1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
Study Note
Study Note
Paul's declaration that believers are 'God's fellow workers' (synergoi theou) — and that the community is simultaneously 'God's field' and 'God's building' — places the apostolic mission firmly within divine initiative rather than human achievement. The agricultural and architectural metaphors bracket the entire passage (3:5-17), framing Apollos and Paul as instruments while God alone causes growth. The phrase has sparked debate over whether believers collaborate with God or simply work within the sphere belonging to God; in context the latter reading better fits Paul's anti-boasting argument throughout chapters 1-4. The verse is foundational for theologies of vocation and ministry that stress human responsibility held within absolute divine sovereignty.
Other Translations
For we are God’s fellow-workers: ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building.
for of God we are fellow-workmen; God's tillage, God's building ye are.
For we are workers with God: you are God's planting, God's building.
Cross References
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard …
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant …
In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it …
Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for …
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your …
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it …