New International Version
1 Corinthians 3:6
6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
1 Corinthians 3:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.
Context of 1 Corinthians 3:6
4For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? 5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their 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 co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- 1 Corinthians 4:14I am writing this not 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 the result of my work in the Lord?
- 1 Corinthians 15:1Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
- Acts 18:4Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
- 2 Corinthians 10:14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ.
- Proverbs 11:25A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
- Acts 18:24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
- Acts 19:1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples
- 1 Corinthians 1:30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
- 1 Corinthians 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
- Psalms 62:9Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.
- Psalms 92:13planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
- Psalms 127:1Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
- Isaiah 55:10As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
- Isaiah 61:11For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all 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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