1 Corinthians 3:5

Here the apostle instructs them how to cure this humour, and rectify what was amiss among them upon this head,

I. By reminding them that the ministers about whom they contended were but ministers: Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed? Even as the Lord gave to every man, Co1 3:5. They are but ministers, mere instruments used by the God of all grace. Some of the factious people in Corinth seem to have made more of them, as if they were lords of their faith, authors of their religion. Note, We should take care not to deify ministers, nor put them into the place of God. Apostles were not the authors of our faith and religion, though they were authorized and qualified to reveal and propagate it. They acted in this office as God gave to every man. Observe, All the gifts and powers that even apostles discovered and exerted in the work of the ministry were from God. They were intended to manifest their mission and doctrine to be divine. It was perfectly wrong, upon their account, to transfer that regard to the apostles which was solely to be paid to the divine authority by which they acted, and to God, from whom they had their authority. Paul had planted and Apollos had watered, Co1 3:6. Both were useful, one for one purpose, the other for another. Note, God makes use of variety of instruments, and fits them to their several uses and intentions. Paul was fitted for planting work, and Apollos for watering work, but God gave the increase. Note, The success of the ministry must be derived from the divine blessing: Neither he that planteth is any thing, nor he that watereth, but God who giveth the increase, Co1 3:7. Even apostolical ministers are nothing of themselves, can do nothing with efficacy and success unless God give the increase. Note, The best qualified and most faithful ministers have a just sense of their own insufficiency, and are very desirous that God should have all the glory of their success. Paul and Apollos are nothing at all in their own account, but God is all in all.

II. By representing to them the unanimity of Christ's ministers: He that planteth and he that watereth are one (Co1 3:8), employed by one Master, entrusted with the same revelation, busied in one work, and engaged in one design - in harmony with one another, however they may be set in opposition to each other by factious party-makers. They have their different gifts from one and the same Spirit, for the very same purposes; and they heartily carry on the same design. Planters and waterers are but fellow-labourers in the same work. Note, All the faithful ministers of Christ are one in the great business and intention of their ministry. They may have differences of sentiment in minor things; they may have their debates and contests; but they heartily concur in the great design of honouring God and saving souls, by promoting true Christianity in the world. All such may expect a glorious recompence of their fidelity, and in proportion to it: Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. Their business is one, but some may mind it more than others: their end or design is one, but some may pursue it more closely than others: their Master also is one, and yet this good and gracious Master may make a difference in the rewards he gives, according to the different service they do: Every one's own work shall have its own reward. Those that work hardest shall fare best. Those that are most faithful shall have the greatest reward; and glorious work it is in which all faithful ministers are employed. They are labourers with God, sunergoi - co-workers, fellow-labourers (Co1 3:9), not indeed in the same order and degree, but in subordination to him, as instruments in his hand. They are engaged in his business. They are working together with God, in promoting the purposes of his glory, and the salvation of precious souls; and he who knows their work will take care they do not labour in vain. Men may neglect and vilify one minister while they cry up another, and have no reason for either: they may condemn when they should commend, and applaud what they should neglect and avoid; but the judgment of God is according to truth. He never rewards but upon just reason, and he ever rewards in proportion to the diligence and faithfulness of his servants. Note, Faithful ministers, when they are ill used by men, should encourage themselves in God. And it is to God, the chief agent and director of the great work of the gospel, to whom those that labour with him should endeavour to approve themselves. They are always under his eye, employed in his husbandry and building; and therefore, to be sure, he will carefully look over them: "You are God's husbandry, you are God's building; and therefore are neither of Paul nor of Apollos; neither belong to one nor the other, but to God: they only plant and water you, but it is the divine blessing on his own husbandry that alone can make it yield fruit. You are not our husbandry, but God's. We work under him, and with him, and for him. It is all for God that we have been doing among you. You are God's husbandry and building." He had employed the former metaphor before, and now he goes on to the other of a building: According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. Paul here calls himself a wise master-builder, a character doubly reflecting honour on him. It was honourable to be a master-builder in the edifice of God; but it added to his character to be a wise one. Persons may be in an office for which they are not qualified, or not so thoroughly qualified as this expression implies Paul was. But, though he gives himself such a character, it is not to gratify his own pride, but to magnify divine grace. He was a wise master-builder, but the grace of God made him such. Note, It is no crime in a Christian, but much to his commendation, to take notice of the good that is in him, to the praise of divine grace. Spiritual pride is abominable: it is making use of the greatest favours of God to feed our own vanity, and make idols of ourselves. But to take notice of the favours of God to promote our gratitude to him, and to speak of them to his honour (be they of what sort they will), is but a proper expression of the duty and regard we own him. Note, Ministers should not be proud of their gifts or graces; but the better qualified they are for their work, and the more success they have in it, the more thankful should they be to God for his distinguishing goodness: I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. As before he had said, I have planted, Apollos watered. It was Paul that laid the foundation of a church among them. He had begotten them through the gospel, Co1 4:15. Whatever instructors they had besides, they had not many fathers. He would derogate from none that had done service among them, nor would he be robbed of his own honour and respect. Note, Faithful ministers may and ought to have a concern for their own reputation. Their usefulness depends much upon it. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. This is a proper caution; there may be very indifferent building on a good foundation. It is easy to err here; and great care should be used, not only to lay a sure and right foundation, but to erect a regular building upon it. Nothing must be laid upon it but what the foundation will bear, and what is of a piece with it. Gold and dirt must not be mingled together. Note, Ministers of Christ should take great care that they do not build their own fancies or false reasonings on the foundation of divine revelation. What they preach should be the plain doctrine of their Master, or what is perfectly agreeable with it.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(5) The Apostle now proceeds to explain (1Co_3:5-9) what is the true position and work of Christian ministers. He asserts that all alike—both those who teach the simpler truths, and those who build up upon that primary knowledge—are only instruments in God’s hand; and in 1Co_3:10-15 (replying to those who sneered at and despised his simple teaching as compared to the higher instruction of Apollos) he points out that though all are only instruments used by God, yet that if there be any difference of honour or utility in the various kinds of work for which God so uses His ministers, the greater work is the planting the seed, or the laying the foundation. There can be only one foundation—it is alike necessary and unvarying—many others may build upon it, with varied material and with different results.

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos.—Better, What then is Apollos? what is Paul? and to these abrupt and startling questions the answer is, “Merely those whom Christ used, according as He gave to each his own peculiar powers as the means of your conversion.” (Such is the force of the word “believed” here as in Rom_13:11). It is therefore absurd that you should exalt them into heads of parties. They are only instruments—each used as the great Master thought best.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

1Co_3:5.—Better reading “what?” not “who?” Also “through.” Not, “As the Lord gave to every man of you the type of teacher he needed”; but, “As the Lord allotted to each teacher” the divided labour. Stanley suggests that Paul takes up, and with his own meaning adopts, their depreciatory distinction: “Yes, you did but plant. It was Apollos who watered, and so brought your work to anything like what could be called a successful issue!” Note here, as in 2Co_6:4, they are working under God’s orders, at God’s work. [In Mar_16:20, “the Lord (Christ) works with them.”] [Cf. the inscription on the University: “Louvain planted, Mechlin watered, Cæsar gave the increase.”]

1Co_3:8. One.—Our status, quâ the work, the increase, the Great Employer, is precisely the same. No parallel to Joh_10:30.

1Co_3:9.—Notice the Q.d. “All of us together belong to God, the field, the building, the company of workers in the field, or on the building. The fellowship only between man and man, God being above them all.” But A.V. is supported by Rom_16:3; Rom_16:9; Rom_16:21; 2Co_1:24; 2Co_8:23, also 1Co_6:1 (but note the reading). “Husbandry” speaks of growth from within; “building” of growth by additions from without.

HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.—1Co_3:5-9

Paul; Apollos; God.—“Co-workers,” Paul ventures to say (2Co_6:1). Not only are Paul who plants and Apollos who waters “one” (1Co_3:8), but these “three agree in one” purpose and result.

I. Three ways of reading—three heart-inflections of tone in reading—this verse.—

1. “A Paul may plant, an Apollos may water; but God alone can give the increase!” The despondent, despairing tone of the physical and mental reaction of an earnest worker, after a day of effort and “failure”; said as if God gave charily and grudgingly the increase, and the chances were to be taken as against His giving. Or said by a worker who goes out mechanically, without much heart in his work, to discount apologetically beforehand the failure which he expects, and deserves; or his wonderfully wise “explanation” of his failure when the day is over: “Ah! you see, a Paul may plant,” etc. Very pious, but dishonouring to God.

2. “Paul must, … Apollos must, … God must,” etc. The formal, sometimes useful, summation of the conditions of success. One of the “Rules” hung up at the gate of the field, to be considered and complied with by every worker. On these conditions only can the work be done, on these only can success be claimed. Usually God will not do the work of Paul or Apollos, will do nothing without them. They must remember that they can effect nothing without His co-operation. Paul? Nothing! Apollos? Nothing! God? All in all! (1Co_3:7). Yet there is a better reading of the verse still.

3. “Paul planted, Apollos watered, God did give the increase.” The historical rendering and reading. Always, in invariable sequence, the history of any true labour for God. So certainly as the first two terms of the series are found, so certainly does the third follow to complete it. If Paul has done his part, if Apollos has done his part, God may be reckoned upon. God always does give the increase. The historical view is the healthy view, warranted by the history of the universal, working Church.

II. The human workers.—Are human. Macmillan (Bible Teachings in Nature, p. 101) points out that corn never grows spontaneously, is never self-sown, self-diffused; [this not true of Divine Truth, of the Bible, without limitation]; depends, as the seed of “life” does ordinarily, upon being sown by man’s hand. [The Greatest of the workers was human; Who might say to His Church, “I have planted, ye have watered”; Who said, “Others laboured, ye have entered into their labours.] With all human variety. Many and many-fashioned tools are needed to do the work of God. The material is many-fashioned. Each worker is made to be a specialist in some particular kind of material. Every kind of material, every type of mind and heart, is somebody’s speciality. The worker and the work, the minister and the man he is made to help, are both to be found; if only they find each other, all is well. The Great Director of the work knows where to lay His hand on the Paul, where to find the Apollos, the very man to do the work which wants doing. With all human limitations. Paul need not be distressed because he cannot do the work of Apollos. Nobody need blame Apollos because he cannot pioneer and “plant” like Paul. No man is made to do everything. Let a man frankly accept the limitation; let him consecrate to the Work and the Worker his ability thus bounded; then let him set himself to be at his own best for Christ. Paul is not to chafe against the fact that he is not an Apollos; still less is an Apollos to be thinking how much better he would have done the work, and how much more faithfully, than Paul, if only he had been set to Paul’s task with Paul’s talent. Depreciating criticism of others, disheartened views of oneself, are equally mischievous and needless. The work has always been done, and was intended to be done, by a division of work amongst workers, each of whom has a limitation of ability. Neither Paul nor Apollos was an “all-round” man, a monstrosity of all perfection. [It does not appear here; there was nothing in the facts of the case to suggest it, but ordinarily one must add, With all human infirmities. Ideally perfect work, even in a man’s own special “line,” never gets done. Nor does any most perfect plan ever get worked with ideal intelligence, or even with ideal faithfulness. “The Best is the enemy of the Good,” says a German proverb. Practical wisdom in the Church will not indeed be supinely indifferent to any chance of improvement of workers or methods, yet it will accept, and make the very most of, the workers who are “to hand,” with all their humanity. No organisation, no reorganisation, will ever eliminate from the conditions under which God’s work has to be done, the blameless, natural imperfections of the workers, or even their moral imperfections. See the men with whom God in Old Testament and New Testament alike did His work. We see the glorious results of the past; we see the best points of the conspicuous workers who contributed to them. But a nearer view, a more intimate acquaintance, would have shown them very human, most of them average, not only in ability, but in goodness; only a few of first rank in power and sainthood. But the glorious result is due to the great worker, God, who accomplished it by using the tools which were to His hand.]

III. The work.—Is of many forms. “Planting,” “watering.” No “reaping” is mentioned. A good case showing how such illustrative language does not bear insisting on beyond the one point of analogy which it is used to illustrate. Paul’s “planting” of a Church was a very real “reaping” of individual souls. The illustration here used is valid thus far—that many labourers, and many successive “layers” of faithful toil, contribute to the great Result. One man can in the deepest sense rarely claim to be the instrument (say) of a conversion. Ordinarily he has had the native ability, sanctified, to bring to a “head” what has been working in a soul pervasively, as the result of many a preceding labourer’s toil and prayers. How “planting” and “watering” are both needed to lead to full, ripe growth, is well seen in the case of the Master Himself. Any day of His three years’ ministry might be summarised in the sentence: “A Sower went forth (that morning) to sow.” He might have said, “I only planted.” The very parables of Matthew 13 illustrate His words. How few moments it occupies to read the Sower; how much time has been spent in expounding it. In how few words contained; how many myriads of words, how many acres of paper, spent in its enforcement. Rightly so. That morning He had gone out to sow; He was sowing from the boat that day seed truths, packed in small compass, but with living germs in them, which might be, and were meant to be, developed in many-branching expositions and applications of truth. His three years’ work was a seminal one, almost entirely; acts, works, Himself, in historical record,—the seed of a Gospel. But the Spirit of Pentecost “watered,” and, with a leap, that seed started into life and immediate blossom and fruitful harvest. “These things understood not His disciples at the first, but,” etc., (Joh_12:16). Perhaps not too much to say that without the watering of the Spirit the words of Christ must still remain seeds only, undeveloped potentialities, to some who read and even expound them. [Peter at Pentecost has got hold of all essential Christian truth, yet there is a development in some small degree to be traced in the clearness with which he and others apprehended Divine truth, particularly in regard to the Personality of their Master.] The work is to bring men to “believe.” It aims at making and building up “believers.” This certainly is a seminal, germinant work. When a sinner is brought to saving faith in Christ, a work is begun, and only begun, which may fruitfully fill eternity. How happy the selection and the succession of Pastors and Ministers with which the Great Head of His Church has often provided both its Churches and individual souls! How constantly the very man who can “water” is sent to follow up the man who can “plant”! How one man’s appeal follows up another man’s sermon! Would it not be oftener so, if in simple faith the choice and order were left to Him?

III. The increase and success.—“As the Lord gave to every man.” “Success” is as complex a thing as the labour which leads up to it; as many-sided as the work and the men. Again (as in 1Co_1:1), let it be said that there is always a real and true “success” and “increase” so surely as there has been the prayerful, faithful “planting” and “watering.” [N.B.—In the Sower (Matthew 13), if there are three causes of failure, there are also three degrees of success (in one case exceedingly abundant), as certainly as “a sower goes forth to sow.”] It may be a “success” whose full measure only begins to be seen at a second or third remove from the man whose work it really crowns. He is, e.g., a minister who only knows of the salvation of one man or one boy; but that boy becomes the evangelist who gathers in his sheaves by the hundred wherever he works. From heaven perhaps the original labourer sees for the first time his true success. Paul’s “success” and “increase” were not least when his words saved Luther, and when Luther’s comment on Paul saved John Wesley. [Eadie (Paul the Preacher, pp. 94, 95) gives a good case of germinant “increase.” There lived in last century in England an obscure woman with an only son. When he was but seven years old she died. But her image and her prayers haunted him by land and sea, in the ports of Britain, on the beach of Africa, when shipping manacled negroes, or carousing on shore with a seaman’s zest. His heart was touched; he became a minister renowned for his impressive conversation and correspondence. His words reached Claudius Buchanan, and sent him to India. The recital of his labours so attracted Judson that it drew him to Burmah. The same gift to a mother’s prayers threw light on the soul of Scott, the commentator. It also strengthened Cowper, and gave birth to the Olney Hymns. Wilberforce was greatly indebted to the same source, and his Practical View brought the truth home to the mind of Legh Richmond. Thus John Newton’s mother’s prayers gave birth to his preaching and correspondence, to two missionaries, a commentary, a Christian statesman, and a pastor. Yet her grave and her name are unknown.]

IV. The reward of the workers.—Over-subtle exegesis to say, “According to his labour, not according to his success.” Formally true, as a matter of lexical interpretation of “labour”; but too narrow for the thought of Paul, and for the fact. The Saviour has summarised the Divine Method of reward in the twin parables of the Pounds and the Talents [Luke 19; Matthew 25. As alike as twins, and as different. As alike as two faces, or twenty; built up on the same general plan, made up of the same basal facts (N.B. in the Pounds, however, two sets of facts are interwoven; there are subject-citizens who become rebels, as well as subject-servants); yet perfectly distinct and individual, in their occasion, in their construction, and in their teaching; each exactly congruous to its occasion and its audience; each, in even small details, internally harmonious and self-consistent.] In their contrast they exhibit complementary truths. Servants of Christ, with equal endowments [each of the ten a pound], may be in very diverse degree “successful.” One may be tenfold more diligent or devoted than another; with opportunities fairly equal the issues of their life’s “labour” may vary in the widest degrees. Some barely bring “one pound” of increase from their pound. Some of the same “pound” make ten. And the reward is proportionate. “Heaven” is no indiscriminate prize to every servant of God. There are many heavens in Heaven; as many heavens as men. Happy the man of a “ten cities” heaven. But on the other hand servants of God with widely different endowments may be equally faithful. It means as much for some to bring one “talent” for one, as for another to bring two talents where two were given. The man who adds five to five is no more “good and faithful a servant” than the man who should add one to one. The same words of praise, the same “joy of the Lord,” await the “labour” of those whose fidelity in labour has been equal. Success and results are not overlooked. Only God can appraise them truly. His servants may carve out for themselves the measure of their reward, whilst it is all of grace that there is a reward at all. But He does not overlook faithfulness. A Paul’s “labour” and the spirit of it; the “labour” of an Apollos and the fruit of it,—all is noted, and noted for exactly just “reward.”

V. The Great Worker is God.—“Ministers by whom,” instrumentally, God brings men to faith. They are only efficient when in His hands. The strength, the wisdom, for labour come from Him. The wisest “labourer” works where, and for so long as, He appoints him in the field, the vineyard. “God is all, in all” the work and “in all” the workers. That it is “God’s husbandry,” not Paul’s; that the real Worker, the real Author, of the “increase” is God, needs to be remembered by the human “co-workers” on two occasions:

(1) when they seem to have “succeeded”;

(2) and, more urgently, when they seem to have “failed.”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

V. THE ESTIMATE TO BE PUT ON TEACHERS AND THEIR WORK. THEIR VALUE TO BE PROVED IN THE DAY OF TRIAL

1Co_3:5-15

5Who then is Paul, who is Apollos,8 but9 ministers by whom ye believed, even as 6the Lord gave to every man? I have [om. have] planted, Apollos watered; but God gave [was giving] the increase. 7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man [each one] shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. 10According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have [om. have10] laid the foundation, and another 11buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.11 12Now if any man build upon this12 foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire [itself: αὐτό13] shall try every man’s work of what sort it Isaiah 14 If any man’s work [shall] abide14 which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

“From this point onward to 1Co_3:23, Paul proceeds to explain in what light the Corinthians were to regard their spiritual teachers, and the work which these performed among them. And first, from 1Co_3:5-9, he deals with the relation which the human instrumentalities sustain to the Lord who employs them; then, from 1Co_3:10-15, with the responsibility which they have for their work and the decision to which it is liable; and, finally, from 1Co_3:16-23, with the position which the Church holds and ought to pursue towards them.”—Burger. 1Co_3:5.—Who then is Apollos? and who is Paul?—The reading τί: what, is at least as easily explainable on the ground that the answer given appears to point rather to “what?” than to “who?” as the reading τίς is capable of being accounted for from the effort to assimilate the genders.—[“οὖν: then, follows on the assumption of the truth of their divided state.”—Alford.] The question here put is not to be regarded as coming from the readers (Rückert) q. d. “Who are Apollos and Paul, if we may not have them as our leaders?” This thought would have been expressed in quite a different manner—more his own.—(Comp. 1Co_15:34; Rom_9:19 ff.). It is simpler to understand the connection thus: “You call yourselves after Apollos and Paul. Who are these persons, then? From the answer given, it is clearly implied that the partizanship of their followers does not accord with the spirit of the leaders they have chosen, and is condemned as a carnality.—Ministers, through whom ye believed.—Were ἀλλ̓ ἤ: but, to be taken as genuine (see under the text), then we should have here an emphatic implication that Apollos and Paul were nothing else than mere ministers. There is in these words a mixture of two constructions: οὐδὲν ἄλλο, ἀλλά: nothing else but; and οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἤ: nothing else that. So Meyer on 2Co_1:13. Fritzsche, according to Hermann on Viger, construes it otherwise: “but either—or I know not what.” The phrase is to be found in Luk_12:15, where its correctness is undisputed. It was plainly, therefore, not rejected because of its objectionableness. διάκονοι: deacons, ministers, is here to be understood in its broadest sense, as contrasted with leaders. We may supplement “of your Church,” comp. 1Co_3:21, and Mat_20:28; or “of God,” or “of Christ,” comp. 1Co_3:6 ff; 2Co_6:4, etc. The words following would favor the one as well as the other, or perhaps hint at a combination of the two=“ministers of Christ in your behalf.” (Col_1:7.)—through whom ye believed.—Bengel says briefly and forcibly; “Through whom, not in whom” (Jam_1:7). They are thereby designated as instruments in God’s hand for the production of faith. And such they were in their function as preachers and teachers of truth. But this instrumentality was of different kinds; that of Paul, for the exercise of the faith, of Apollos, for its further development. This process is expressed in the aorist tense, as in Rom_13:11 : Gal_2:16.—even as, the Lord gave to each one.—This statement is made to bring forward prominently the fact of the dependence of the ministers on the Lord, both for their gifts and their ministry, and so to dampen the disposition “to boast in men.” καὶ ἑκάστω ὡσ ὁ κώριος ἔδωκεν, not an instance of attraction, as if ἔκαστος sc. διάκονος ἐστιν, ὠς—ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ. But ἐκαστῷ stands first by way of emphasis, as in Rom_12:3, because having spoken of them in general, he wishes next to designate what is peculiar to each one. There is no need of taking “the Lord” to mean God, instead of Christ [so Hodge], contrary to the usage of Paul, nor are we compelled to this by 1Co_3:6; 1Co_3:9-10. The endowment of ministers with manifold gifts is also ascribed to Christ in Eph_4:7 ff. In what follows, when “God” is introduced, the Apostle is speaking of something else, viz. of the Divine blessing, and of the dependence on God for desired results.

1Co_3:6. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was giving the increase.—Under these figures Paul exhibits partly the diversity of operation between him and Apollos, and partly their equal dependence on Divine favor for success. Paul labored for the founding of the Church, for the planting of the spiritual crop; Apollos for the further development of the life of faith thus begun, for the edification of the Church; he watered and helped to mature the growing crop. But after all it was to God, as the efficient cause, that both owed the results obtained. It was His power, working in them and through them, that caused the faith to strike root, and spring up, and bring forth fruit. “Αὐξάνειν: to increase, a designation of the attainment of an object which had been furthered by the Divine powers at work in the instruments, and by divers other auxiliary operations of grace which accompanied or prepared the way for them. [“ηὔξανεν: was giving. Observe the force of the Imperfect, intimating a continued bestowal of Divine grace as distinguished from the transitory acts of His ministers whose operations are described by aorists.”—Words.].

1Co_3:7. So then [“ὤστε: an illative particle of frequent occurrence” Words.] neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth, but He that giveth the increase, even God.—The inference here drawn goes to the discrediting of all human organs taken by themselves, and to the rebuking of all partisanship, ἔστι τι: is any thing, either in numero est: in account (comp. Acts 3:36) or yet more strongly, is absolutely any thing. On the other hand, to the last clause we naturally supplement τὰ πάντα ἕστίν: is all (1Co_15:28; Col_3:11). Bengel: “is something, and, because He is alone, all things.” What is here viewed separately for the purpose of counteracting the tendency to unduly exalt the instrument is elsewhere taken together; the agency of the instrument and the agency of God in their concrete unity (Rom_11:14; 1Ti_4:16). [“In this passage ministers are brought into comparison with the Lord, and the reason of this comparison is, that mankind, while estimating grudgingly the grace of God, are too lavish in their commendation of ministers, and in this manner they snatch away what is God’s, with a view of transferring it to themselves.” Calvin.].

1Co_3:8. Now He that planteth and He that watereth are one.—[“ἕν; one thing neuter. God is ὁ εἱς, mas. He is the one agent; they are an instrument in His hands; and they are one as united together in Christ. But they are not what you would make them by your party factions to be, separate persons and rival heads and leaders of opposing sects.” Words.]. Paul does not here intend to deny the different merits of ministers or their separate worth, as though they all stood at par (Bengel, Billroth); he is referring only to their office and services. They are alike ministers. And in so saying he means to counteract all rivalry and all exaltation of one over another. The unity and mutual connection, which he asserts, do not, however, exclude diversities both in their labors and in the recognition of these labors, on the part of the Lord, in ways corresponding thereto.—And each one shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.—The words “his own”—“his own” stand in contrast with “are one.” Bengel styles it “an appropriate repetition antithetic to the “one.” κόπος. denotes not the result, but the labor, the effort put forth. This, however unsuccessful, involves a fidelity and devotion which can be estimated by God alone. κατά indicates also the qualitative, and not merely the quantitative relation—ἴσιον: own, that which especially belongs to each one, both in the labor expended and in the reward. The μισθός, as the context shows, signifies the Divine recompense. The full λήψεται (λήυψεται, Altic Ionic form) points to the reward which will be conferred at the coming of Christ. (Comp. 1Co_4:5; 1Th_2:19; 2Ti_4:8; Dan_12:3; Mat_25:20 ff.; 1Pe_5:4). This reward is praise bestowed for the labor done. According to Bengel, “Something more than salvation.” It is an addition to the blessedness common to all the subjects of grace, which, as Osiander observes, consists in the various degrees of glory (δόξα) conferred on them (comp. Luk_19:17 ff.); moreover it is a reward of grace, since the whole thing rests upon the plan and promise and operation of grace. Yet it is apportioned in righteousness, “to each one his own.” “Relatively to redemption nothing can be said of desert. But within the sphere of redemption, the question comes up, ‘how faithfully has a person employed the grace received and wrought with it. Here it can be asserted ‘To him that hath shall be given.’ This is what Paul means by reward.” Neander. That such a reward is to be expected appears from what follows:—

1Co_3:9. For we are God’s fellow-laborers, God’s husbandry, God’s building are ye.—The emphatic word here is θεοῦ, God’s. Since it is God’s work to which we devote our labor, each in his own part, we are therefore to expect it from His truthfulness that He will not refuse to us the corresponding reward. This reference to what precedes (Meyer) has a decided advantage over that interpretation which regards these words as a comprehensive exposition of the calling of spiritual teachers, and their debt of service to the congregation (1Co_3:5 ff.), and especially of their oneness in it (1Co_3:8). In this case the γάρ, for, in relation to the first clause, would be explanatory and in reference to the second, causal (Osiander). “It is also preferable to that interpretation which, in order to make out here a rebuke of party spirit, takes the sense to be: Every thing is to be ascribed to God; therefore to God be all the glory.” Burger. Inasmuch as the idea of a reward recurs also in what follows, it perhaps would be more proper to regard these sentences only as confirmatory of what was said respecting the reward. [Stanley takes the “for” as giving the reason for the oneness among the teachers. “Their object is the same (though their modes of working are different), for it is God who is our fellow-laborer, etc.; therefore they cannot be set against each other.” Hodge combines the two ideas]. Θεοῦ συνεργοί=God’s helpers, who work with God,—not: “who do God’s work associatedly” [as Olshausen], for this would be etymologically inadmissible. Even so συνεργὸν ἡμῶν, 1Th_3:2. Although God works all in all, yet He works through His servants, whom He recognizes as helpers in His work, and whom he suffers to work, each one in his own peculiar way. Calvin: Eximium elogium ministerii, quod, quum per se agere possit Deus, nos homunciones tanquam adjutores adsiscat, per quos ita solus agit, ut tamen vicissim cum eo laborent (cf. Osiander in loco). Here we have a hint of the dignity of the ministerial office, and of our obligation to keep in view God’s objects in it. [Though, indeed, it must be said that the design of the argument is not to dignify the teachers, but to abate the excessive estimate put upon them]. Θεοῦ γεώργιον, a field belonging to God; so also θεοῦ οἰκοδομή], God’s building. The Genitive of cause (=it is God who built you) [so Alford] is less fitting here, since Paul is speaking in the context concerning the performance and the reward of teachers, and in these statements he is establishing the expectation that God will grant to them their reward on the ground that that on which they are at work, belongs to Him. Γεώργιον (also in Pro_24:30; Pro_31:16)= tilled land, a field, a garden, a vineyard; οἰκοδουή, a word of the later Greek οἰκοδομια=οἰκοδόμημα. Both indicate the kind of labor pursued by God’s co-workers: the cultivation of a field, the rearing of a building. But in making God (θεοῦ) prominent, the subjects on both sides retire into the background in a corresponding degree. Hence neither “we” (ἡμεῖς) nor “you” (ὐμεῖς) is expressed. Taking the whole context in its broader scope, and considering the aim of the whole paragraph, we might suppose with Chrysostom, that in the repeated mention of God in the last clause there was an implied rebuke of the tendency in the Church to call themselves after men [so Words.] (1Co_3:4) (cf. Osiander). The figure in οἰκοδομη (building), analogous to that in the “temple of God” (1Co_3:16; 2Co_6:16; Eph_2:21) is carried out still further in what follows.

1Co_3:10. Paul here proceeds to state what he himself had done towards erecting God’s building.—According unto the grace of God, which was given unto me.—By “grace” he means not the Apostolic office as such, but those peculiar endowments which qualified him for laying the foundation (comp. 1Co_1:3-4). Lit. ‘by virtue of the favor shown unto me.’ And this favor was manifest both in the call to office and in the bestowment of those gifts which enabled him to become a co-worker with God. By this acknowledgment of his indebtedness in advance, he obviates all misconception with a wise humility, and avoids all appearance of arrogance. The same expression occurs in Rom_15:15; Rom_12:3; Gal_2:9; Eph_3:2.—as a wise master master-builder I laid the foundation.—This was done in that preaching of Christ crucified, which had first elicited their faith (1Co_3:11; 1Co_2:2). [“θεμέλιον, a foundation. St. Paul uses the masculine form, 1Co_3:11, and 2Ti_2:19. St. Luke the neuter (Act_16:26); which is Attic. The masculine is very appropriate here, because the foundation is Christ.” Words. In saying that he laid this “as” a wise masterbuilder, “he does not vaunt himself, but propounds himself as an example,” Chrysostom]. The wisdom he claims, might be regarded as that betokened in the act of laying a foundation, since the attempt to build without such preliminary work would indicate a lack of sense. Yet 1Co_3:11 seems to imply that he had reference to the nature of the foundation, in that it was the only one suited for a “building of God,” and such a one as a wise builder would alone lay. [Why not both?]. Σοφός, wise, skilful—thoroughly understanding his art. The same usage occurs in the classics. The claim here made, tells against the partisan disparagement of his labors.—and another buildeth thereon.—ἄλλος another, not merely Apollos, but also every person who had engaged in the work of the ministry at Corinth, “more especially those successors of his who were still laboring in the Church.” Osiander. (Comp. 1Co_4:15). To such, he, as the Apostolic “masterbuilder,” gives the caution.—But let each one look how he buildeth thereon.—“How,” i.e. in what way, and with what material. He thus warns them of the greatness of their responsibility, and of the importance of making the edifice correspond with the foundation. On this point he explains himself further by showing what is the only proper foundation of a church.

1Co_3:11. For other foundation can no man lay besides that lying there.—He here explains why he speaks simply of building the superstructure, and says nothing in regard to the foundation. This had been already laid, and was confessedly all right. There could possibly be no idea of changing or modifying that. [“In taking this for granted, he implies the strongest possible caution against attempting to lay any other.” Alf.]. The emphasis here rests on “foundation,” which is accordingly put first in the sentence, δύναται, not may, but can. Paul here wishes to express the absolute impossibility of change, without entirely destroying the character of the building. And hence there naturally follows the utter inadmissibleness of attempting to lay any other foundation. The thing is so contrary to the nature of the case, that no Christian teacher can be supposed willing to undertake it. παρά, alongside of, and yet not touching; hence, besides, beyond, contrary to. In regard to κείμενον, lying there it may be asked, whether the idea involved in τέθεικα, I laid, of 1Co_3:10, is here resumed, so that it refers to what Paul had done [“in which case it would have been τεθέντα.” Words.], or whether it implies what had been done by God in sending His Son to be our Redeemer, and laying him as the precious cornerstone of His Church [or whether it is with Words, to be taken in the middle sense as lying there “by His own free will and act.”]. Adopting the second of the above interpretations, the verb “I laid,” in 1Co_3:10, would indicate Paul’s accordance with the Divine procedure. He had laid in its place at Corinth that foundation which God had provided for the Church universal, by proclaiming Christ there as the only proper object of faith. This would accord better with the more general form κείμενον, and also establish the impossibility declared in the words, “can no man.” ‘If God has laid a foundation, then surely no Christian teacher will think of laying any other. Accordingly, I also have made this the basis of the Church at Corinth, and could do no otherwise.’ [“This Word, κεῖται, from which κείμενον comes, descriptive of Christ’s character as the one foundation of His Church, is applied to Him in His first presentation in the material temple at Jerusalem. Luk_2:34, οῦ̔τος κεῖται εἰς ποῶσιν. It is observable also that the man of sin, who places himself as a foundation of the Church, in the room of Christ, is called ὁ ἀντικείμενυς. 2Th_2:4.” Words.]. What this foundation is, is expressed in the relative clause,—which is Christ Jesus.—By this he means Christ in His own person, not simply the doctrine of Christ as being a fundamental doctrine. [“The former interpretation which is adopted by many distinguished commentators (de Wette, Alf., Stanley), is more in accordance with the common representations of scripture, and perhaps also with the form of expression here used. The second, however, is certainly more consistent with the context. In saying that he had laid the foundation, Paul could only mean that he had in Corinth taught the doctrine concerning the person and work of Christ.” Hodge. But surely it was not the doctrine as such that was the foundation. The doctrine availed only as it brought Christ directly and personally present to the mind of the Church, and induced them to build on Him. The distinction Kling maintains is a very important one. There is constant danger of persons mistaking the doctrine of Christ for the person of Christ. The former is the foundation of a theology, the latter of a life.]

1Co_3:12. The nature of the foundation being settled, he now proceeds to consider the several ways in which superstructure might be carried up.—But—[“The δέ implies that though there can be but one foundation, there are many ways of building upon it.” Alf.]—if any man build upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble.—He here illustrates the various kinds of material that might be employed in the edifice, either worthy and durable, that could stand the test of fire, or worthless and incapable of passing the ordeal. Both sorts are mentioned in lively succession, without any express exhibition of the diversities implied. According to the best and largest number of commentators, from Clem., Alex., down to Osiander and Meyer, Paul here intends to denote by this building material, not persons, but doctrines, such as when joined with faith in Christ may or may not suit the foundation; such as in worth and durability do or do not correspond with the precious indestructible corner-stone. That the wood, hay and stubble were designed in general to signify such teachings as mingled the weak and disfiguring products of human wisdom, art, philosophy and Jewish traditions with the truth of God, is very evident. But any attempts to particularize, either as to the dogmas referred to, or as to the parts of the building they were intended for, would be futile and out of taste. Moreover, we are to hold fast to the idea of but one building contemplated, into which all the different kinds of material specified are worked, and not to imagine [as Wetst., Billr., Stanley] that two sorts of building are had in view, such as a palace and a hut; or that a whole city was intended, “the city of God,” for instance. We might also very appropriately, but rather by way of accommodation, bring under consideration here the distinctive practical fruits produced under the different kinds of teaching and the different sorts of church members brought in and trained under the same. [So Theodoret adopted by Stanley, who deems the practical fruits the main thing referred to, and adds, “He is here preparing the way for the accusation of the incestuous person.”]. To suppose, however, with Olsh., that there is any allusion to the private work of personal sanctification, would be untenable, inasmuch as the entire context treats solely of ministerial functions. Rückert’s interpretation is too abstract and general. Proceeding on the ground that “work” (ἔργον) with Paul signifies the entire business of life, he takes the sense to be: “only he who builds upon the true foundation in a right manner, so that his work will abide the test, is entitled to a reward. He who builds on it unsuitably, can expect none. This only, however, can be said for his comfort, that he will not forfeit his salvation since it was his will at least to further the work of the Lord.” On this whole subject, consult Osiander and Meyer. [“Precious stone” here means stones valuable for building, such as granite and marble. “Gold and silver,” were extensively employed in adorning ancient temples, and are therefore appropriately used as symbols of pure doctrine, “Wood, hay and stubble.” are the perishable materials out of which ordinary houses were built. Wood for the doors and posts, hay mixed with mud for the walls, and straw for the roof. These materials, unsuited for the temple of God, are the appropriate symbols of false doctrines.” Hodge].

1Co_3:13. Every man’s work will be made manifest.—The worth or worthlessness, the durability or perishableness of what a man has wrought is not to remain concealed.—For the day will declare it.—i. e., will make evident what is genuine or not genuine, what is truth and what mere show. This is a matter which often remains for a long time uncertain. But what are we to understand by this day of revelation? Not certainly the time of Jerusalem’s overthrow [as Starke], for the Apostle is not speaking here of Jewish traditions, the vanity of which would then be exposed. Nor yet time in general, or any prolonged lapse of time, for the term “day” is never used in this sense by the New Testament writers, nor would it suit the following context. Ever since the period of the Reformation, Calvin’s view has widely prevailed, that the allusion here is to the time when the pure knowledge of the Gospel should spread over the earth. So others also. But the apostolic usage and modes of thought warrant our understanding it only of the day of Christ’s second coming (comp. 1Co_4:5; Rom_2:16; 2Co_5:10). This is the period of that searching, sifting trial which is to begin at the house of God (1Pe_4:17), and which after manifold preludes will reach its consummation in the appearance of our Lord. In this sense the word “day” stands without any explanatory term in Heb_10:25; 1Th_5:4 ss.—Because it is revealed in fire.—What is revealed? The work of which he has just said “it shall be made manifest.” To this it is objected that the sentence would in that case be tautological. But a repetition of this prominent thought will appear less strange in view of the fact that it is more distinctly defined by the additional words, “by fire,” and that the following clause appears to be a fitting further development of them. It would indeed be most natural to regard “day” as the thing revealed. [So Alf., Stanley, Words., Hodge]. But nowhere is it said that the day of the Lord is revealed. Such a mode of speech would be unusual. It were better, with Bengel, to supply “the Lord” as the nominative, since indeed it is the day of the Lord that is referred to, and this construction would have its parallel in 2Th_1:7 : “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire.” Here lire is represented as accompanying the manifestation of Jesus, (not, however, as a means of vengeance). But such a supplying of a word is warranted only in case no other suitable explanation can be found. If then “work” be the proper subject, “the fire” must be taken to denote that by which the work is tested. The relation of this clause to the foregoing then would be this: because fire is the agency by which the work is tried, therefore will the day of the Lord, who is to appear in flaming fire (2 Thessalonians 1), the day which is to burn as an oven (Mat_4:1), make this work manifest. [“To show the certainty and perpetual imminence of that fiery trial of the Last Day, Paul uses the present tense (ἀποκαλύπτεταἐ) is revealed!” Words.]—And each one’s work, what sort it is this fire itself shall prove.—This clause stands independently of ὅτι, because, and sums up the whole truth, stating once more the ordeal contemplated and the peculiar means of its accomplishment. It is the fire that is to try the work, and demonstrate its quality—τὸ πῦρ αὐτό, the fire itself, by its own specific action. That this means neither the Holy Spirit nor yet persecutions of any sort is evident from the interpretation given to the word “day.” Still less tenable is the Roman Catholic interpretation, which discovers herein an allusion to purgatory. (Council of Florence). [“The fire of which St. Paul speaks is the Fire of the Great Day; not a Fire of any intermediate state. And the Fire which he describes does not cleanse, as that intermediate fire is feigned to do, but tried and destroy. It is not a Purgatorial but a Probationary Fire.” Words. Besides “Paul is here speaking of ministers and their doctrines, and not of believers in general.” Hodge, 9, 1Co_5:1]. “We deny not that anticipations of the judicial fire of the Last Day may be traced in the fiery trials with which God will visit His own house (1Pe_4:12-17); but the fire by which Christians will be refined and purged before the end comes will burn not on the other side but this side of death.” W. F. Besser. Neander on the contrary says: “The fire is an image of the progressive purifying process which goes on along the course of the development of the Church. This process will allow only what is genuine and Divine to stand.” It is, however, the outward and substantial manifestation of the judicial energy of the Lord, who will work as a purifying flame, so that everything in the labors of those who have been endeavoring to build up the Church, that does not carry the Divine impress, but is the vain and perishable invention of man, will be brought to nought. Of this manifestation we have a prelude now in the continuous judgment of the Holy Ghost, and in the persecutions which the Church here suffers. The effect of it is exhibited antithetically in

1Co_3:14-15. If any one ‘s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward.—This is the positive side. Μενεῖ, shall abide (the future corresponds with κατακαήσεται), shall stand the fire which is to consume all that is unworthy. “Reward,” as in 1Co_3:8. By this we may understand on the one hand, a presentation before Christ as a faithful and true workman, whose work is honorable to the Master (1Th_2:19 ff.; Php_2:15 ff.); and on the other hand, an appointment to higher trusts in the kingdom of God (Dan_12:3; Mat_19:28; 2Ti_4:8; Mat_25:21-23). “The abiding of his edifice will be itself his great reward, just as Paul terms the fruit of his labor, and of his founding the Church his boasting and his crown in the day of the Lord (2Co_1:14; Php_2:16; 1Th_2:19). Still we do not in this completely gauge the reward of a true builder.” W. F. Besser.—Next comes the negative side.—If any one’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.—The omission of the conjunction is owing to the rapid rush of the thought, and renders the style more vivid. The “loss” spoken of is not of “the work,” but “the reward.” True, the judicial fire, which consumes all impure and untenable doctrines, will also consume his whole performance; but the consequence will be that he will forfeit his reward, and so incur damage (comp. ζημιοῦσθαι, 2Co_7:7-9; Php_3:8; Mat_16:26). [“It is possible that this whole image, as addressed to the Corinthians, may have been suggested or at least illustrated by the conflagration of Corinth under Mummius; the stately temples (one of them remaining to this day) standing amidst the universal destruction of the meaner buildings.” Stanley].—But he himself shall be saved;—αὐτός δὲ, he himself, as contrasted with the reward [and also with the work]. Here it is presupposed that the individual has been building indeed upon the true foundation, Christ, but has failed only in respect to the manner of his building (from infirmity of the flesh or from ignorance, as Calvin suggests). Altogether superfluous and incorrect would it be to translate it ‘he can be saved.’ To supply the condition, ‘if it be possible,’ is wholly arbitrary; and still more so to assume that by ‘work’ is meant the scholars of a good teacher who perish without his fault. Many of the Fathers interpret σωθήσεται, be saved, in the sense of τηρηθήσεται, should be preserved, as if it meant: shall be not annihilated but kept alive in eternal torments and in fire. But this, apart from all other objections, is contrary to the usage of the word in the New Testament. It can only mean: he shall obtain salvation in Christ. “Here we have one clear evidence that salvation is not a reward, but is freely given to us through the merits of Christ.” W. F. Besser.—Yet so as through fire.—(διὰ πυρός). Herein is expressed the narrowness of the person’s escape. He will be snatched as a brand from the burning, saving nothing but his bare life (comp. Zec_3:2; Amo_4:11; Jude 23). The image is not that of a man living in a house, but of one occupied with the building of it, and who just delivers himself with great effort from the conflagration that has caught his work, and sees in sadness and anxiety the loss of all he has done, to the marring of his blessedness. And such a person attains only to a lower stage of bliss (comp. Mat_20:16; Mar_10:31, last clause). So Meyer, rejecting however, the idea that words embody anything of the nature of a proverb, since Paul is here speaking literally of a consuming fire. But nevertheless the use of the word ώς, as, constrains us to regard it as such. For although we should interpret “as” in the same manner as we do in Joh_1:14, and render, ‘just as one would expect in the case of a conflagration,’ still it would amount to about the same thing. Only we might say it is not to be understood as a proverb merely (comp. Osiander, p. 174 f).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Ministers are co-workers with God.—It is in this that the highest dignity of the Christian teacher consists. To wish to be nothing but an instrument for performing the Divine will, to aim at nothing but the fulfilment of God’s designs, to desire to have and to exercise no power save what this line of action includes, to covet no reward, no honor, no enjoyment, excepting what comes from such labor, and helps to the more complete discharge of this calling, this is the characteristic of a servant of God, who follows Christ in self-denial and love, and purposes only to save souls for God and consecrates to this all his faculties, and is diligent to present to God a work pleasing to Him and honorable to His holy Son, and neither seeks nor strives after any glory for himself, but is content that God be exalted Supreme over all, and that His will alone should prevail. To such a person, nothing is too insignificant to be undertaken, provided it serves this end. No work will he be ashamed of or shun, even though it be among those who are low, or despised, or degraded, provided the gracious designs of God may be accomplished thereby. Such servants are, in truth, co-workers with God. He takes them into a fellowship of labor with Himself. He shares with them His exalted work of renewing, blessing, sanctifying and glorifying lost creatures. He shares with them also His authority, His power, His honor, His joy in this work. And this He is able to do because they have entered into a fellowship with Him in His thoughts and intentions by the operation of the Holy Ghost; because the spirit of Christ, God’s perfect servant, animates them; because His mind is also their mind; and because the holy will of a self-denying, self-devoted love is alive and strong in their hearts. For this reason, they will have nothing to do with partizanship. It sickens them to see poor lost souls clinging to them and wishing to make them masters alongside of Christ, or in His place; to see people following their directions, and exalting their merely human and personal peculiarities into a standard of authority by which to regulate their conduct. Such proceedings they repel, and they strive with all their might instead to fasten souls upon Christ as their only master. The higher God places them, the more intent are they on being nothing, and passing for nothing, in themselves. Then and thus the Church of God is built up in truth.

2. This Church is God’s field.—This truth controverts all party action in the same way that the view just given, of teachers being God’s servants and co-laborers, controverts it. The Church belongs to God; He it is who tills the field—externally, by the preaching of the Word—internally, by His Spirit. What teachers do is to plant and to water. But the word sown is His seed; all the ability employed in its first planting and after culture is His gift; on Him depends all success. Without His blessing, all planting and all watering, however skilful and careful, amount to nothing. What thus belongs to God is a sacred possession, which must be secured for Him. To wish to introduce another there as co-possessor is a wicked ignoring and contemning of God’s right. Indeed, not to acknowledge this right in its entireness, is virtually to deny it altogether. And such denial takes place when we adopt human teachers as our masters, and follow them, and call ourselves by their names. Then God is robbed of what is His (Rom_2:22).

3. The Church is God’s house.—Christ the foundation-stone, laid by Him.—This is the ground and measure of all sound teaching. The foundation is of Divine worth and of lasting duration. To build anything on this, which is not according to the mind of Christ, which does not carry the impress of His Spirit, which does not spring from Him, but which originates in a foreign spirit, and is the product of human art, or science, or opinion—this is to introduce into God’s building something, which, however highly it may be estimated by man, is in truth worthless. It cannot stand in the day of God’s judicial purgation, however skillfully we may be able to vindicate it on human grounds. When Christ reveals Himself as the One to whom all judgment is given, when, by his majesty as Judge, he sifts out and destroys everything that is not His, then will this be found not proof. The fire of His judgement will annihilate it. Thus will the work of such a person come to naught. He can not be honored as one who has assisted in God’s building. He cannot confront the Lord his judge with joy,—beholding in Him the Rewarder of his fidelity. On the contrary, he will shrink back in sorrow, pained at the thought of having wrought foolishly and to no purpose. Yet with all this, he will still have reason to congratulate himself that he may nevertheless snatch his soul from the flame which devours his unprofitable work. Thus it happens that the person himself may be saved, while all his doings prove worthless. From the common salvation, indeed, he may not be excluded, since he held fast to the foundation; but he forfeits the glory of being accounted a co-worker with God.

[4. Every believer’s work in life awaits a searching ordeal, which is to prove its genuineness. The times of such ordeal are called in Scripture “days of the Lord.” They occur for individuals and for communities all along the course of human history, and are the preludes to a final “day” when the Judge in person shall appear to purge His Church—the living temple—of all that is corrupt, and to set it up complete in the perfection of its beauty. Then will the value of each one’s labor be fully manifest.

But what the specific means of this ordeal will be is a matter of question. Whether it will be by literal fire or by some other more spiritual instrumentality, of which fire is but a symbol, it were hard to determine. The latter seems the more probable in view of the declaration of the Baptist that Christ would “baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” Such a baptism of purification is observable even in this age to some degree; yet it is not by material fire. We see the chaff of false doctrine and hypocritical performances, consuming and passing out of sight, as if perishing in consuming flames, while the golden truths of God, wrought out in the experiences and doings of the true believer, grow brighter, and live on to be a blessing to subsequent ages; and who can tell in what way the precious shall be taken from the vile at the last day? Sufficient to be assured that the ordeal will be applied in the most searching manner, and that it awaits every member of the Church. Judgment is to begin at the House of God.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Rieger: 1. Mischievous zeal. a. How kindled? By making too much of diversities of gifts in ministers. Here one is blamed if the Church be not edified, and there another is extolled, if by his preaching the light begins to burn more brightly, and people consider not that with the one as well as with the other, “the increase” depends on God, and that the inequality of results, so far as it lies with men, may be attributed not so much to the preacher as to the peculiarity of times and circumstances. b. How shall such evils be guarded against? Safety will be found just in proportion as the minister follows the simple word of God, and resolves to be nothing, and seek nothing for himself; just in proportion as he endeavors to improve impartially every thing that God sends, without attempting to determine prematurely to his own injury what the distinctive importance of it is in the sight of God.

2. Co-workers with God.—God has chosen laborers, a. not because he needs assistance, but b. out of his own good pleasure, inasmuch as he desires to work on men through men, so that each person’s love for the truth, and readiness to obey may be more signally manifested.

3. Caution in building.—a. In building each one must take heed not only that he builds on the foundation, but that he uses good material and builds well. He must speak the truth in love, bring sound doctrines into their proper connection, employ suitable aids to discourse, and learn the art of seizing upon the hearts and consciences of men. b. The hearers, too, have need of care rightly to improve their advantages, since much of the preacher’s success depends upon their fidelity in receiving and practising what they hear.

4. Differences in the superstructure, though resting upon the right foundation, are found according as a person a. either adheres to that which is closely akin to the foundation, selecting that which promotes the salvation and edification of souls, b. or prefers what is alien in character, resorting to what pleases men, or promotes his renown, or gratifies a vain curiosity, rather than to what is of solid worth and promotes vital godliness.

5. [Preparation for the final ordeal. If there is to be a day of visitation and trial, how important to be examining our own work in advance and subjecting it to the most rigid tests, lest we be overwhelmed at last with utter dismay at our loss, and have the mortification of discovering too late that we spent our strength for naught, and have only our souls for a prey. 1Co_3:13 ff.].

Starke:—All good comes from God and must be ascribed to him. No boasting. No exaltation of one at the expense of another (10, 11). Not wrong to prefer listening to enlightened and regenerated preachers, rather than to such as are carnally minded. Wrong comes when amid diversified gifts in genuine ministers we cleave to one and contemn the rest. This is to sin not only against those contemned, but also against God. This is to evince a lack of just spiritual taste, and to bring to the sermon, the ear rather than the heart. The preachers office an effective instrumentality for saving souls. The gifts and labors of the ministry diversified yet inseparable. One plays into the hands of the other. Preaching must be followed up. Instrumentalities are needed in the spiritual as much as in the temporal husbandry. Their efficient power, however, comes from God. It lies in the word as it lies in the seed. God works through the word on the heart. (1Co_3:6-7). Be satisfied with planting and watering. Should no crop ripen accept it as God’s will. Let not those more richly endowed and occupying more elevated positions exalt themselves above those holding a lower station. Nor let those below be troubled because they are there. All alike are servants of God (2Co_12:11) (1Co_3:8). Ministers labor with God, not as though associating their power with His, but as having His power working in them, (by the grace granted them of God, 1Co_15:10; 2Co_3:5 ff.); yet according to the degree of culture enjoyed by each one, and also according to the native talents possessed which the Lord sanctifies (Hedinger). He who wishes to have part in the heavenly paradise, must first consent to form a part of God’s earthly farm, and suffer himself to be ploughed, and sowed, and reaped (1Co_3:9). As a house is not built in a day, so neither is the Church. It rises gradually (1Co_3:9). Christ is the foundation, 1. in His Person, as God (Col_1:17), and man, (Act_4:12), and in both his natures; the whole Church (Eph_2:20) and each believer is firm only when resting on Christ. Yea, since believers are “lively stones” (1Pe_2:8) and Christ a living foundation, all the stones must be supposed to derive their life from Him. 2. in doctrine, by means of which we are brought to Him as the sole Life-giver (Joh_14:6), and by faith are justified, sanctified and glorified. They who would build a church for Christ by insisting only upon a reputable conduct, erect a structure without a foundation. It musty therefore, fall of itself (Ver.13). Better erect no superstructure and stop with the foundation, than to go on piling wood and stubble. Better simplicity in Christ with a little knowledge, than much learning without Christ, and a brain full of the fine spun cobwebs of worldly wisdom (Hedinger) (1Co_3:11). Fire tests and destroys. By the cross, by persecutions, by death through the judgment it will be shown what is wheat and what chaff, what is a pithy saying and what the dry lifeless conception of some subtle logician or wrangler of the schools (Hedinger) (1Co_3:13).

Heubner:—The Christian Church is a garden; ministers the gardeners. The analogy may be carried out to the full, both as to labor and dependence (1Co_3:6). God’s Spirit has his times and seasons for operation (1Co_3:7). Ministers, however various in character and office, have one problem to work out, and therefore should be harmonious. Hereafter all will enjoy the work of all (1Co_3:8). What an honor to assist the Almighty! God’s part in the work, however, is the chief thing. If He leaves the field—the human heart, waste, it lies eternally waste. But He does work on us. And how faithfully oftentimes on one single soul! Ministers come in as instruments. They work under Him upon the field, which has to be broken up by the ploughshare of the Law, sown with the seed of the Gospel, warmed by the influences of the Holy Spirit, and fructified by the dew and rain of divine grace (1Co_3:9). An ordeal is coming. Anticipate it. Examine thyself in all that thou thinkest, teachest, preachest. Inquire whether thou art trusting to thyself for vindication at the bar of God (1Co_3:13).

Gossner:—The love we show to ministers should be very different from that we show to Christ, They only proclaim grace; He bestows it. Hence while they are welcomed, He should be beloved. With them it is an honor if they may only preach, but He saves at the cost of His own blood (1Co_3:5.) God is so gracious that although He is the source of all goodness, yet He rewards His servants as if they had done it all (1Co_3:14).

[F. W. Robertson:—The preaching of Christ means simply the preaching of Christ. Recollect what Paul’s Christianity was—how he sums all up. “That I might know Him and the power of His resurrection,” etc. Settle it in your hearts; Christianity is Christ; understand Him, breathe His Spirit, comprehend His mind. Christianity is a life—a Spirit (1Co_3:11). There is a distinction between the truth of work and its sincerity. In that day nothing shall stand but what is true; but the sincere worker, even of untrue work, shall be saved. Sincerity shall save him in that day, but it cannot accredit his work (1Co_3:15).

M. Henry:—The ministry is a very useful and a very gracious institution; and faithful ministers are a great blessing to any people; yet the folly and weakness of people may do much mischief by what is in itself a blessing].

[1Co_3:5. If Paul and Apollos were nothing but servants, and refused the position of party leaders, how much more should this modesty appear in their successors. Who will arrogate the honors in a church which a Paul declines?]

[J. Saurin.11–15:—The different methods of preachers. I. The occasion of these words, as shown in the Epistle. II. The design of the Apostle,—to rectify our judgments in regard to three different classes of preachers; a. such as preach the word of man not only different from, but directly opposite to the word of God (1Co_3:11); b. such as preach the pure word of God free from human admixtures (1Co_3:12); c. such as indeed make the word of God the ground of their preaching, but mix with it the explications and traditions of men (1Co_3:12). III. Explain the metaphors, a. Christ, the foundation, b. Gold, silver, and precious stones—doctrines sublime, excellent, demonstrable, c. Wood, hay and stubble—doctrines less considerable, uncertain, unimportant, d. The revelation by fire—the examination and disclosures of the last judgment, not the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the fire of purgatory. IV. Application—in what manner we are to regard the three classes of ministers].

Footnotes:

[8]1Co_3:5.—The Rec τίς, instead of which Lach. and Meyer read τί [following A. B. Cod. Sin. and others] is sustained by nearly the same preponderance of authorities as declare for the mention of Apollos first. The received text, which puts Paul first, is to be explained from 1Co_3:4; 1Co_3:6. The repetition of ἐστίν is also established by the better authorities.

[9]1Co_3:5.—Before διάκονοι the Rec. which Tisch., 6th ed., follows, has ἀλλ ̓ ἤ. This makes the question continue to ἐπιστεν́σατε. But the best authorities are against this reading, and it is therefore rejected by Lach. Tisch. and others. [For the true rendering see the Exegetical comment.]

[10]1Co_3:10.—The Rec. τέθεικα is retained by Tisch. ed. 6 [also Alf., Words.]. But Lach. following A. B. C. [Cod. Sin.] reads ἔθηκα.

[11]1Co_3:11.—The Rec. Ἰησον͂ς ὁ Χριστός is feebly supported. BetterἸησον͂ς Χριστός. Tisch., ed 6, Χριστός ̓Ιησον͂ς.

[12]1Co_3:12.—τοντο͂ν is rejected by Lach. according to A. B. C. [Cod. Sin.] but is retained by Tisch. in accordance with many weighty authorities [so too by Wordsworth, Alford].

[13]1Co_3:13.—αν̓τό is inserted after πν͂ρ by Lachmann, Meyer, Tisch. [Alford, Wordsworth, Stanley] according to the beet authorities. [A. B. C. Cod. Sin. Origen, Chry. Eus., etc.]

[14]1Co_3:14. μενεῖ, future, is better authenticated [Latin version]. Received μένει [see note].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:5-9 To identify oneself proudly as a follower of a human teacher is wrong because God does the real work of redemption, so he deserves the honor. • We are only God’s servants: Cp. 2 Cor 4:5.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 3:5. Τίς; who?) He returns to what he began with.—διάκονοι, ministers) a lowly expression and on that account appropriate here.—διʼ ὧν, by whom), not in whom. Pelagius correctly observes on this passage, If we, whom He himself has constituted ministers, are nothing, how much more those, who glory in carnal things?—ἑκάστῳ, to every man) i.e. every man as well as they.—ὁ Κύριος, the Lord) The correlative is, διάκονοι, ministers.—ἔδωκεν, has given) in various ways and degrees; see the following verse.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_3:5. Οὖν] Now, igitur, introduces the question as an inference from the state of party-division just referred to, so that the latter is seen to be the presupposition on which the question proceeds. See Klotz, a[480] Devar. p. 719: Such being the state of things, I am forced to propound the question, etc. Rückert thinks that Paul makes his readers ask: But now, if Paul and Apollos are not our heads, what are they then? Paul, however, is in the habit of indicating counter-questions expressly as such (1Co_15:35; Rom_9:19, al[481]).

τί] more significant than τίς; comp 1Co_3:7. The question is, what, as respects their position, are they? Comp Plato, Rep. p. 332 E, 341 D.

διάκονοι] They are servants, and therefore not fitted and destined to be heads of parties; ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ δεσπότης, ἡμεῖς ἐκείνου δοῦλοι, Theodoret.

διʼ ὧν] per quos, non in quos, Bengel. Comp Joh_1:7. They are but causae ministeriales in the hand of God.

ἐπιστεύσ.] as in 1Co_15:2; 1Co_15:11; Rom_13:11.[485]

καί] and that. καὶ … ἔδωκεν is not to be joined with 1Co_3:6 (Mosheim, Markland, a[486] Lys. XII. p. 560 f.), seeing that in 1Co_3:7 no regard is paid to this καὶ … ἔδωκεν.

ἑκάστῳ ὡς] the emphasis is on ἑκάστ., as in 1Co_7:17 and Rom_12:3.

ὁ Κύριος] correlative to the διάκονοι, is here God, not Christ (Theophylact; also Rückert, who appeals to Eph_4:7; Eph_4:11], as what followsin particular 1Co_3:9-10proves. Comp 2Co_6:4.

As respects the ἀλλʼ ἤ of the Textus receptus: nisi (which makes the question continue to the end of the verse; comp Sir_22:12), see on Luk_12:51; 2Co_1:13.

[480] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[481] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[485] Ye have become believers, which is to be understood here in a relative sense, both as respected the beginning and the furtherance of faith. See ver. 6. The becoming a believer comprehends different stages of development. Comp. Joh_2:11; Joh_11:15

[486] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

1Co_3:5-15. Discussion of the position occupied by the two teachers: The two have no independent merit whatsoever (1Co_3:5-7); each will receive his reward according to his own work (1Co_3:8-9); and, more especially, a definitive recompense in the future, according to the quality of his work, awaits the teacher who carries on the building upon the foundation already laid (1Co_3:10-15). The aim this discussion is stated in 1Co_4:6.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 3:5 . The Cor [491] Christians were quarrelling over the claims of their teachers , as though the Church were the creature of men: “What therefore (I am compelled to ask) is Apollos? what, on the other side ( δέ ), is Paul?” τί is more emphatic than τίς ; it breathes disdain ; “as though Apollos or Paul were anything!” (Lt [492] ). Abollos precedes, in continuation of 1Co 3:4 . For both , the question is answered in one word διάκονοι , “non autores fidei vestræ, sed ministri duntaxat” (Er [493] ); cf. 2Co 1:24 ; 2Co 4:5 .: ὁ Κύριος in the next clause is its antithesis. Paul calls himself διάκονος in view of specific service rendered (2Co 3:6 ; 2Co 6:4 , etc.), but δοῦλος in his personal relation to Christ (Gal 1:10 , etc.). “Through whose ministration you believed:” per quos, non in quos (Bg [494] : cf. 1Co 1:15 ). To “believe” is the decisive act which makes a Christian (see 1Co 1:21 ); for the relation of saving faith to the Apostolic testimony, cf. 1Co 15:1-11 ; 2Co 1:18-22 , etc. Some Cor [495] had been converted through Apollos.

[491] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[492] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[493] Erasmus’ In N.T. Annotationes .

[494] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[495] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

The above-named are servants, each with his specific gift: καὶ ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ Κύρ . κ . τ . λ ., “and in each case, (servants in such sort) as the Lord bestowed (on him)”. ἑκάστῳ is emphatically projected before the ὡς ; cf. 1Co 7:17 , Rom 12:3 . The various disposition of Divine gifts in and for the Church is the topic of ch. 12. “The Lord” is surely Christ, as regularly in Paul’s dialect, “through whom are all things” ( 1Co 8:6 , 1Co 12:5 ; Eph 4:7-12 , etc.) the sovereign Dispenser in the House of God; from “Jesus our Lord” (1Co 9:1 ) P. received his own commission; the Apostolic preachers are alike “ministers of Christ” (1Co 4:1 ): so Thp [496] , Rückert, Bt [497] , Gd [498] However, Cm [499] , and most modern exegetes, see God in ὁ Κύριος on account of 1Co 3:6-9 ; but the relation of this ver. to the sequel is just that of the διʼ αὐτοῦ to the ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα of 1Co 8:6 ; cf. note on ἐξ αὐτοῦ , 1Co 1:30 ; and for the general principle, Mat 25:14 ff.

[496] Theophylact, Greek Commentator.

[497] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[498] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[499] John Chrysostom’s Homiliœ († 407).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 5-20.

In order to show what, in a religious organization like that which the gospel creates, is the place of preachers, the apostle takes two examples: Apollos and himself; and he develops what he means to expound regarding the true place of Christian preachers, by applying it more specially to those two principal agents of the Divine work at Corinth.

Vv. 5. “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Ministers by whom ye believed, and that, as the Lord gave to each.”

There is no difficulty, whatever Hofmann may object, in connecting the then with the previous verse, provided we see in this verse the conclusion and consequently the summary of all that goes before from 1Co 1:17 and even from 1Co 1:12 : “Now if, in virtue of the very nature of the gospel (which is a salvation, not a system), its preachers are not what you make them when you say: I am of Paul or of Apollos, what are they then?” Rückert regards this question as an objection raised by an interlocutor of the apostle. But it belongs to the train of his argument; it is the theme of the whole following passage. Besides, Paul indicates such interruptions more precisely (1Co 15:35). — The Greco-Lat. and Byz. MSS. read τίς: who are they (as individuals)? The Alex. read τί: what are they (as to their office)? The second reading is more in keeping with the context. It is no doubt, as Meyer thinks, the personal names which have led to the substitution of the masculine for the neuter.

T. R. places the question relating to Paul before that which concerns Apollos, probably under the influence of the preceding verse and of 1Co 1:13. But the apostle has not here the same reason as formerly for putting himself first. For he is no longer dealing with a personal preference to be condemned; here he begins a matter of doctrine.

The ἀλλ᾿ ἤ, other than, in T. R. is probably a gloss; the answer is more direct: ministers. Such is the great word, that which without any roundabout states the nature of the position: not heads of schools, not founders of religious societies, as having a work of their own, but simple employés labouring on the work of another. This situation of ministers is characterized by two features: “By whom ye have believed.” As Bengel well says: “By whom, and not in whom;” simple agents (διά). The ye believed applies also to Apollos, though the Church was already founded when he arrived at Corinth; for he had increased the number of believers and contributed to sustain the faith of those whom Paul had led to believe.

Καί, and that; and moreover: Neither do those agents who labour on another’s account do anything at their own hand. This is the second feature and, in a sense, the second form of their dependence: as the Lord gave to each. The following verse shows that Paul is here thinking of the kind of work which the Master commits to each labourer, while rendering him fit for it by personal gifts which He confers on him and by the special commission which He gives him.

The ἑκάστῳ, to each, is placed by inversion, as in 1Co 7:17 and elsewhere, before the conjunction, to bring out clearly the distinction between those different tasks. For hereby is completed the idea of dependence: All for a master, as all by this master! This master is denoted by the term ὁ Κύριος, the Lord, in opposition to the preachers who are only διάκονοι, servants. This Lord, according to Chrysostom, de Wette, Meyer, is God; comp. 1Co 3:6. But in general in the New Testament, when the term Κύριος does not belong to an Old Testament quotation, it denotes Jesus Christ. This is particularly the case in the first chapter of this Epistle. And 1Co 3:6 proves nothing in favour of the opposite sense, for the action of Jesus and that of God, though distinct, are not separate. Comp. 1Co 12:5, where the functions of ministers are also put in relation to Christ, as Lord of the Church, and their efficacy in relation to God, as the last source of all power.

3. The true nature of the Christian ministry. 3:5-4:5.

In this passage, Paul expounds:

1. The place of preachers, in relation to the Church (1Co 3:5-20).

2. The place of the Church, in relation to preachers (1Co 3:21-23).

3. He closes, as at the end of the two previous passages (1Co 2:1-5 and 1Co 3:1-4), by applying the truth expounded to his own relation to the Corinthians (1Co 4:1-5).

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_3:5

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

This passage may read, Who then is Paul, and who is Appollos? ministers by whom ye believed, etc. Ministers are mere instruments in the hands of God. The doctrines which they preach are not their own discoveries, and the power which renders their preaching successful is not in them. They are nothing, and therefore it is an entire perversion of their relation to the church to make them the heads of parties. In the oldest MSS, the name of Apollos stands first; and some of them have τί instead of τίς. What then is Apollos, and what is Paul. Both these emendations are adopted by the later editors.

Paul and Apollos, men of the highest office and of the highest gifts, are ministers (διάκονοι) waiters, attendants, servants; so called not from their relation to God merely, as those who serve him, but also because of their relation to the church, whose they are, to whom they belong, and whom they serve.

By whom, i.e. by whose instrumentality, ye are believers, or, became believers. The design of the ministry is to bring men to the obedience of faith, Rom_1:5. It is appointed for that end by God himself, and therefore it is of the greatest importance and value. This Paul does not deny. He admits, and often urges the necessity of the office for the extension and edification of the church, Eph_4:11-16. The people, therefore, are bound to regard the ministry as a divine institution, and to value its services; but preachers are not to be regarded as party leaders, or as lords over Gods heritage.

Even as the Lord gave to every man; literally, to each one, i.e. to each minister. They are all servants, and each has his appointed work to perform, Rom_12:3. The Lord here probably refers to God, though elsewhere the appointment of ministers and the distribution of their various gifts are referred to Christ. Here, however, 1Co_3:9, 46 3:10, the reference is to God. In scripture the same act is sometimes referred to one, and sometimes to another of the persons in the Trinity, because they are one God.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After that he hath sufficiently reprehended ambitious teachers, and their foolish esteemers, now he showeth how the true ministers are to be esteemed, that we attribute not unto them, more or less than we ought to do. Therefore he teacheth us, that they are they by whom we are brought to faith and salvation, but yet as the ministers of God, and such as do nothing of themselves, but God so working by them as it pleaseth him to furnish them with his gifts. Therefore we have not to mark or consider what minister it is that speaketh, but what is spoken: and we must depend only upon him which speaketh by his servants.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Who then--Seeing then that ye severally strive so for your favorite teachers, "Who is (of what intrinsic power and dignity) Paul?" If so great an apostle reasons so of himself, how much more does humility, rather than self-seeking, become ordinary ministers!

Paul . . . Apollos--The oldest manuscripts read in the reverse order, "Apollos," &c. Paul." He puts Apollos before himself in humility.

but ministers, &c.--The oldest manuscripts have no "but." "Who is Apollos . . . Paul? (mere) ministers (a lowly word appropriate here, servants), by whom (not "in whom"; by whose ministrations) ye believed."

as . . . Lord gave to every man--that is, to the several hearers, for it was GOD that "gave the increase" (Co1 3:6).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Ministers by whom ye believed] The different apostles who have preached unto you the word of life are the means which God has used to bring you to the knowledge of Christ. No one of those has either preached or recommended himself; they all preach and recommend Christ Jesus the Lord.

Even as the Lord gave to every man?] Whatever difference there may be in our talents, it is of God's making; and he who knows best what is best for his Church, has distributed both gifts and graces according to his own mind; and, as his judgment is infallible, all these dispensations must be right. Paul, therefore, is as necessary to the perfecting of the Church of Christ as Apollos; and Apollos, as Paul. Both, but with various gifts, point out the same Christ, building on one and the same foundation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Who then is Paul? Here he begins to treat of the estimation in which ministers ought to be held, and the purpose for which they have been set apart by the Lord. He names himself and Apollos rather than others, that he may avoid any appearance of envy. “What else,” says he, “are all ministers appointed for, but to bring you to faith through means of their preaching?” From this Paul infers, that no man ought to be gloried in, for faith allows of no glorying except in Christ alone. Hence those that extol men above measure, strip them of their true dignity. For the grand distinction of them all is, that they are ministers of faith, or, in other words, that they gain disciples to Christ, not to themselves. Now, though he appears in this way to depreciate the dignity of ministers, yet he does not assign it a lower place than it ought to hold. For he says much when he says, that we receive faith through their ministry. Nay farther, the efficacy of external doctrine receives here extraordinary commendation, when it is spoken of as the instrument of the Holy Spirit; and pastors are honored with no common title of distinction, when God is said to make use of them as his ministers, for dispensing the inestimable treasure of faith.

As the Lord hath given to every man. In the Greek words used by Paul the particle of comparison ὡς, as, is placed after ἑκαστῳ — to every man; but the order is inverted. Hence to make the meaning more apparent, I have rendered it “Sicut unicuique,” — “as to every man,” rather than “Unicuique sicut,” — “to every man as.” In some manuscripts, however, the particle και, and, is wanting, and it is all in one connection, thus: Ministers by whom ye believed as the Lord gave to every man If we read it in this way, the latter clause will be added to explain the former, — so that Paul explains what he meant by the term minister: “Those are ministers whose services God makes use of, not as though they could do anything by their own efforts, but in so far as they are guided by his hand, as instruments.” The rendering that I have given, however, is, in my opinion, the more correct one. If we adopt it, the statement will be more complete, for it will consist of two clauses, in this way. In the first place, those are ministers who have devoted their services to Christ, that you might believe in him: farther, they have nothing of their own to pride themselves upon, inasmuch as they do nothing of themselves, and have no power to do anything otherwise than by the gift of God, and every man according to his own measure — which shows, that whatever each individual has, is derived from another. In fine, he unites them all together as by a mutual bond, inasmuch as they require each other’s assistance.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Who then is Paul? and who is Apollos?.... The apostle's name being used, and he a party concerned, could speak the more freely upon this head, and ask what they thought of himself, and other preachers, whether they were more than men? what authority and power they had, whether they looked upon them as the authors of a new religion, or the founders of a new sect, that were to go by their names? and directs them what light to consider them in, how that they were

but ministers by whom ye believed: they were servants to Christ and to his churches, and not lords; they did not assume any dominion over men, or pretend to lord it over God's heritage; there is but one Lord and master, and that is Christ, whom they served, and taught others to obey; they were only instrumental in the hand of God, by whom souls were directed, encouraged, and brought to believe in Christ; as for faith itself, that is the gift of God, the operation of his power, and of which Christ is the author and finisher; they laid no claim to this as their work, or imagined they had any dominion over it; that they could either implant it, or increase it of themselves; but thought it honour enough done them, that it came by their ministry; and that that, and the joy of it, were helped and furthered by their means: the Vulgate Latin version reads, "his ministers whom ye believed"; that is, the ministers of Christ, whom they believed in; not in the ministers, but Christ; the Arabic version renders it, "but two ministers, by whom ye believed"; referring to Paul and Apollos, who are meant:

even as the Lord gave to every man; gifts to minister with, and success to his ministry; making him useful to this and the other man, to bring him to the faith of Christ; all which is owing to the free grace and sovereign good will and pleasure of God.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

Ver. 5. But ministers] Not masters, as Magistri nostri Parisienses. (Praefat. in 1 Sentent.) So the Sorbonists will needs be called, contrary to Jas 3:1. Bacon the Carmelite was called Doctor resolutissimus, most free, because he would endure no May-bes.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who then is Paul ... - See the notes at 1Co 1:13. Why should a party be formed which should be named after Paul? What has he done or taught that should lead to this? What eminence has he that should induce any to call themselves by his name? He is on a level with the other apostles; and all are but ministers, or servants, and have no claim to the honor of giving names to sects and parties. God is the fountain of all your blessings, and whoever may have been the “instrument” by whom you have believed, it is improper to regard them as, in any sense the fountain of your blessings, or to arrange yourselves under their name.

But ministers - Our word minister, as now used, does not express the proper force of this word. We in applying it to preachers of the gospel do not usually advert to the original sense of the word, and the reasons why it was given to them. The original word διάκονοι diakonoi denotes properly “servants” in contradistinction from “masters” Mat 20:26; Mat 23:11; Mar 9:35; Mar 10:43; and denotes those of course who are in an inferior rank of life. They did not have command, or authority, but were subject to the command of others. It is applied to the preachers of the gospel because they are employed in the service of God; because they go at his command, and are subject to his control and direction. They did not have original authority, nor are they the source of influence or power. The idea here is, that they were the mere instruments or servants by whom God conveyed all blessings to the Corinthians; that they as ministers were on a level, were engaged in the same work, and that therefore, it was improper for them to form parties that should be called by their names.

By whom - Through whom δἰ ὥν di' hōn, by whose instrumentality. They were not the original source of faith, but were the mere servants of God in conveying to them the knowledge of that truth by which they were to be saved.

Even as the Lord gave to every man - God is the original source of faith; and it is by his influence that anyone is brought to believe; see the note at Rom 12:3, note at Rom 12:6. There were diversities of gifts among the Corinthian Christians, as there are in all Christians. And it is here implied:

That all that anyone had was to be traced to God as its author; That he is a sovereign, and dispenses his favors to all as he pleases; That since God had conferred those favors, it was improper for the Corinthians to divide themselves into sects and call themselves by the name of their teachers, for all that they had was to be traced to God alone.

This idea, that all the gifts and graces which Christians had, were to be traced to God alone, was one which the apostle Paul often insisted on; and if this idea had been kept before the minds and hearts of all Christians, it would have prevented no small part of the contentions in the church, and the formation of no small part of the sects in the Christian world.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Neither Paul, nor yet Apollos, are authors of faith to you, but only instruments; it is the Lord that giveth to every man a power to believe; or else that latter phrase,

as the Lord gave to every man, may be understood of ministers, whose abilities to the work of the ministry, and success in it, both depend upon God. The sense of the words is this, then: God giveth unto his ministers variety of gifts, and different success; but yet neither one nor the other of them are more than the servants of Christ in their ministry, persons whom God maketh use of to call upon and to prevail with men, to give credit to the doctrine of the gospel, and to receive and accept of Christ. The work is the Lord’s, not theirs.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Ministers—Διακονοι, deacons or servitors. Notes Act_6:1, and 1Ti_3:8-15. We are not leaders of philosophical sects (note on 1Co_1:10, etc.) but simply servants, and servants under divine selection and guidance.

Every man—Rather, and as the Lord gave to each one. That is, ye believed as the Lord gave to each minister the gift of attracting your belief. Paul proceeds to show how God gave different gifts to himself and to Apollos. And this connexion shows that every man, like any man in 1Co_3:12, and every man in 1Co_3:13, refers to teachers, and not, as Alford, to hearers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 5-15. The one foundation and the diverse superstructure.

Who then is Paul? The better reading is what? (a, A, B). The neuter would imply a still greater depreciation of the importance of human ministers. Ministers. The same word as that rendered "deacons" (diakonoi); " ministers of Christ on your behalf". (Col_1:7) Through whom ye believed. Through whom," not in whom" (Bengel).

They were merely the instruments of your conversion. In the second Epistle (2Co_3:3) he calls them "the epistle of Christ ministered by us written with the Spirit of the living God." As the Lord gave to him. The gifts differ according to the grace given. (Rom_12:6)

Vers. 5-10.

St. Paul"s view of the ministry.

After declaring to the Corinthians that they were carnal in their estimates of God"s ministers, the apostle exposes their folly in this particular, by assuring them that he and Apollos were but ministers, or servants, whom God had commissioned to labour in their behalf. Halfway work he never did. To show their error, and prove that it was a worldly sentiment disguised under a fictitious admiration, he sets before them the true idea of the ministry, as an instrument through which the Divine agency of the Holy Ghost operated. No one enjoyed proper sympathy and affectionate regard more than St. Paul, whose heart overflowed into everything that offered a channel for its diffusion. There is nothing about him of Cato, whose virtue runs into the fanaticism of hatred; or of Coriolanus, who looks upon the people as "if he were a god to punish, and not a man of their infirmity." Nevertheless, he guards his tenderness against effeminacy, nor will he accept the slightest tribute to himself at the expense of truth. The hardest thing in our nature to organize is impulse; and yet this man, whose sensibilities were so quick and strong (1Co_4:14, 1Co_4:15; 2Co_2:13) could not tolerate the homage paid him by partisans. And in this spirit he asks, "Who then is Paul?" Only a medium used by the Spirit for their faith, and the medium itself valueless, except so far as the Spirit made it effective. Their very capacity to receive St. Paul"s influence was the gift of God, and would they now turn the gift against the Giver? St. Paul"s figures are not poetic, but practical, and his imagination is always the offspring of the reason; and hence the illustrative image have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase began and ended in a breath, with no delight in it beyond utility. Two conclusions follow: one, the entire dependence upon God for the increase; and the other, the coworking with him who is the only Source of the increase. Neither the sower nor the seed, however good, can secure the yield; this is from the great Husbandman, who apportions the result according to his sovereignty, and under conditions which St. Paul subsequently points out. The workman is rewarded for his labour; he does not create the reward, but receives it from God; nor could reward have any other basis than free and unmerited grace, seeing that we are coworkers with God. If this were not the law of nature and providence, it could not be a law of grace, nor could the figure of seed and sower have any logical force. But, at the same time, the workman under the gospel has a special relation to God, and, in a sense peculiar to the gospel, is a "coworker." This is one of St. Paul"s favourite ideas. (see 2Co_6:1) It is not working, but co-working, that evidences the spirituality of the work and gains the recompense. Among the sources of deception, not one is so insidious as our work. The old man, long a servant of God, looks back upon his labours; his eye is tranquil now; it has grown to be a very honest eye; and nothing in the past surprises him so much as the mixture of self with work that he once thought was unselfish. Early manhood and middle life, if not absolutely incompetent to form a perfect idea of disinterestedness, are yet very prone to fall into a mistake on this subject. No doubt St. John imagined that he was doing Christ"s work when he forbade the man casting out devils in Christ"s Name; and, likely enough, St. Peter put a special value on his courage in the garden, when he drew his sword for the Lord"s defence. If our tastes and self will can be gratified, we are often ready to be enthusiastic workers for what we suppose is the cause of Christ. But God"s rule is unyielding. You must labour according to his will, or the work will be rejected. And just here, his thought in transition to another aspect of the great topic, St. Paul brings into view the co-relationship of ministers and people, God being all in all. "We" and "ye are co-labourers with God, and "ye" are not our husbandry and building, but God"s. What claims he for himself? He is a builder, a master builder, a wise one too; and he is free to assert it, because it is the utterance of humility, and humility is under obligation to speak the exact truth about itself, under valuation being wrong, as well as over valuation. The preface attests the spiritual purity of the avowal: "According to the grace of God which is given unto me," while the elaboration of the figure, taken from architecture, indicates more of the Grecian mode of illustration than the Jewish. L.

Vers. 5-7.

Man"s work and God"s.

Explain the agricultural figure used in ver. 6. In the production of the year"s harvest many different agencies are employed. Each man has work and his time for work, and upon man"s labour the harvest in large measure depends. Yet sun, and wind, and rain, and atmosphere, and soil, are things quite as essential as man"s work, but absolutely out of man"s control. Year by year man ploughs, man plants, man tends, but God gives the increase. So in spiritual things, there is an important sphere for man"s agency, but efficiency and result depend on the cooperating grace and blessing of God.

I MAN NEVER CAN GET BEYOND MINISTRY. That is his duty, and that is his dignity. Even Paul and Apollos can be but "ministers by whom we believe." Man cannot control the plan into which his work may fit, or the issues which his work should reach. Man never can be independent, so as to take up anything and do it completely. He never has entrusted to him more than a piece or part, which, if well done, fits into other pieces and parts, entrusted to other men, and goes to complete the whole purpose that was in God"s thought. And so no honour of results can ever attach to man the agent. Servants only ask praise for faithfulness, the honour of the work belongs wholly to the master whose thought and plan are thus wrought out. This feeling should ensure the sincere humility of all Christian teachers.

II BEHIND MINISTRY IS ALWAYS MASTERSHIP. We serve somebody. "We serve the Lord Christ." But in the case of spiritual work, we may say that in God is more than mastership, there is presidency over and use of more important agencies than man"s, though agencies related to man"s, and working in with his. Spiritual agencies are as much out of our control as sun, or wind, or rain; yet God uses them, with ours, to win the increase. Man can never, by himself, accomplish any moral or spiritual service. Paul and Apollos could do much for the Church at Corinth, but they stand aside, and let men see how gloriously and effectively God works. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ministers - Or servants. By whom ye believed, as the Lord, the Master of those servants, gave to every man.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As if the apostle had said, "Neither Paul nor Apollos were the authors of your faith, but only ministerial helpers of it, as God is pleased to furnish them with gifts, and to give a blessing to their ministerial endeavours." Your ministers give out to you as God gives in to them: and therefore you ought not factiously to boast of their gifts, nor to make parties upon that account.

Learn hence, 1. That the ministry of the word is the instituted mean and instrumental cause which God hath appointed for working faith in the hearts of men.

2. That God has furnished his ministers with variety of gifts and abilities; all which he makes use of in order to that end.

3. That therefore the ministers of Christ ought neither to be deified nor nullified, neither to be cried up nor trodden down; we are not efficient causes, but only instrumental means of faith. Render therefore unto God the glory of the author, and unto ministers the honour of the instrument. Who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers?

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. “And what is Paul, what is Apollos, but ministers through whom ye believed as the Lord gave to each one?” Of course Paul had his admirers as their spiritual father and founder of their church, while Apollos had won them by his wonderful eloquence as well as argumentative power; while still others rallied around Peter, the senior apostle, having sojourned with our Lord during His entire earthly ministry, and having been the honored instrument in the inauguration of the Holy Ghost dispensation on the day of Pentecost.

These parties had not crystallized into sects, neither did they in the apostolic age, because all of the apostles, like Paul, turned the battering-rams of inspired truth against every manifestation of that sort. But, oh! what wonderful development this party spirit has received! confusing the world with six thousand religious denominations. Babylon means confusion. Surely we have it in paradoxical superfluity. It is a shame for a Christian to say: “I am a Methodist,” “I am a Baptist,” “I am a Presbyterian.” If you are and were so born, it is not worth telling, and thus displaying the foibles of your spiritual infancy. Who was John Wesley? Who was John Bunyan? Who was John Knox? While these noble Johns are the reputed founders of the three great denominations above mentioned, yet it is true these paragon saints had something else to do besides building sectarian temples. They lived heroes, and left the world in triumph. Their unsanctified spiritual children have built up these mammoth ecclesiasticisms. Spiritual adults talk about Jesus instead of sectarian parties. Babyhood is all right in its time. The tallest saints have all been babies. But babyhood perpetuated means dwarfhood and death. If a baby does not progress into manhood, it either dies or becomes a pitiful stinted dwarf. That is the trouble with the church at the present day. Christendom is not simply in babyhood, but in dwarfhood. Oh! how I pity the pastors! Instead of commanding an army of giants clothed with shining panoply, roaring the battle shout, and burning for the conflict with the powers of darkness, ready to run the devil out of the country, the poor pastor has on his hands five hundred babies, all wanting the sucking bottle at the same time, bawling and squalling because he can’t wait on them all at once. Quite a lot of them are sick and need constant attention, not a few of them are dead and need coffins and interment; no wonder the devil is everywhere triumphant. He doesn’t care for an army of babies. The New Testament constantly speaks of the two classes, neepioi, i. e., babes, and the telioi, the perfect or adults. Neither of these states denotes the beginning of existence, but only certain notable and salient epochs thereof. Regeneration makes you a neepios, i. e., an infant, and sanctification makes you a telios, i. e., an adult; i. e., it takes you out of spiritual infancy, removing your depravity which locks you tight in spiritual babyhood. Instead of being the ultimatum of all progress, it is the beginning of grand, glorious and rapid progress. Children must be born before they can be treated for hereditary diseases. These diseases must be removed before they can make rapid growth and become stalwart men. Depravity in the Bible is illustrated by leprosy, a hereditary blood trouble which God alone can heal. It takes the blood of Jesus to remove out of the human spirit that hereditary alient and extricate the taint of inbred sin. Infants born of leprous people so know disease in the beginning; but soon the awful destroyer begins to tell its own sad story. Until inbred sin is removed we are held fast in the disabilities of spiritual infancy. The moment this native evil is extirpated we rank as spiritual adults, and enter at once the stadium of illimitable progress, not only in this life, being unencumbered racers for glory, but to sweep on through all eternity. We see here in these plain statements of Paul that spiritual infancy is characterized by envy and strife and party spirit. That is the trouble with Christendom today. Little rival churches are wasting ammunition fighting each other, while the devil is running at large and gobbling up all. That the experience of sanctification destroys party spirit, envy and strife, and unifies the people of God, is everywhere observable. In our great holiness camps people and preachers of all denominations, races and nationalities are heterogeneously mixed up, and it is impossible to discriminate one from another. In the same pulpit we hear the preachers from the babbling sects of Christendom, and it is impossible to discriminate their theological shibboleths. They are all one in Jesus and lost in God!

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What [the neuter of disparagement] then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers [literally, deacons, i. e., servitors-- Act_6:2 ; Col_1:7 ; not leaders-- Luk_22:25-26 ] through whom ["not in whom"--Bengel] ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him . [i. e., gave spiritual gifts ( Rom_12:6 ); and success.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5–9. Who then is Paul and Apollos? Their carnal-mindedness shows itself in choosing and following these human leaders. One said he was a Paulite, etc. Hence he asks, Who is Paul, or Apollos? Only ministers, servants, subordinates, agents through whom they believed on Christ. As the Lord gave to every man. Gave to Paul and Apollos power to lead you to faith.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5–23. CHRISTIAN MINISTERS ONLY LABOURERS OF MORE OR LESS EFFICIENCY, THE SUBSTANTIAL WORK BEING GOD’S

5. τί. So אAB Vetus Lat. Vulg. τίς CDEFG Peshito.

[ἀλλ’ ἤ]. The uncials, almost without exception, Vetus Lat. and Vulg. omit these words before διάκονοι. The Peshito retains them. It is clearly an addition for the sake of elegance and at the expense of force.

5. διάκονοι. Servants, those whose duty it is to wait upon their masters. See Buttmann, Lexilogus, s. v. διάκτορος. It is obvious that in the N. T. the strict ecclesiastical sense of words such as this, μυστήριον, σχίσμα, αἵρεσις and the like, cannot always be pressed. St Paul frequently terms himself a διάκονος. See Eph 3:7; Col 1:23; Col 1:25.

καὶ ἑκάστῳ. This is to be construed with ἔδωκεν. And as the Lord gave to each. Men did not believe in Paul or Apollos, but in Christ. And the capacity for believing in Christ was God’s gift, though the preaching was no doubt the means whereby the gift was conferred.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5-15.] He takes occasion, by example of himself and Apollos, to explain to them the true place and office of Christian teachers: that they are in themselves nothing (vv. 5-8), but work for God (vv. 9, 10), each in his peculiar department (ver. 10; cf. ver. 6), each requiring serious care as to the manner of his working, seeing that a searching trial of its worth will be made in the day of the Lord (vv. 10-15).

5.] οὖν follows on the assumption of the truth of the divided state of things among them: ‘Who then (What then) …, seeing that ye exalt them into heads over you?’ The question is not asked by an objector, but by Paul himself; when an objector is introduced, he notifies it, as ch. 15:35; Rom 9:19.

ἐπιστεύσατε, as in reff.: ye became believers.

ἑκάστῳ ὡς …, = ὡς ἔδωκ. ὁ κύρ. ἑκάστῳ, see reff. It refers, not to the teachers, but to the hearers, see below ὁ αὐξάνων θεός.

In the rec. text, the question is carried on to the end of the verse by ἀλλʼ ἤ, which is good Greek for ‘nisi,’ ‘præterquam,’—so οὐδὲ χρησόμεθα ἐξηγητῇ ἀλλʼ ἢ τῷ πατρῴῳ, Plato, Rep. p. 427, see Hartung, Partikellehre, ii. 44,—but seems to have been inserted from not observing the form of the sentence.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. τί οὖν ἐστίν; A question, Socratic in form, leading up naturally to a definition, and thus checking shallow conceit (v. 18, 4:6) by probing the idea underlying its glib use of words. ‘What is Apollos? i.e. What is his essential office and function? How is he to be ‘accounted of’? (4:1). The two names are mentioned three times, and each time the order is changed, perhaps intentionally, to lead up to ἕν εἰσιν (v. 8). The οὖν follows naturally upon the mention of Apollos in v. 4, but marks also a transition to a question raised by the whole matter under discussion,—a new question, and a question of the first rank.

διάκονοι. The word is used here in its primary and general sense of ‘servant.’* It connotes active service (see note on ὑπηρέτης in 4:1) and is probably from a root akin to διώκω (cf. ‘pursuivant’). See Hort, Christian Ecclesia, pp. 202 f.

διʼ ὧν ἐπιστεύσατε. Per quos, non in quos (Beng.). The aorist points back to the time of their conversion (cf. 15:2; Rom 13:11), but it sums up their whole career as Christians.

καὶ ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ Κύριος ἔδωκεν. As in 7:17; Rom 12:3. The construction is condensed for ἕκαστος ὡς ὁ Κ. ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ. It may be understood either of the measure of faith given by the Lord to each believer, or of the measure of success granted by Him to each διάκονος. Rom 12:3 favours the former, but perhaps ὁ Θεὸς ηὔξανεν favours the latter. We have ἕκαστος five times in vv. 5-13. God deals separately with each individual soul: cf. 4:5, 7:17, 20, 24, 12:7, 11. And whatever success there is to receive a reward (v. 8) is really His; Deus coronat dona sua, non merita nostra (Augustine). It is clear from the frequent mention of Θεός in what follows that ὁ Κύριος means God, and it seems to be in marked antithesis to διάκονοι.

We should read τί in both places (א* A B 17, Vulg. d e f g Aeth. RV.), rather than τίς (C D E F G L P, Syrr. Copt. Arm. AV.). D2 L, Syrr. Arm. Aeth. place Παῦλος first and Ἀπολλῶς second, an obvious correction, to agree with vv. 4 and 6. D E F G L, Vulg. Arm. Copt. Omit ἐστιν after τ.δέ. D2; L P, Syrr. AV. insert ἀλλʼ ἤ before διάκονοι. א A B C D* E F G, Vulg. Copt. Arm. RV. omit.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.