1 Corinthians 3:9

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 then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:9 word by word

θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί· θεοῦ γεώργιον, θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε.Read the interlinear

• For we are God’sθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• fellowσυνεργόςsunergos · co-workerG4904
• fieldγεώργιονgeōrgion · farm fieldG1091
• buildingοἰκοδομήoikodomē · buildingG3619

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 3:9

• 1 Corinthians 3:6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
• Matthew 9:37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
• Mark 16:20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.] [And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]
• 2 Corinthians 6:1And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--
• 3 John 1:8Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
• Psalms 65:9You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth.
• Psalms 72:16May there be abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountains; Its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon; And may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth.
• Psalms 80:8You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it.
• Isaiah 5:1Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
• Isaiah 27:2In that day, “A vineyard of wine, sing of it!
• Isaiah 28:24Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?
• Isaiah 32:20How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.
• Isaiah 61:3To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
• Jeremiah 2:21Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?
• Matthew 13:3And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;
• Matthew 20:1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers 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

• Church
• God Continued...
• Husbandman
• Minister, Christian
• Partnership
• Regeneration
• Works

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Building
• Corinthians, First Epistle to the
• Foundation
• Plant
• Anthropology
• Apollos
• Build; Building
• Builder

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