New English Translation
1 Corinthians 3:9
9We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, 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 the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. 8The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work. We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being 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 caused it to grow.
- Matthew 9:37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
- Mark 16:20They went out and proclaimed everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the accompanying signs.]]
- 2 Corinthians 6:1Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
- 3 John 1:8Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we become coworkers in cooperation with the truth.
- Psalms 65:9You visit the earth and give it rain; you make it rich and fertile with overflowing streams full of water. You provide grain for them, for you prepare the earth to yield its crops.
- Psalms 72:16May there be an abundance of grain in the earth; on the tops of the mountains may it sway! May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon! May its crops be as abundant as the grass of the earth!
- Psalms 80:8You uprooted a vine from Egypt; you drove out nations and transplanted it.
- Isaiah 5:1I will sing to my love – a song to my lover about his vineyard. My love had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
- Isaiah 27:2When that time comes, sing about a delightful vineyard!
- Isaiah 28:24Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?
- Isaiah 32:20you will be blessed, you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, you who let your ox and donkey graze.
- Isaiah 61:3to strengthen those who mourn in Zion, by giving them a turban, instead of ashes, oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning, a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement. They will be called oaks of righteousness, trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor.
- Jeremiah 2:21I planted you in the land like a special vine of the very best stock. Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes?
- Matthew 13:3He told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A 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 workers 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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