1 Corinthians 3:6-7 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:5-10

Here the apostle instructs them how to cure this humour, and rectify what was amiss among them upon this head, I. By reminding them that the ministers about whom they contended were but ministers: Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed? Even as the Lord gave to every man, 1 Cor. 3:5. They are but ministers, mere instruments used by the God of all grace. Some of the factious people in Corinth seem to have made more of them, as if they were lords of their faith,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

3:1-9 And I, brothers, could not talk to you as I would to spiritual men, but I had to talk to you as to those who had not yet got beyond merely human things, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. But now not even yet can you digest solid food, because you are still under the sway of human passions. Where there is envy and strife among you, are you not under the sway of human passions and is not your behaviour on a purely human level? For when anyone says, "I... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:6

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:7

So then, neither is he that planteth anything ,.... Not that he is the happy instrument of beginning the good work: neither he that watereth ; who is the means of carrying of it on: not that they are simply and absolutely nothing, without any restriction and limitation; they are men, they are Christians, they are ministers, and useful ones, by whom others believe; they are labourers together with God, ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, and so to be accounted of;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:7

So then, neither is he that planteth any thing - God alone should have all the glory, as the seed is his, the ground is his, the laborers are his, and the produce all comes from himself. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:6

Verse 6 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... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:7

Verse 7 7.Neither is he that planteth anything It appears, nevertheless, from what has been already said, that their labor is of some importance. We must observe, therefore, why it is that Paul thus depreciates it; and first of all, it is proper to notice that he is accustomed to speak in two different ways of ministers, (161) as well as of sacraments. For in some cases he views a minister as one that has been set apart by the Lord for, in the first instance, regenerating souls, and,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-8

Reflections for Churches. "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual," etc. In these verses are three subjects worthy of the profoundest contemplation. I. THE GRADUATING METHOD OF TEACHING . "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk," etc. Truth is to be administered with a practical regard to the receptive powers of the student, just as the administration of... read more