Christian Standard Bible
1 Corinthians 3:6
6I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
- New International Version (NIV)I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
- English Standard Version (ESV)I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
Context of 1 Corinthians 3:6
4For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting like mere humans? 5What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 31 Corinthians 3:6 word by word
ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλῶς ἐπότισεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ θεὸς ηὔξανεν·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 3:6
- 1 Corinthians 3:9For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
- 1 Corinthians 4:14I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.
- 1 Corinthians 9:1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
- 1 Corinthians 15:1Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand
- Acts 18:4He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.
- 2 Corinthians 10:14For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ.
- Proverbs 11:25A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.
- Acts 18:24Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.
- Acts 19:1While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples
- 1 Corinthians 1:30It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us — our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption —
- 1 Corinthians 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
- Psalms 62:9Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion. Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.
- Psalms 92:13Planted in the house of the Lord, they thrive in the courts of our God.
- Psalms 127:1Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.
- Isaiah 55:10For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Isaiah 61:11For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6I have planted - I first sowed the seed of the Gospel at Corinth, and in the region of Achaia. Apollos watered - Apollos came after me, and, by his preachings and exhortations, watered the seed which I had sowed; but God gave the increase. The seed has taken root, has sprung up, and borne much fruit; but this was by the especial blessing of God. As in the natural so in the spiritual world; it is by the especial blessing of God that the grain which is sown…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6I have planted - The apostle here compares the establishment of the church at Corinth to the planting of a vine, a tree, or of grain. The figure is taken from agriculture, and the meaning is obvious. Paul established the church. He was the first preacher in Corinth; and if any distinction was due to anyone, it was rather to him than to the teachers who had labored there subsequently; but he regarded himself as worthy of no such honor as to be the head 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. 6I planted the seed: See Acts 18:1–11. Apollos watered it: See Acts 18:27–19:1.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. I ... planted, Apollos watered--(Ac 18:1; 19:1). Apollos at his own desire (Ac 18:27) was sent by the brethren to Corinth, and there followed up the work which Paul had begun. God gave the increase--that is, the growth (1Co 3:10; Ac 18:27). "Believed through grace." Though ministers are nothing, and God all in all, yet God works by instruments, and promises the Holy Spirit in the faithful use of means. This is the dispensation of the Spirit, and ours…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 3:6
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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