1 Corinthians 3:6
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Study Note
Study Note
Paul's agricultural metaphor — 'I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase' — is designed to deflect the Corinthian factionalism (1:12; 3:4) that attached partisan loyalty to apostolic personalities. The threefold agency (Paul, Apollos, God) distributes the roles while radically subordinating both human contributions to divine sovereignty over growth — a theological move that the following verse makes explicit: 'neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.' The agricultural metaphor connects to Jesus' parables of the Kingdom (the Sower, Mark 4) and to Isaiah 55:10–11's promise that the divine word will not return void but produce fruit. The verse remains important for ecumenical theology's attempts to hold together multiple ministries in a non-competitive framework.
Other Translations
I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was giving growth;
I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave the increase.
Cross References
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the …
God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the …
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and …
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but …
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it …
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles …