1 Corinthians 3:5 - Meaning and Application

Here the apostle shows them how to cure this spirit and correct what was wrong among them. He does it, first, by reminding them that the ministers they were arguing about were only ministers. “What then is Paul? What is Apollos? Only servants through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one” (1 Corinthians 3:5). They are only instruments used by the God of all grace.

Some in Corinth seem to have treated them as if they were masters of faith and founders of religion. We must be careful not to make ministers into idols or put them in God’s place. The apostles were not the authors of our faith and religion, though they were given authority and ability to reveal and spread it. They served in this office only as God gave to each one.

Notice that every gift and power the apostles showed in ministry came from God. These gifts were meant to prove that their mission and message were from heaven. It was completely wrong to give apostles the honor that belonged only to the divine authority behind their work and to God, who gave them that authority.

Paul planted and Apollos watered (1 Corinthians 3:6). Both were useful, one in one way and the other in another. God uses different tools and fits each one for its purpose. Paul was suited for planting, and Apollos for watering, but God gave the growth.

The success of ministry must come from God’s blessing. “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7). Even the highest apostles are nothing in themselves. They can do nothing with power or success unless God gives the increase. The best and most faithful ministers know their own weakness well, and they want God to receive all the glory for any success.

Paul and Apollos are nothing in their own eyes, but God is all in all. Second, he shows them the unity of Christ’s ministers. “The one who plants and the one who waters are one” (1 Corinthians 3:8). They serve one Master, carry the same message, work at the same task, and aim at the same goal, even when party-spirit sets them against each other.

They receive different gifts from the same Spirit for the same purposes, and they work together in the same cause. Planters and waterers are fellow workers in the same field. All faithful ministers of Christ are one in the great purpose of their work. They may differ on smaller matters, and they may debate or disagree, but they join in the main goal, honoring God and saving souls by spreading true Christianity in the world.

Such workers can expect a glorious reward for their faithfulness, and it will match their labor: “Each will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1 Corinthians 3:8). Their work is one, but some do it more diligently than others. Their aim is one, but some pursue it more closely than others. Their Master is one, and yet this good and gracious Master may give different rewards according to the service each one has done. Each person’s work will have its own reward. Those who work hardest will be treated best. Those who are most faithful will have the greatest reward.

It is a glorious work in which all faithful ministers are engaged. They are laborers with God, co-workers, fellow workers (1 Corinthians 3:9). They are not equal to God or independent of him, but work under him, as tools in his hand. They are busy with his work, helping carry out his glory and the salvation of precious souls. He who knows their work will make sure they do not labor in vain.

People may ignore one minister and praise another, with no good reason for either. They may blame when they should praise, and praise what they should avoid. But God’s judgment is always fair. He never rewards without a just reason, and he always rewards in proportion to the diligence and faithfulness of his servants. Faithful ministers, when people treat them badly, should find comfort in God.

Those who labor with God should try to please him, the chief worker and guide in the great work of the gospel. They are always under his eye, working in his field and on his building. So he will surely watch over them carefully. “You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). They do not belong to Paul or Apollos, nor to one human leader or another. They belong to God. Ministers only plant and water them. It is God’s blessing on his own field that makes it bear fruit. They are not our field, but God’s. We work under him, with him, and for him. Everything we do among you is for God.

Paul then shifts from the picture of a field to the picture of a building. “According to the grace God gave me, I laid a foundation like a wise master builder, and someone else is building on it” (1 Corinthians 3:10). Paul calls himself a wise master builder, and that honors him in two ways. It was an honor to be a master builder in God’s building, and it was even better to be a wise one. People can hold an office without being fit for it, or without being as well fitted as this phrase suggests Paul was.

Still, he does not say this to praise himself, but to honor God’s grace. He was a wise master builder, but God’s grace made him so. It is no sin for a Christian, and indeed it is a credit to him, to notice the good God has put in him and give God the praise. Spiritual pride is hateful. It uses God’s greatest gifts to feed our vanity and turn us into idols in our own eyes. But when we notice God’s gifts to increase our thankfulness and speak of them to honor him, that is only fitting.

Ministers should not be proud of their gifts or graces. Yet the better equipped they are for their work, and the more success they have, the more thankful they should be for God’s special kindness. “I laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it” (1 Corinthians 3:10). As he had said before, “I planted, Apollos watered.” Paul was the one who laid the foundation of a church among them. He had brought them to life through the gospel (1 Corinthians 4:15). Whatever other teachers they had, they had not many fathers.

He does not speak against those who also served among them, and he does not let others rob him of the honor he deserved. Faithful ministers may and should care about their good name. Their usefulness depends a great deal on it. But let each person be careful how he builds on it.

This is a wise warning, because a person can build very poorly even on a good foundation. It is easy to make mistakes here, so great care is needed, not only to lay a sure and true foundation, but also to build properly on it.

Nothing should be placed on that foundation except what it can bear, and what matches it. Gold and dirt must not be mixed together. So ministers of Christ should be careful not to build their own ideas or false arguments on the foundation of God’s revelation. What they preach should be the clear teaching of their Master, or something fully in line with it.