God Gives the Increase:
1 Corinthians 3:4-9
1 Corinthians 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
St. Paul’s mission to the Gentiles placed him in danger many times, even though he did not run away from God’s presence. The apostolic letters to the Corinthians leave little doubt that he encountered a host of major problems—from childish strife to gross immorality and desecration of the Lord’s Supper. This particular passage deals with the party spirit dividing the congregation, 1 Corinthians 1:11. Some identified with Paul, some with Apollos.[26] It should not surprise us that today conflict in the congregation is caused by exactly the same problem—an emphasis upon the person and a lack of trust in the efficacy of the Word.
Paul first attacked the problem of strife by negating the effectiveness of the individual. The ministry does not derive its divine power from personalities but from the Word. Our temptation to rely upon salvation by works, in spite of our confession, is revealed by the tendency to compare and contrast men when they are only instruments of God’s power. One cannot even compare the type of word, as Paul stated:
I have planted, Apollos watered;
but God gave the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6
Many people find their gardening efforts thwarted because the seeds they planted did not germinate well. The proper amount of moisture needed for germination is taken for granted in America, unlike in Paul’s world. [27] We do not plant the last of our seed (Psalm 126:5) with tears. But where rain is rare and food is precious, the watering of the sown crop is essential. Paul’s comparison reminds us that planting and watering are both necessary, yet only God can give the growth.
J-230
"On what has now been sown
Thy blessing, Lord, bestow;
The power is Thine alone
To make it spring and grow.
Do Thou in grace the harvest raise,
And Thou alone shalt have the praise."
John Newton, 1779, cento, alt., "On What Has Now Been Sown," The Lutheran Hymnal, #46, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.
J-231
“The work in Corinth was that of obtaining a spiritual crop. To Paul’s lot it fell to break the ground and to plant the seed of the Word; God caused the seed to strike root and to spring up. Then came Apollos and tended the young plants by developing the life of faith, by confirming the believers in their Christian knowledge; God’s merciful power accompanied his efforts and caused the plants to bring forth fruit. It follows, then, that neither he that plants nor he that irrigates is anything; they are mere instruments in the hand of God, the Lord of the harvest, who alone gives the growth, and to whom, therefore, all glory must be given: He is everything, He alone remains, all others are excluded.”
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, II, p. 99.
The negation of the person is repeated in 1 Corinthians 3:7. Neither the sower nor the one who waters is anything. The only One Who causes growth is God. Paul’s inspired argument destroys the foundation for any strife about the abilities and labor of various people. The missionary who begins a congregation is nothing. The man who helps to germinate the work of the congregation is nothing. God causes the increase while we go through the motions.
J-232
"But ye have not the power to create faith. For there is a great difference between planting and giving the growth; as Paul says to the Corinthians: 'I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.' 1 Corinthians 3:6"
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 362.
J-233
“The two aorists: ‘I planted,’ ‘he watered,’ point into the past—the men did their little work and are gone. So it is still: each performs his little instrumental task and leaves. When he is describing God’s activity Paul writes the imperfect hu;xanen (gave the increase) which refers to an act begun in the past but going on and on indefinitely, for the tense is open and sets no terminus. Paul and Apollos have left Corinth, God is still there and causing the growing. Why quarrel about men when the Corinthians should unite in praising God?”
R. C. H. Lenski, Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1947, p. 128.
Those who doubt the power of the Word alone are exasperated by this explanation, saying, “If God can do everything and does everything, where do we fit in? Why even try?” In a world governed by Law, it does seem strange to say that God does everything, but nothing is more liberating than realizing we only need to be faithful. Pharisaical weakness makes us want to glory in our own deeds and not in God’s power, so we are inclined to adulterate the Gospel, sell it as a commodity, cheapen it, or make it appealing as a way of proving our worth.[28] The antidote is to boast about God rather than ourselves:
KJV 1 Corinthians 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:24)
J-234
"And it is of advantage, so far as can be done, to adorn the ministry of the Word with every kind of praise against fanatical men, who dream that the Holy Ghost is given not through the Word, but because of certain preparations of their own, if they sit unoccupied and silent in obscure places, waiting for illumination, as the Enthusiasts formerly taught, and the Anabaptists now teach."
Article XIII, The Sacraments, 13, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 311. Tappert, p. 213. Heiser, p. 95.
Verse nine concludes the argument with an invocation of the Triune God. Paul holds the distinct office of the preaching ministry, making him, with all of his faults, a co-worker with God. He would have been shocked beyond measure to have all the members considered ministers too. They, with all of their faults, are the cultivation of God and the building of God. The three-fold expression emphasizes the preacher employing the power of God’s Word while the congregation enjoys the growing and the edifying accomplished by the Holy Spirit working through the Word alone. Thus we have a simple, yet profound way to remember the faithful work of the Christian Church:
The Word and Sacraments – Of God
The Growth of Souls – Of God
The Strengthening of the Congregation – Of God.
>
