1 Corinthians 3:9

For we are God's fellow workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's building.

God's fellow-workers ... is ambiguous, and may refer either to men who cooperate with God, or to men who cooperate with each other in God's service."[10] Despite the fact of there being a sense in which Christians are God's partners at the present time, and that this partnership shall be expanded at the judgment (Matthew 25:23), it is hard to believe that Paul was stressing such a thought here. Marsh said that the Greek text favors the idea of partnership with God, and that the context indicates the other meaning,[11] Since the oneness of Paul and Apollos had just been mentioned, it is natural to assume that the meaning here is "fellow-servants" under God. It would not have suited Paul's purpose to announce himself as "God's partner." However, the higher meaning of this expression, "occurring only here in the New Testament,"[12] may not be denied. The Greek text has: "God's fellow-workers; God's husbandry; God's building."

Ye are God's husbandry ... In the analogy, the Corinthian congregation was the vineyard, or field, where Apollos and Paul had been fellow-workers. Shore thought that this word "husbandry," which is translated from a Greek word GEORGION, "might have been the cause of the Christian name `George' becoming so popular in the church."[13]

Paul dramatically shifted to another metaphor in the same line, that of God's building, house, or temple.

God's building ... Practically all of the next eight verses have reference to the church as the temple of God. For extended remarks on the church as the true temple, see under Acts 7:47-50 in this series of commentaries (Commentary on Acts, pp. 142-144). See also under 1 Corinthians 3:16.

[10] F. W. Grosheide, op. cit., p. 82.

[11] Paul W. Marsh, op. cit., p. 381.

[12] Ibid.

[13] T. Teignmouth Shore, op. cit., p. 296.