1 Corinthians 3:
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
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.
The believers in the church at Corinth were contentious and divided because they were following men. It was pointed out in 1 Cor 1:12 every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. In 3:3, the same error is pointed out and Paul states that is carnal behavior ... living in light of who the believer was in Adam as opposed to who the believer is in Christ.
In 1 Cor 3, the church is taught that it is God Who works through His people ... that His people are His ministers. The word "ministers" is translated from the Greek word diakonos which means "those through whom God carries on his administration on earth" (Thayer's Greek Lexicon).
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.
"Laborers together with God" ... Paul and Apollos worked together with God ! I love that we (believers) are labourers together with God ... that God works in and through the believer ...
"ye are God's husbandry" ... God cares for and cultivates His people ...
"ye are God's building" ... the body of believers (the church) is God's dwelling-place. Under Old Covenant, God's presence was in the Holy of Holies ... behind a curtain into which only one priest could enter one day per year ... under New Covenant, God's presence is within each and every born again one. Where the born again one is, God is there ... and get a group of born again believers together ... wow!
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The believer is to take heed in how he or she is building upon the Foundation ... the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be a reckoning at some point in the future. Some will suffer loss ... some will receive a reward ...
The whole point of the words neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth is that we are not to follow men. We are to follow the Lord Jesus Christ ... and when we do, there will be fellowship one with another ... and it is God Who gives the increase.
To the extent we follow men, there will be contentions and divisions ... these things ought not so to be.
.
1
