1 Corinthians 3:6

Contextual Overview

⁵What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁵ What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁵Besides, who is Apollos? Who is this Paul you speak of? We're just cowboys who had the job of telling y'all the good news. We ain't special. We were just doing what the Good Lord told us to. ⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. ⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one. ⁵ What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? They are but servants who gave you the good news as God gave it to them. ⁵ Who then is Apollos, and who Paul? Ministering servants, through whom ye have believed, and as the Lord has given to each. ⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. ⁵ Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him? ⁵ and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I: 1 Corinthians 3:9, 1 Corinthians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 4:14, 1 Corinthians 4:15, 1 Corinthians 9:1, 1 Corinthians 9:7-11, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Acts 18:4-11, 2 Corinthians 10:14, 2 Corinthians 10:15

Apollos: Proverbs 11:25, Acts 18:24, Acts 18:26, Acts 18:27, Acts 19:1

God: 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 15:10, Psalms 62:9, Psalms 62:11, Psalms 92:13-15, Psalms 127:1, Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah 55:11, Isaiah 61:11, Acts 11:18, Acts 14:27, Acts 16:14, Acts 21:19, Romans 15:18, 2 Corinthians 3:2-5, 1 Thessalonians 1:5

Reciprocal: Genesis 26:12 - an hundredfold Leviticus 26:20 - for your land Deuteronomy 32:2 - drop 2 Samuel 23:5 - to grow Psalms 65:10 - settlest the furrows thereof Psalms 67:6 - Then Psalms 72:16 - There Psalms 85:12 - our land Isaiah 32:20 - Blessed Isaiah 45:8 - let the earth Ezekiel 44:19 - sanctify Hosea 10:12 - rain Micah 5:7 - as a dew Zechariah 10:1 - and give Mark 4:3 - there Mark 4:26 - as Mark 16:20 - the Lord Luke 8:11 - The seed Luke 10:2 - The harvest Luke 20:9 - planted John 1:13 - nor of the will of man John 15:16 - bring Acts 11:21 - and a 1 Corinthians 2:5 - but 2 Corinthians 3:5 - but 2 Corinthians 4:5 - we Colossians 2:19 - increaseth 2 Timothy 2:6 - husbandman

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Genesis 3:1
And the serpent was suttiller then euery beast of the fielde which ye lord God hadde made, and he sayde vnto the woman: yea, hath God saide, ye shall not eate of euery tree of the garden?

Genesis 3:1
The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, "Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?"

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?"

Genesis 3:1
But and the serpent was feller than alle lyuynge beestis of erthe, whiche the Lord God hadde maad. Which serpent seide to the womman, Why comaundide God to you, that ye schulden not ete of ech tre of paradis?

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtill then any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made, and he said vnto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of euery tree of the garden?

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Gill's Notes on the 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Acts 18:18; compare Acts 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 God’s unceasing, beneficent agency; so will the minister of religion, and so will every Christian, after all their care, ascribe all to God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 3:6. 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.