1 Corinthians 3:4-7

Scripture: 1 Cor. 3:4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

1 Cor. 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

1 Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

1 Cor. 3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Teaching: As Paul is speaking on spiritual maturity and spiritual wisdom, he drops some serious spiritual wisdom in these verses. The Corinthians, as we saw in chapter 1, were preoccupied with which apostle brought them the Gospel, somehow seeing themselves as worthy of honor (or at least taking pride in) from their association with a particular apostle (Paul, Cephas/Peter, Apollos). Paul brings this same point up again here in chapter 3, using it as evidence of their spiritual immaturity! He asks in verse 3, “are you not being merely human?” when you boast in such matters?

The Corinthians failed to realize that Paul, Apollos, and Peter were merely fellow laborers in Christ; it was not their power that delivered the Gospel, but the Lord’s. So, Paul asks, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul?” What he means here is “What are Apollos and I compared to Christ?” He then answers, by saying that they were merely “servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.” Note that Paul says “through whom” not “in whom” or “because of whom.” Paul and Apollos merely did what the Lord called them to do, but the power was the Lord’s and they were the conduits of it to the Corinthians.

Paul then uses a farming metaphor to help explain this spiritual reality. Paul planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth. Just as a farmer cannot force a seed to blossom, he can only water it and wait for what God has placed in it to bear fruit, so, too, did Paul and Apollos plant and water the faith in Corinth, but the growth/the outcome is solely the Lord’s. The Corinthians were being “merely human” or, being motivated by solely fleshly/worldly desires, by claiming honor by which apostle they were associated with; but Paul teaches them spiritual wisdom: the only power and the only one to associate with is Christ.

Takeaway: Associating oneself with a celebrity, powerful person, or great teacher is nothing new – the world does this still today. It is human nature to both ingratiate oneself to power (and hope to reap some earthly benefit from it) as well as to take pride in who we associate with. The Church world is no different. There are pastors and authors who have been blessed with tremendous platforms and followings. Those who demonstrate spiritual wisdom understand that even those who have the biggest audiences are but fellow laborers in Christ. Now, that is not to say that we do not respect them or can benefit from their ministry; quite the contrary, we show the same love and respect to them as we would any other. James wrote of this human tendency towards favoritism in James 2:1-4. Paul echoes a similar sentiment here, that it is a “merely human” thing to show favoritism/seek honor/renown by such prideful associations. Paul essentially says that they’ve missed the entire point of his and Apollos’ ministry! We, too, miss the point of ministry when we do things like take pride in which church we attend, which books we’ve read, which positions we hold in church, or which gifts the Spirit has given us. As believers in Christ, given the Holy Spirit to indwell us and change us to be more like Christ, we are called into ministry of some kind. Just as Paul said in verse 5, the Lord assigns us a role and gifts us accordingly. Recognize today that ministry is not about you or yours to own – it is in, through, by, and for Christ. We are merely fellow co-laborers to the glory of Christ.