Amplified Bible
1 Corinthians 3:9
9For we are God’s fellow workers [His servants working together]; you are God’s cultivated field [His garden, His vineyard], God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
- New International Version (NIV)For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
Context of 1 Corinthians 3:9
7So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth. 8He who plants and he who waters are one [in importance and esteem, working toward the same purpose]; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers [His servants working together]; you are God’s cultivated field [His garden, His vineyard], God’s building. 10According to the [remarkable] grace of God which was given to me [to prepare me for my task], like a skillful master builder I laid a foundation, and now another is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it, 11for no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 31 Corinthians 3:9 word by word
θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί· θεοῦ γεώργιον, θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 3:9
- 1 Corinthians 3:6I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was causing the growth.
- Matthew 9:37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few.
- Mark 16:20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord was working with them and confirming the word by the signs that followed.]
- 2 Corinthians 6:1Working together with Him, we strongly urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain [by turning away from sound doctrine and His merciful kindness].
- 3 John 1:8So we ought to support such people [welcoming them as guests and providing for them], so that we may be fellow workers for the truth [that is, for the gospel message of salvation].
- Psalms 65:9You visit the earth and make it overflow [with water]; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You provide their grain, when You have prepared the earth.
- Psalms 72:16There will be an abundance of grain in the soil on the top of the mountains; Its fruit will wave like [the cedars of] Lebanon, And those of the city will flourish like grass of the earth.
- Psalms 80:8You uprooted a vine (Israel) from Egypt; You drove out the [Canaanite] nations and planted the vine [in Canaan].
- Isaiah 5:1Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [Lord] A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people). My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan).
- Isaiah 27:2In that day [it will be said of the redeemed nation of Israel], “A vineyard of wine, sing in praise of it!
- Isaiah 28:24Does the farmer plow all day to plant seed? Does he continually dig furrows and harrow his ground [after it is prepared]?
- Isaiah 32:20Blessed (happy, fortunate) are you who cast your seed upon all waters [when the river overflows its banks and irrigates the land], You who allow the ox and the donkey to roam freely.
- Isaiah 61:3To grant to those who mourn in Zion the following: To give them a turban instead of dust [on their heads, a sign of mourning], The oil of joy instead of mourning, The garment [expressive] of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. So they will be called the trees of righteousness [strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God], The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
- Jeremiah 2:21Yet I had planted you [O house of Israel as] a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned against Me Into degenerate shoots of a foreign and wild vine [alien to Me]?
- Matthew 13:3He told them many things in parables, saying, “Listen carefully: a sower went out to sow [seed in his field];
- Matthew 20:1“For the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out in the morning at dawn to hire workmen for his vineyard.
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9For we are laborers together with God - We do nothing of ourselves, nor in reference to ourselves; we labor together in that work which God has given us to do, expect all our success from him, and refer the whole to his glory. It would perhaps be more correct to translate , we are fellow laborers of God; for, as the preposition may express the joint labor of the teachers one with another, and not with God, I had rather, with Bishop Pearce, translate as…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9For we are labourers together with God - ͂ ́ ̓ ́ Theou gar esmen sunergoiWe are God‘s co-workers. A similar expression occurs in 2 Corinthians 6:1, “We then as workers together with him,” etc. This passage is capable of two significations: first, as in our translation, that they were co-workers with God; engaged with him in his work, that he and they cooperated in the production of the effect; or that it was a joint-work; as we speak of a partnercy, or of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-9Verses 5-9 The ministers about whom the Corinthians contended, were only instruments used by God. We should not put ministers into the place of God. He that planteth and he that watereth are one, employed by one Master, trusted with the same revelation, busied in one work, and engaged in one design. They have their different gifts from one and the same Spirit, for the very same purposes; and should carry on the same design heartily. Those who work hardest…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5-9It is wrong to proudly identify as a follower of a human teacher because God does the real work of redemption. He deserves the honor. They are servants: See 2 Corinthians 4:5.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. Translate, as the Greek collocation of words, and the emphasis on "God" thrice repeated, requires, "For (in proof that "each shall receive reward according to his own labor," namely, from God) it is of God that we are the fellow workers (laboring with, but under, and belonging to Him as His servants, 2Co 5:20; 6:1; compare Ac 15:4; see on 1Th 3:2) of God that ye are the field (or tillage), of God that ye are the building" [Alford]. "Building" is a new…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 3:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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