Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 3:6
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
5 23. Christian Ministers only labourers of more or less efficiency, the substantial work being God’s
6. I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase ] The Apostle would lead his converts to rise from the thought of those who had ministered the Gospel to them, to the thought of Him whom they ministered. Man does but obey the Divine command in his ministerial work, the results are God’s. See note on 1Co 3:9. It is to be observed that both here and in ch. 1Co 1:12, St Paul’s account of himself and Apollos is in precise agreement with that of St Luke in the Acts. In Acts 18 we read of the Church of Corinth being founded by St Paul. In the latter part of that chapter and in ch. Act 19:1, we read of Apollos’ visit to Greece, and his stay at Corinth. The remark in this Epistle is a purely incidental one, but it coincides exactly with the history. St Paul founded the Church, Apollos ‘mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly,’ thus carrying on the work St Paul had begun. See Paley, Horae Paulinae, 1st Ep. to Corinthians 5, who points out the argument derivable from hence for the genuineness of both this Epistle and the Acts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I have planted – The apostle here compares the establishment of the church at Corinth to the planting of a vine, a tree, or of grain. The figure is taken from agriculture, and the meaning is obvious. Paul established the church. He was the first preacher in Corinth; and if any distinction was due to anyone, it was rather to him than to the teachers who had labored there subsequently; but he regarded himself as worthy of no such honor as to be the head of a party, for it was not himself, but God who had given the increase.
Apollos watered – This figure is taken from the practice of watering a tender plant, or of watering a garden or field. This was necessary in a special manner in Eastern countries. Their fields became parched and dry from their long droughts, and it was necessary to irrigate them by artificial means. The sense here is, that Paul had labored in establishing the church at Corinth; but that subsequently Apollos had labored to increase it, and to build it, up. It is certain that Apollos did not go to Corinth until after Paul had left it; see Act 18:18; compare Act 18:27.
God gave the increase – God caused the seed sown to take root and spring up; and God blessed the irrigation of the tender plants as they sprung up, and caused them to grow. This idea is still taken from the farmer. It would be vain for the farmer to sow his seed unless God would give it life. There is no life in the seed, nor is there any inherent power in the earth to make it grow. Only God, the Giver of all life, can quicken the germ in the seed, and make it live. So it would be in vain for the farmer to water his plant unless God would bless it. There is no living principle in the water; no inherent power in the rains of heaven to make the plant grow. It is adapted, indeed, to this, and the seed would not germinate if it was not planted, nor grow if it was not watered; but the life is still from God. He arranged these means, and he gives life to the tender blade, and sustains it. And so it is with the word of life. It has no inherent power to produce effect by itself. The power is not in the naked word, nor in him that plants, nor in him that waters, nor in the heart where it is sown, but in God. But there is a Fitness of the means to the end. The word is adapted to save the soul. The seed must be sown or it will not germinate. Truth must be sown in the heart, and the heart must be prepared for it – as the earth must be plowed and made mellow, or it will not spring up. It must be cultivated with assiduous care, or it will produce nothing. But still it is all of God – as much so as the yellow harvest of the field, after all the toils of the farmer is of God. And as the farmer who has just views, will take no praise to himself because his grain and his vine start up and grow after all his care, but will ascribe all to Gods unceasing, beneficent agency; so will the minister of religion, and so will every Christian, after all their care, ascribe all to God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. I have planted] I first sowed the seed of the Gospel at Corinth, and in the region of Achaia.
Apollos watered] Apollos came after me, and, by his preachings and exhortations, watered the seed which I had sowed; but God gave the increase. The seed has taken root, has sprung up, and borne much fruit; but this was by the especial blessing of God. As in the natural so in the spiritual world; it is by the especial blessing of God that the grain which is sown in the ground brings forth thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold: it is neither the sower nor the waterer that produces this strange and inexplicable multiplication; it is God alone. So it is by the particular agency of the Spirit of God that even good seed, sown in good ground, the purest doctrine conveyed to the honest heart, produces the salvation of the soul.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God honoured me first to preach the gospel amongst you, Act 18:1-28 &c., and blessed my preaching to convert you unto Christ; then I left you: Apollos stayed behind, and he watered what I had planted, daily preaching amongst you; see Act 18:24-26; he was a further means to build you up in faith and holiness; but God increased, or
gave the increase, God gave the power by which you brought forth any fruit. The similitude is drawn from planters, whether husbandmen or gardeners; they plant, they water, but the growing, the budding, the bringing forth flowers or fruit by the plant, doth much more depend upon the soil in which it stands, the influence of heaven upon it, by the beams of the sun, and the drops of the dew and rain, and the internal virtue which the God of nature hath created in the plant, than upon the hand of him that planteth, or him who useth his watering pot to water it. So it is with souls; one minister is used for conversion, or the first changing of souls; another is used for edification, or further building up of souls; but both conversion and edification are infinitely more from the new heart and new nature, which God giveth to souls, and from the influence of the Sun of righteousness by the Spirit of grace, working in and upon the soul, than from any minister, who is but Gods instrument in those works.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. I . . . planted, Apollos watered(Act 18:1; Act 19:1).Apollos at his own desire (Ac18:27) was sent by the brethren to Corinth, and there followed upthe work which Paul had begun.
God gave the increasethatis, the growth (1Co 3:10;Act 18:27). “Believedthrough grace.” Though ministers are nothing, and God allin all, yet God works by instruments, and promises the Holy Spirit inthe faithful use of means. This is the dispensation of the Spirit,and ours is the ministry of the Spirit.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have planted,…. That is, ministerially; otherwise the planting of souls in Christ, and the implanting of grace in them, are things purely divine, and peculiar to God, and the power of his grace; but his meaning is, that he was at Corinth, as in other places, the first that preached the Gospel to them; and was an instrument of the conversion of many souls, and of laying the foundation, and of raising and forming a Gospel church state, and of planting them in it;
Apollos watered; he followed after, and his ministry was blessed for edification; he was a means of carrying on the superstructure, and of building up souls in faith and holiness, and of making them fruitful in every good word and work: each minister of the Gospel has his proper gifts, work, and usefulness; some are planters, others waterers; some are employed in hewing down the sturdy oaks, and others in squaring and fitting, and laying them in the building; some are “Boanergeses”, sons of thunder, and are mostly useful in conviction and conversion; and others are “Barnabases”, sons of consolation, who are chiefly made use of in comforting and edifying the saints: but God gave the increase: for as the gardener may put his plants into the earth, and water them when he has so done, but cannot cause them to grow, this is owing to a divine blessing; and as the husbandman tills his ground, casts the seed into it, and waits for the former and latter rain, but cannot cause it to spring up, or increase to perfection, this is done by a superior influence; so ministers of the Gospel plant and water, cast in the seed of the word, preach the Gospel, but all the success is from the Lord; God only causes it to spring up and grow; it is he that gives it its increasing, spreading, fructifying virtue and efficacy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I planted ( ). First aorist active indicative of old verb . This Paul did as Luke tells us in Ac 18:1-18.
Apollos watered ( ). Apollos irrigated the church there as is seen in Ac 18:24-19:1. Another aorist tense as in verse 2.
But God gave the increase ( ). Imperfect tense here (active indicative) for the continuous blessing of God both on the work of Paul and Apollos, co-labourers with God in God’s field (verse 9). Reports of revivals sometimes give the glory to the evangelist or to both evangelist and pastor. Paul gives it all to God. He and Apollos cooperated as successive pastors.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Planted – watered – gave the increase [ – – ] . The first two verbs are in the aorist tense, marking definite acts; the third is in the imperfect, marking the continued gracious agency of God, and possibly the simultaneousness of His work with that of the two preachers. God was giving the increase while we planted and watered. There is a parallel in the simultaneous work of Satan with that of the preachers of the word as indicated by the continuous presents in Mt 13:19. See note there.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) 1 have planted” (ego ephuteusa) I have planted,” refers to Paul’s sowing the seed, the Word of God, Ecc 11:6; Mat 13:19-23; Act 18:8.
2) “Apollos watered.” (Apollos epotisen) “Apollos watered.” He is said to have “helped them much which had believed through grace,” Act 18:27. This help is referred to as watering or refreshing the Corinthian brethren.
3) “But God gave the increase.” (Greek alla ho theos euksanen) “but the trinitarian God made to grow,” (plants from the seed sown) – the believers. They are to grow through a knowledge of the Word, 1Pe 3:18; Act 20:32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. I have planted, Apollos watered He unfolds more clearly the nature of that ministry by a similitude, in which the nature of the word and the use of preaching are most appropriately depicted. That the earth may bring forth fruit, there is need of ploughing and sowing, and other means of culture; but after all this has been carefully done, the husbandman’s labor would be of no avail, did not the Lord from heaven give the increase, by the breaking forth of the sun, and still more by his wonderful and secret influence. Hence, although the diligence of the husbandman is not in vain, nor the seed that he throws in useless, yet it is only by the blessing of God that they are made to prosper, for what is more wonderful than that the seed, after it has rotted, springs up again! In like manner, the word of the Lord is seed that is in its own nature fruitful: ministers are as it were husbandmen, that plough and sow. Then follow other helps, as for example, irrigation. Ministers, too, act a corresponding part when, after casting the seed into the ground, they give help to the earth as much as is in their power, until it bring forth what it has conceived: but as for making their labor actually productive, that is a miracle of divine grace — not a work of human industry.
Observe, however, in this passage, how necessary the preaching of the word is, and how necessary the continuance of it. (158) It were, undoubtedly, as easy a thing for God to bless the earth without diligence on the part of men, so as to make it bring forth fruit of its own accord, as to draw out, or rather press out (159) its increase, at the expense of much assiduity on the part of men, and much sweat and sorrow; but as the Lord hath so ordained (1Co 9:14) that man should labor, and that the earth, on its part, yield a return to his culture, let us take care to act accordingly. In like manner, it were perfectly in the power of God, without the aid of men, if it so pleased him, to produce faith in persons while asleep; but he has appointed it otherwise, so that faith is produced by hearing. (Rom 10:17.) That man, then, who, in the neglect of this means, expects to attain faith, acts just as if the husbandman, throwing aside the plough, taking no care to sow; and leaving off all the labor of husbandry, were to open his mouth, expecting food to drop into it from heaven.
As to continuance (160) we see what Paul says here — that it is not enough that the seed be sown, if it is not brought forward from time to time by new helps. He, then, who has already received the seed, has still need of watering, nor must endeavors be left off, until full maturity has been attained, or in other words, till life is ended. Apollos, then, who succeeded Paul in the ministry of the word at Corinth, is said to have watered what he had sown.
(158) “ Combien aussi il est necessaire qu’elle continue et soit tousiours entretenue;” — “How necessary it is also, that it continue and be always kept up.”
(159) “ Tous les ans;” — “Every year.”
(160) Our author refers to what he had, a little before, adverted to, as to the necessity for the word of God continuing to be dispensed. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) I have planted, Apollos watered.By an image borrowed from the processes of agriculture the Apostle explains the relation in which his teaching stood to that of Apollosand how all the results were from God. This indication of St. Paul having been the founder, and Apollos the subsequent instructor, of the Corinthian Church, is in complete harmony with what we read of the early history of that Church in Act. 18:27; Act. 19:1. After St. Paul had been at Corinth (Act. 18:1), Apollos, who had been taught by Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, came there and helped them much which had already believed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Planted It was Paul’s pre-eminent gift to be a founder. His was the rare power, less conspicuous in Apollos and John, to convince the unbeliever, and create a new Church. Hence he sought new fields, and avoided to build on any other man’s foundation. Note on Rom 15:20.
Increase Growth. As the seed planted in the earth produces no herb or fruit without the showers and sunshine from above, so the preached Gospel, sown in the soul or in the world, produces no increase without God’s gracious aid.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 3:6-7 . Statement of the difference in the of the two, and of the success of the ministry of both as dependent upon God, so that no one at all had any independent standing, but only God. Therewith Paul proceeds to point out the impropriety of the party -relation which men had taken up towards the two teachers.
. . [489] ] We are not to suppose the object left indefinite (de Wette); on the contrary, it emerges out of , 1Co 3:5 , namely: the faith of the Corinthian community . This is conceived of as a tree (comp Plato, Phaedr. p. 276 E) which was planted by Paul, inasmuch as he first brought the Corinthians to believe and founded the church; but watered [491] by Apollos, inasmuch as he had subsequently exerted himself in the way of confirming and developing the faith of the church, and for the increase of its numbers; and lastly, blessed with growth by God, inasmuch as it was under His influence ( , Theodoret) that the work of both had success and prospered. This making it to grow is the effect of grace, without which the “granum a primo sationis momento esset instar lapilli,” Bengel. Comp Act 16:14 ; Act 14:27 ; 1Co 15:10 .
] may be taken to mean: is anything of importance, anything worth speaking of (Act 5:36 ; Gal 2:6 ; Gal 6:3 . Plato, Phaedr. p. 242 E, Gorg. p. 472 A, Symp. p. 173 B; Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 12). It is more in accordance, however, with the decided tone of hostility to all human estimation which marks the whole context to take in quite a general sense (comp 1Co 10:19 ), so that of both in and by themselves (in comparison with God) it is said: they are nothing .
. ] sc [494] (1Co 15:28 ; Col 3:11 ), which, according to the apostle’s intention, is to be drawn from what has been already said. An abbreviated form of the contrast, with which comp 1Co 7:19 , and see generally Khner, II. p. 604; Stallbaum, a [496] Rep. p. 366 D, 561 B. Theophylact says well: , , .
[489] . . . .
[491] Augustine, Ep. 48, and several of the Fathers make refer in a totally inappropriate way to baptism .
[494] c. scilicet .
[496] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Ver. 6. But God gave the increase ] The harp yields no sound till it be touched by the hand of the musician. The heart is never made good till the heavens answer the earth, Hos 2:21 , till God strikes the stroke. Holy Melancthon, being newly converted, thought it impossible for his hearers to withstand the evidence of the gospel. But soon after he complained that old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon. No man can run the point aright, except God give wind to his sails; as, if he speak the word, our words shall not be only like Peter’s angle, which took a fish, but like Peter’s net, which enclosed a multitude of fishes.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] The similitude is to a tilled field ( , 1Co 3:9 ): the plants are the Corinthians, as members of Christ, vines bearing fruit: these do not yet appear in the construction: so that I prefer, with De Wette, supplying nothing after and , regarding merely the acts themselves , as in E. V. If any thing be supplied, it must be , which would but ill fit 1Co 3:7 .
Apollos was sent over to Corinth after Paul had left it ( Act 18:27 ), at his own request, and remained there preaching during Paul’s journey through Upper Asia (ib. Act 19:1 ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 3:6-7 . The grammatical obj [500] of this sentence has been given by the foregoing context, viz. , the Cor [501] Church of believers ( cf. 1Co 4:15 ). Paul uses besides only in 1Co 9:7 ; his regular metaphor in this connexion is that of 1Co 3:10 . “Planting” and “watering” happily picture the relative services of P. and Ap. , to give drink, to irrigate , may have for obj [502] men (1Co 3:2 , 1Co 12:13 , etc.), animals (Luk 13:15 ), or plants. In 1Co 3:2 , Paul was the . The vb [503] takes a double acc [504] , of person and thing (Wr [505] , p. 284). The of the last clause goes beyond a mere contrast ( ) between God and men in their several parts, excluding the latter from the essential part: “but God He only, and no other made it to grow”. The planting and watering of Christ’s servants were occasions for the exercise of God’s vitalising energy. While the former vbs. are aor [506] , gathering up the work of the two ministers into single successive acts, is impf [507] of continued activity: “God was (all the while) making it to grow.” Several of the Ff [508] Aug [509] e.g. saw in the baptism, in the instruction of catechumens, “illustrating a general fault of patristic exegesis, the endeavour to attach a technical sense to words in the N.T. which had not yet acquired this meaning” (Lt [510] ). , itaque ( and so, so then ), with ind [511] ( cf. 1Co 7:38 , 1Co 11:27 , 1Co 14:22 ), points out a result immediately flowing from what has been said: “the planter” and “the waterer,” in comparison with “the Lord” who dispensed their powers and “God” who makes their plants to grow, are reduced to nothing; “God who gives the growth” ( qui dat vim crescendi, Bz [512] ) alone remains. To the subject, , the predicate is tacitly supplied from the negative clauses foregoing. For ( anything of moment ), cf. Gal 2:6 ; Gal 6:3 , Act 5:36 , and note on , 1Co 2:2 . The pr [513] ptp [514] with becomes, virtually, a (timeless) substantive the planter, waterer, Increaser (Wr [515] , p. 444).
[500] grammatical object.
[501] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[502] grammatical object.
[503] verb
[504] accusative case.
[505] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).
[506] aorist tense.
[507]mpf. imperfect tense.
[508] Fathers.
[509] Augustine.
[510] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).
[511] indicative mood.
[512] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).
[513] present tense.
[514] participle
[515] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
have planted = planted. See Act 18:1-18.
watered. Greek. potizo, as in 1Co 3:2. See Act 18:27 Act 19:1.
God. App-98.
gave the increase = was causing it to grow. Imperf. because God’s work was continuing, Paul’s or any other’s only temporary.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] The similitude is to a tilled field (, 1Co 3:9): the plants are the Corinthians, as members of Christ, vines bearing fruit: these do not yet appear in the construction: so that I prefer, with De Wette, supplying nothing after and , regarding merely the acts themselves, as in E. V. If any thing be supplied, it must be , which would but ill fit 1Co 3:7.
Apollos was sent over to Corinth after Paul had left it (Act 18:27), at his own request, and remained there preaching during Pauls journey through Upper Asia (ib. Act 19:1).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 3:6. -, I planted-he watered) Act 18:1; Act 19:1. Afterwards with the same view, he speaks of the foundation and what is reared upon it; of a father, and instructors [ch. 1Co 4:15].-, gave the increase) 1Co 3:10, at the beginning; Act 18:27, at the end.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 3:6
1Co 3:6
I planted,-Paul first preached the word of God. which is the seed of the kingdom (Luk 8:11), among them, and planted the church there.
Apollos watered; -Apollos taught afterward, encouraging the disciples, so watered. Others came in likely under his teaching. A seed is sometimes planted, but germinates or grows and bears fruit only as it is watered and cultivated.
but God gave the increase.–While each had done the part for which he was fitted by God, and to which God had called him, God gave the increase. [Pauls generous reference to Apollos here, as following up the work which he himself had begun, is a rebuke of the Corinthian party spirit, which set them up as rivals.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I: 1Co 3:9, 1Co 3:10, 1Co 4:14, 1Co 4:15, 1Co 9:1, 1Co 9:7-11, 1Co 15:1-11, Act 18:4-11, 2Co 10:14, 2Co 10:15
Apollos: Pro 11:25, Act 18:24, Act 18:26, Act 18:27, Act 19:1
God: 1Co 1:30, 1Co 15:10, Psa 62:9, Psa 62:11, Psa 92:13-15, Psa 127:1, Isa 55:10, Isa 55:11, Isa 61:11, Act 11:18, Act 14:27, Act 16:14, Act 21:19, Rom 15:18, 2Co 3:2-5, 1Th 1:5
Reciprocal: Gen 26:12 – an hundredfold Lev 26:20 – for your land Deu 32:2 – drop 2Sa 23:5 – to grow Psa 65:10 – settlest the furrows thereof Psa 67:6 – Then Psa 72:16 – There Psa 85:12 – our land Isa 32:20 – Blessed Isa 45:8 – let the earth Eze 44:19 – sanctify Hos 10:12 – rain Mic 5:7 – as a dew Zec 10:1 – and give Mar 4:3 – there Mar 4:26 – as Mar 16:20 – the Lord Luk 8:11 – The seed Luk 10:2 – The harvest Luk 20:9 – planted Joh 1:13 – nor of the will of man Joh 15:16 – bring Act 11:21 – and a 1Co 2:5 – but 2Co 3:5 – but 2Co 4:5 – we Col 2:19 – increaseth 2Ti 2:6 – husbandman
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CHRISTIAN UNITY
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:6
St. Paul pleaded with the Corinthians for unity of spirit. Had he lived now, I do not think he would have hoped for immediate unity of organisationhowever much to be desiredbut one feels that he would have written a letter breathing the spirit of this Epistle to the Corinthians to the saints who are of the Church in England, together with all those who call on the Name of the Lord Jesusa splendid definition of Gods universal Church! St. Paul well knew how to denounce and oppose strenuously what he thought would undermine Christianity and the Church. Witness the Epistle to the Galatians, witness him withstanding St. Peter to the face! St. Paul was no invertebrate-minded man, incapable of conviction, and so equally complacent to all forms of thought. But while strenuously opposing at one time what he knew to be subversive of Christianity, upholding the great broad principle of the universality of the Churcha vital pointhe equally strenuously condemns the partisanship of Christians on matters not fundamental, not indispensable to the existence of Christianity.
I. Is not this the position that we should adopt to-day?To anything that threatens the groundwork of our faith, the foundation of Jesus Christ, we must offer a Pauline opposition. But what we must shun as radically opposed to the spirit of Christ and the teaching of St. Paul is mere partisanship, which exalts the means into the end. The avoidance of this spirit does not preclude devotion to our own great district of the Catholic Church, or a lifes work for it as a noble part of Gods husbandry, Gods building; but the spirit of Christian sympathy does exclude antagonism to other bodies and other lines of work. Strong resistance to tampering with fundamental truth, and sympathetic tolerance of other consciences and positions seem to be the Pauline teaching. Only, I think, St. Paul would say, Do not with insincere sincerity exaggerate the indifferent into the fundamental.
II. Gods building should be like one of our glorious cathedrals, to which many centuries, many tastes, many types of mind have contributed their quota of beauty. There is no monotony of style, and the variety is the chief cause of picturesqueness. But the whole of the noble fabric rears up its majestic structure to the glory of one Almighty God; every part shows forth His praise; all is united by one spirit of reverent piety.
III. What we need, as the universal Church of Christ, is absorption in the grand idea of catholicity of spiritunion in love. And I believe that unity of organisation would follow real unity of spirit. Raised on a Christ foundation, one dreams of a Church of God composed of all nations of the earth, worshipping the one God, perhaps in varying form and organisation, but animated by the one thing that is the hall-mark of true Christianitythe Spirit of Christ.
Rev. St. J. B. Wynne Wilson.
Illustration
St. Paul is writing to the Corinthian Church in a tone of rebuke for the divisions among them. The Church had been founded by Paul, and afterwards Apollos, the learned, eloquent Alexandrine Jew, had been sent from Ephesus thither. Now Corinth was a great mercantile, cosmopolitan centre, containing much active, vigorous life, and minds of varying shades. Naturally men approached Christianity from different mental standpoints, influenced by different moods generated by difference of birth and environment. Paul and Apollos, though animated by the same root-ideas, differed apparently in their presentment of them. Not unnaturally the converts divided, expressing preference for one or other, and adopting him as their teacher. Paul and Apollos did not found sects, but sects attached themselves to their names, and made them the rallying-point. I am of Paul, I of Apollos, they said. A third party rejected all human teaching, and went, as they maintained, straight to Christs doctrine, uninterpreted by men, I am of Christ. The divisions grew heated: they were not healthy rivalry or holy warfare of different ideas, but the contention of unhallowed strife of interest, and of a wholly unchristian spirit which forgot the principle of their faith in adhesion to a partisan presentation of it. The spirit was lost in the institution or party. This contentious strife, says Paul, is carnal, or sensuous, the lowest grade of the three with which he is dealing, spiritual, natural, carnal.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Verse 6-7. The argument in this verse is that the Lord’s servants do not all have the same talents or work, even as the production of a crop involves the services of more than one man. Yet all the work of men would avail nothing if God did not give to nature the power of growth.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 3:6. I planted: Yes; the first ground at Corinth was indeed broken by me, and I am your spiritual father.
Apollos wateredfollowing up what I began. But though in husbandry planting goes before watering, each is necessary at its proper stage. Yet something above both was needed.but God gave the increase.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
I planted; That is, I first preached the gospel among you, and first instructed you in the principles of Christ. I converted you to Christ: after me came Apollos, and watered the seed which I had sown: but God it was, and God alone, that caused the seed (which I sowed, and Apollos watered) to fructify and increase.
Learn, 1. That it is an act of discriminating grace and favour in God, to send out his ministers to plant the gospel amongst a people that never before heard it.
2. That it is an act of farther favour and grace in God, to follow a people with a succession of ministers in order to the watering of the seed formerly sown amongst them.
Learn, 3. That all that ministers can do, is but to plant and water; they cannot give increase, nor procure the success of their ministerial endeavours.
Blessed be God that he doth not require the success of their ministerial endeavours.
Blessed be God that he doth not require the success of our labours at our hands.
Woe unto us, should he say, “Either reconcile my people to me, or I will never be reconciled unto you.” Diligence and endeavour is ours, the blessing and success is God’s: he will never blame us for not doing his work.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 6, 7. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase; 7. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. The asyndeton between 1Co 3:6 and the preceding one arises from the fact that the verse reaffirms in a new form the last proposition of 1Co 3:5, of which it is only the development. In the two functions of planting and watering, there reappears in specialized form the idea of distribution contained in the as the Lord gave to each. In respect of Corinth Paul had received the mission of planting, that is to say, of founding the Church; Apollos, that of watering, that is to say, of developing the Church already founded. And if the labour of the one and the other had had some true success, it was due solely to the concurrence of God. As Edwards says: God is the source of life in the physical as in the moral world. Man can indeed put the seed in contact with the soil; but life alone makes it spring and grow; and this life is not only beyond the power but even beyond the knowledge of man. The imperfect denotes a Divine operation, which was in process at the very time when Paul and Apollos were labouring.
The apostle wishes decidedly to take away all individual and independent worth from the labour of the two workers whom he has chosen as examples, in view of a Church which tends to falsify the position of its ministers. This choice then has a perfectly natural explanation: was it not by speaking of himself and his friend that he could, with least scruple, remind them of the humble position of Christ’s ministers, by leaving it to the Church itself to make application of the truth to the other workers whom it exalted?
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
6. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase:
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 6
It will be seen by the account in Acts 18:24,27,28, that Apollos commenced his ministry in Corinth, after Paul had left it.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Co 3:6-9. A beautiful metaphor, illustrating 1Co 3:5.
I planted etc.; expounds through whom etc.: but God gave etc., expounds as to each one etc. The hearts of the men at Corinth were the soil: the preached word was the planted cutting: (or seed sown, Mar 4:14 🙂 the faith with which the word was received and the life of faith, or the church at Corinth which was a visible embodiment of this faith, were the growing plant. The nourishment brought by Apollos developed the existing branches, and caused them (1Co 3:6) to put forth fresh twigs. But that the cutting took root and grew into a tree, was the work, not of the gardeners who planted and watered it, but entirely of God. As usual, Paul rises from the Son to the Father. The Son, as Master of the house and as Administrator of salvation, allots success to His servants: but all spiritual life and growth have their original source in the Father. Cp. 1Co 12:5 f.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
3:6 {3} I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
(3) He beautifies the former sentence, with two similarities: first comparing the company of the faithful to a field which God makes fruitful, when it is sown and watered through the labour of his servants. Second, be comparing it to a house, which indeed the Lord builds, but by the hands of his workmen, some of whom he uses in laying the foundation, others in building it up. Now, both these similarities are for this purpose, to show that all things are wholly accomplished only by God’s authority and might, so that we must only have an eye to him. Moreover, although God uses some in the better part of the work, we must not therefore condemn others, in respect of them, and much less may we divide or set them apart (as these factious men did) seeing that all of them labour in God’s business. They work in such a way, that they serve to finish the very same work, although by a different manner of working, in so much that they all need one another’s help.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Obviously God deserved more credit for the church in Corinth than either its planter or its nurturer. Next to Him the others were nothing. Human laborers are all equal in that they are human laborers with human limitations. Nevertheless the Lord will reward each one at the judgment seat of Christ because of his or her work. Note that it is our labor that will be the basis of our reward, not the fruit of our labor.