1 Corinthians 3:5

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 3:5

Who then is Paul? and who is Apollos? .... The apostle's name being used, and he a party concerned, could speak the more freely upon this head, and ask what they thought of himself, and other preachers, whether they were more than men? what authority and power they had, whether they looked upon them as the authors of a new religion, or the founders of a new sect, that were to go by their names? and directs them what light to consider them in, how that they were but ministers by whom ye... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:5

Ministers by whom ye believed - The different apostles who have preached unto you the word of life are the means which God has used to bring you to the knowledge of Christ. No one of those has either preached or recommended himself; they all preach and recommend Christ Jesus the Lord. Even as the Lord gave to every man? - Whatever difference there may be in our talents, it is of God's making; and he who knows best what is best for his Church, has distributed both gifts and graces... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:5

Verse 5 5.Who then is Paul ? Here he begins to treat of the estimation in which ministers ought to be held, and the purpose for which they have been set apart by the Lord. He names himself and Apollos rather than others, that he may avoid any appearance of envy. (156) “What else,” says he, “are all ministers appointed for, but to bring you to faith through means of their preaching?” From this Paul infers, that no man ought to be gloried in, for faith allows of no glorying except in Christ... 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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Christian teachers and their work. The apostle has still in view the dissensions prevailing in the Corinthian Church. Throughout the first four chapters this subject is never absent from his mind, even when it is most in the background. The spirit of party, with the various phases of thought and life that found expression therein, suggests the several topics on which he enlarges. I. THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER ADAPTS HIS TEACHING TO THE CAPACITIES OF HIS HEARERS . ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:5

Who then is Paul? The better reading is what? ( א , A, B). The neuter would imply a still greater depreciation of the importance of human ministers. Ministers. The same word as that rendered "deacons" ( diakonoi ) ; "ministers of Christ on your behalf" ( Colossians 1:7 ). Through whom ye believed. Through whom," not " in whom" (Bengel). They were merely the instruments of your conversion. In the second Epistle ( 2 Corinthians 3:3 ) he calls them "the epistle of Christ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:5-7

Man's work and God's. Explain the agricultural figure used in 1 Corinthians 3:6 . In the production of the year's harvest many different agencies are employed. Each man has work and his time for work, and upon man's labour the harvest in large measure depends. Yet sun, and wind, and rain, and atmosphere, and soil, are things quite as essential as man's work, but absolutely out of man's control. Year by year man ploughs, man plants, man tends, but God gives the increase. So in spiritual... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:5-10

St. Paul's view of the ministry. After declaring to the Corinthians that they were carnal in their estimates of God's ministers, the apostle exposes their folly in this particular, by assuring them that he and Apollos were but ministers, or servants, whom God had commissioned to labour in their behalf. Halfway work he never did. To show their error, and prove that it was a worldly sentiment disguised under a fictitious admiration, he sets before them the true idea of the ministry, as an... read more

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