1 Corinthians 3:5-9

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Therefore, who is Apollos?  Who is Paul?  A servant, through whom you all believed as the Lord gave to each.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who caused growth.  The one who waters and even the one who plants are one, and each will receive their own reward according to their own work.  For we are co-workers of God, cultivated land of God; you all are a building of God.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

I love Paul’s use of verb tenses in order to prove a point.  When Paul speaks briefly about the work of human hands in Corinth, look at the tenses Paul uses: “I planted” and “Apollos watered.”  These are simple past verbs – in Greek we would call them aorist tense.  These are verbs that indicate an action that happened for a moment but it is now past.  Now look at the tense Paul uses to describe the divine work: “God was causing the growth.”  This is an imperfect past tense verb.  What’s the difference?  Imperfect verbs show continued action in the past.  Imperfect verbs show action that is done again and again and again.  Imperfect verbs span entire processes, not designate pinpoints of action.  So what’s Paul’s point?  At best, Paul was a pinpoint of action.  Apollos was a pinpoint of action.  But it was a God who was there spanning both Paul’s and Apollos’ work!  God was the true power in Corinth, not Paul or Apollos.  So it is with us, too.  I’m at best a pinpoint in anyone’s life.  It is God who deserves all the credit because it is God who is at work in a person for their whole life.  Who am I but at best a servant to a far more significant God?

Has God been at work in you your whole life?  How do you know?  Why is it far more important to focus on God’s continued hand at work in you rather than the human hands around you that may be doing the actual work?

Second Thought:

In the middle verses, Paul again enforces his theme.  It is God who is anything worthy of importance.  It is God who deserves the credit.  Sure, we will all be rewarded according to our work in partnership with God.  But even there, it is God who is important.  Paul says as much in the opening line of this passage.  Paul and Apollos are merely servants who were given certain people in Corinth to influence.  But even that distribution of people was given at the hand of God!  He should get the credit.  He should be the focus.  His name is praised for it is His hand at work.

Are you good at focusing on God’s work through other people or do you instead focus on the person?  When you praise the work of other people, do you praise them or do you praise God’s hand in them?  Why is this an important concept – especially when it comes to division and factions in the church?

Third Thought:

Paul closes this passage with an interesting thought.  It is easy to get hung up on the subject change.  Paul goes from saying, “We are co-workers of God” to “You all are a building of God.”  And certainly there is something to be said about what Paul is saying regarding the current roles of the people involved in the conversation.  Paul is the mature teacher working alongside God.  The Corinthians are still the immature learners who should be focused upon being built before they can be strong.  But all of this is still less significant than the overarching person found in all three clauses in this last sentence.  We hear about the “co-workers of God,” the “cultivated land of God,” and the “building of God.”  The predominant figure in the last sentence is God, in spite of how much we would love to focus on “we” and “you all.”  This really makes sense when we think about the prior last 8 verses.  The Corinthians problem is that they are dividing themselves according to their human pedigree rather than understanding that God is the one who unites everything together.  While our humanity would seek to divide us, our spirituality should seek to unite us.

Why is it so easy to be divided according to our humanity?  Why is it at times so difficult to focus on the unity of God rather than the dividing nature of humanity?  How can we overcome this divisiveness?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15