministers," that is, servants who carry out the work. In verses 8–9, he says that "he that planteth and he that watereth are one," that each "shall receive his own reward according to his own labour," and he calls the church "God's husbandry," or God's field.

Interpretation

• A corrective to factionalism: Many commentators hold that the primary purpose of the passage is to put an end to partisanship centered on ministers. On this reading, ministers are not rivals competing with one another but workers who share in a single task.
• An emphasis on God's sovereignty: In the Reformed tradition, the passage is often read as showing that the beginning and growth of faith depend ultimately on the grace of God. The tenses of the Greek text are also noted in this connection: "planted" and "watered" are in the aorist, denoting a single completed action, while "gave the increase" is in the imperfect, denoting continuing action.
• A reading that also recognizes the minister's labor: The statement in verse 7 that neither the planter nor the waterer "is any thing" is generally understood not as a call to regard ministers as worthless but as a relative diminishment of them in comparison with God, since verse 8 speaks of a reward according to each person's labor. Traditions that also emphasize human response, such as Wesleyan theology, likewise locate the source of growth in God. They sometimes, however, read the passage together with the phrase "labourers together with God" in verse 9, bringing out more fully that God makes use of human labor.

Questions of Application

There is little significant controversy among denominations over this passage. In translation, the main point of discussion is how to render the phrase in verse 9 that the KJV gives as "labourers together with God." It may be understood as "those who work together with God" or as "those who belong to God and work together with one another," and interpretations differ accordingly. In application, the question of how to regard a church's outward growth remains open. The passage is cited as grounds for not evaluating ministers by increases or decreases in membership. Others, however, caution that attributing growth to God alone should not lead one to overlook the individual labor and responsibility of which verse 8 speaks.

In the Korean Church

The passage is frequently cited in sermons related to evangelism, church planting, and the departure and installation of pastors—settings in which one person's ministry is carried on by another. Within the church, it is also common to describe one person sharing the gospel and another nurturing the new believer as "planting and watering."

Related Passages

• 1 Corinthians 1:10
• 1 Corinthians 3:11
• 1 Corinthians 15:10
• Acts 18:24–28