EasyEnglish Bible 2018
1 Corinthians 3:6
6When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow.
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
4Some of you say, ‘Paul is my leader.’ And other people say, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ When you speak like that, you are talking like people who belong to this world. 5Is Apollos important? Is Paul important? No! We are God's servants. We told you God's good news and you believed it. Each of us is doing the job which the Lord has given to us. When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow. 7The person who plants the seeds is not important. The person who gives water to the plants is not important. The important person is God, because he causes everything to grow. 8The person who plants and the person who gives water both have the same purpose. God will pay each person what is right for their work.
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 3:9Apollos and I work together as God's servants. You are like God's field that we work in. You are also like a building that belongs to God.
- 1 Corinthians 4:14I do not write these things to make you ashamed. You are like my own children that I love. So I want to teach you what is right.
- 1 Corinthians 9:1I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus, our Lord. You yourselves are the result of the work that I do to serve the Lord. You know that is all true.
- 1 Corinthians 15:1My Christian friends, I want you to remember the good news that I taught to you. You received it from me and you continue to believe it as a true message.
- Acts 18:4Every Jewish day of rest, Paul taught both Jews and Greek people in the Jewish meeting place. He wanted them all to believe the good news about Jesus.
- 2 Corinthians 10:14We were the first people to come as far as Corinth and tell you the good news about Christ. That was part of the work that God has given to us to do. So it is right for us to tell you how proud we are.
- Proverbs 11:25If you help other people with your money, you will do well. If you give water to thirsty people, you will not be thirsty yourself.
- Acts 18:24A certain Jewish man called Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He had been born in Alexandria, and he could teach people very well. He knew a lot about God's message in the Bible.
- Acts 19:1While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the region of Asia. He arrived in Ephesus and he found some believers there.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30It is because of God's work that you now belong to Christ Jesus. As a result of Christ's death on the cross, we share in God's wise plan. Because we belong to Christ, God makes us right with himself. He makes us his own special people. He makes us free from the power of sin.
- 1 Corinthians 15:10But God was very kind to me. He helped me to become a different person. And because God has been so kind to me, the result has been great. I have worked more than all the other apostles. But it was not really I myself who could do that work. No, I could do it because God was so kind to me.
- Psalms 62:9People are only as light as a breath! Whoever they are, they are not important. If you try to weigh them, all together, they weigh less than a breath of air.
- Psalms 92:13They are like trees that someone has planted in the Lord's house. They grow well in the yard of our God's temple.
- Psalms 127:1The Lord must build your house. If not, the work of the builders is useless. The Lord must keep the city safe. If not, the city guards are useless.
- Isaiah 55:10The rain and the snow come down from the sky, and they do not immediately return there. Instead, they give water to the earth, so that crops will grow there. Then the farmer has seeds to plant, and people have food to eat.
- Isaiah 61:11The Almighty Lord will cause his righteousness to grow everywhere. It will grow like crops in the fields, and like plants that grow in a garden. Then his people will praise him, and all the nations will see it!
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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