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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:5-17
In 3:6 and 7 Paul speaks of planting and watering: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow; so that neither is the one who plants anything nor the one who waters, but the One Who makes to grow, God.” To plant is to minister life and impart life to someone who is spiritually dead so that this person may become living. When life is imparted to a person dead in sins, he becomes a living plant. Because Paul imparted life to the Corinthians, he was their father in Christ. In 4:15 he says, “For though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” Before Paul came to Corinth, the Corinthians were not plants. On the contrary, they were dead sinners. But when Paul visited them, he imparted life to them, and they became living plants. This is the first aspect of planting.
The second aspect of planting is to bring the living plants into contact with the proper soil and to place them in the soil. To be sure, the right soil in which the plants may grow is the church life. On the one hand, we need to learn how to impart Christ into sinners through the preaching of the gospel in life. When Christ is imparted into others, they become living plants. On the other hand, we need to put these plants into the proper soil, the church life. These two things together constitute the planting.
Planting, watering, and making to grow are all related to the matter of life. This indicates clearly that the believers are God’s farm to grow Christ. The ministers of Christ can plant and water. God is the only One who can make to grow. The Corinthian believers overestimated the planter and the waterer, but neglected the One who makes to grow. Hence, they did not grow in Christ as their life.
The Corinthian believers, under the influence of Greek philosophical wisdom, paid too much attention to knowledge and neglected life. In this chapter Paul’s aim is to turn their attention from knowledge to life, pointing out to them that he is a feeder and a planter, Apollos is a waterer, and God is the Giver of growth. In 4:15 he even tells them that he is their spiritual father, who begot them in Christ through the gospel. From the view of life, the divine view, they are God’s farm to grow Christ. This is totally a matter of life, a matter which is utterly missed by believers who are dominated by their soulish, natural life under the influence of their natural wisdom.
In verse 7 Paul says, “So that neither is the one who plants anything nor the one who waters, but the One Who makes to grow, God.” As far as the growth in life is concerned, all the ministers of Christ, whether a planter or a waterer, are nothing, and God is everything. We must turn our eyes from them to God alone. This delivers us from the divisiveness which results from appreciating one minister of Christ above another.
In the church life we must learn not only how to plant, but also how to water. Actually, watering others is very easy. Suppose a saint comes to you with a problem. Do not try to solve this person’s problem. Actually, we are not able to solve others’ problems. Do you not have many problems of your own which are not yet solved? Since you have not solved your own problems, how do you expect to help others with their problems? Thus, in watering the saints, we should forget about trying to solve their problems. According to my experience, the best way to water others is to pray-read a few verses with them. For example, a brother may present a problem concerning his job or family life. Instead of touching the problem, pray-read the Word with him. If you do this, both of you will be watered. You will know that the one who came to you has been watered by the fact that you yourself have been watered. Your consciousness of having been watered proves that you have watered him.
In our contact with others a great deal of time is wasted by vain talk. Problems cannot be solved by talking. Even if you are able to solve someone’s problem, this will not supply him with life or water him. Instead, it will kill him. I repeat, we should not try to solve the problems of others. The more we try to solve problems, the more problems there will be, and the more others will be killed by our efforts.
Instead of becoming involved with problems, we should be simple in our contact with those who come to us for fellowship. God is our Father, and eventually He will take care of all the problems. The crucial matter is the watering. We have pointed out that by pray-reading with another saint, we can water him. Sometimes it is sufficient simply to pray with that one. By praying the other person is brought to the Lord, and we are brought into the Lord in a deeper way. As a result, both parties are watered. This is a very practical way of watering the saints in the church life.
In verses 6 and 7 Paul speaks not only of planting and watering, but also of growing. Paul emphasizes the fact that it is God alone who makes to grow. The growth on God’s farm produces the materials for God’s building.
Since it is God who makes to grow, we must leave the matter of growth to Him. Our responsibility is to plant and water, not to help others grow. If we try to help others grow, we overstep our responsibility. It is beyond our capacity to cause the saints to grow. None of us can produce growth in other believers. Not even Paul was able to make the saints grow. He was very clear that we can plant and water, but only God gives the growth.
While we are planting and watering, we need to have the assurance with faith that God will make to grow. We need to believe that God is here and that He will cause whatever we plant and water to grow. If we have this assurance, we shall not try to help others grow.
If we try to help other plants grow, we may damage them and pluck them up. I once read of a little boy who was bothered by the fact that the grass near his house was not growing very well. Wanting to help the grass grow, he plucked up many blades of grass. As a result, instead of growing, the grass died. What this little boy did to the grass illustrates what some saints are doing in the church life today. The elders in some churches are not planting and watering; instead, in their efforts to help the saints to grow, they are plucking them up. But the more the elders help in this way, the less the plants grow.
It is important for us to have the full assurance that when we plant and water, God will make to grow. Thus, after planting and watering, we should be at rest and not try to help others grow. Growth is not of us; it is altogether of God. Through the church life and our watering, God will supply the plants and enable them to grow. As long as the saints remain in the church life and are watered, God will make them grow.
The church is not only God’s farm, but also God’s building. As we grow on the farm, we produce precious materials for the building of God’s habitation on earth. God’s eternal goal is the building, the temple built with precious materials on Christ as the unique foundation. The work of building is accomplished not only through those such as Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, but also through every member of the Body, as revealed in Ephesians 4:16.
Concerning the building, Paul says in 3:11 and 12, “For other foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” The foundation of the building is unique, but the building may differ due to different builders with different materials. All the Corinthian believers had accepted Christ as the foundation. However, some Jewish believers among them attempted to build the church with their Judaistic attainments, and some Greek believers attempted to use their philosophical wisdom. They were not like the apostles, who built with their excellent knowledge and rich experiences of Christ. The intention of the apostle in this Epistle is to warn the believers not to build the church with the things of their natural background. They must learn to build with Christ, both in objective knowledge and subjective experience, as Paul did.
We have pointed out that in verse 16 a temple refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, but in verse 17 the temple refers to all the believers universally. The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expressions in various localities on earth. Each expression is a temple of God in that locality. Furthermore, the temple in verse 16 is the explanation of God’s building in verse 9. God’s building is the sanctuary of God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells.
The philosophical Greek believers at Corinth did not have the proper realization that God’s eternal goal is to have a temple. Instead of caring for this goal, they cared for their philosophy, culture, and wisdom. They also cared for their personal interests, preferences, choices, and tastes. This is proved by the fact that in 1:12 Paul points out that “each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.” This indicates that for some, Paul was their preference; for others, Apollos was their choice; and for still others, Cephas was according to their taste. The believers at Corinth cared for various personal and individual matters, but neglected God’s building as His eternal goal.
In chapter three Paul was endeavoring to show the Corinthians that God’s eternal goal is the building. This means that God does not want the believers to be individualistic. He definitely does not want the saints to have personal, individualistic preferences for Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or even for a limited Christ. God cares for the building, and He desires that all the believers in a locality be built together as His temple. Moreover, if we would be built up together to become God’s dwelling place, we need to grow, and in order to grow, we need the watering. Thus, the planting, the watering, and the growth are all for God’s goal, the building.
Paul had a clear understanding of God’s goal. He also realized clearly that the Greek believers at Corinth were too individualistic in their concept and practice. It is not God’s goal merely to have many individual believers. His goal is to have a farm that will grow materials for the building up of the holy temple as His dwelling place.
We need to consider the background of this Epistle to understand Paul’s use of the expressions God’s farm and God’s building. The Greek believers at Corinth did not care for the corporate church life, but cared instead for their personal and individual interests. This produced division. Whenever there are divisions there cannot be the temple of God. Therefore, after covering certain crucial matters in chapters one and two, Paul indicates in chapter three that the Corinthians are completely wrong in caring for their individual interests and not for God’s temple, God’s corporate building.
In 3:17 Paul specifically points out that God’s building, the temple, is holy. It is not secular, worldly, or Greek. Actually, the word holy in this verse stands in contrast to anything Greek. God’s holy temple is separate from anything human, secular, and worldly; in particular, it is separated from anything Greek.
If we consider the context of the first three chapters of this book, we shall realize that Paul’s intention was to impress the believers at Corinth that God’s building is separate from anything Greek. The Greek believers still valued their wisdom, philosophy, culture, and way of living. They regarded Greek culture as the best. But Paul says that God’s temple is holy, separate from anything worldly and particularly from anything Greek.
In verse 16 Paul emphasizes the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in the believers as His corporate temple. But as long as the believers at Corinth were individualistic and as long as they cared for their personal interests, especially for their Greek philosophy and way of living, they were neither holy nor corporate. Then they could not experience very much of the indwelling of the Spirit or enjoy the Spirit’s indwelling. If we do not have a proper corporate church life, we cannot have much enjoyment of the indwelling of the Spirit. Yes, the Spirit dwells within our spirit. But the Spirit’s indwelling in the church corporately is much richer and is more prevailing than His indwelling in the believers individually.
If we consider all these matters, we shall realize that Paul’s concept is deep. His thought is to convince all the individualistic Greek believers that they must care for the corporate church life and not for their individualistic interests, preferences, and choices.
We know from 3:11 that Christ is the unique foundation for the church as God’s building. No one can lay any other foundation. Nevertheless, certain of the believers at Corinth were taking Paul, Apollos, or Cephas as their foundation. When they were declaring that they were of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, they were saying that these were their foundation and standing. In 1:13 Paul asks them, “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?” By asking these questions Paul was pointing out that he is not the unique foundation. On the contrary, Paul says in 3:10, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation.” The unique foundation is not Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or anyone other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The problem among the Corinthians is that they were trying to lay many other foundations. We see in chapter fourteen that for some, speaking in tongues was a foundation. This indicates that it is possible for a particular practice to become a foundation. Therefore, Paul wanted the believers at Corinth to realize that he had already laid the unique foundation, Jesus Christ.
First Corinthians 3:10 says, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, but another builds upon it. But let each one take heed how he builds upon it.” This verse indicates that the church is built not only by ministers of Christ such as Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, but by every member of the Body. Every one of us must be a builder.
We should realize not only that we are builders, but also that we must take heed how we build upon Christ as the unique foundation. As we shall see, the church, the house of God, must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones, materials produced from Christ’s growing in us. Yet, as verse 12 indicates, there is the possibility that we may build with wood, grass, and stubble, materials produced by us in the flesh and in the natural life. Hence, each of us, every member of the Body, must take heed how we build; that is, we must take heed with what material we build. We must build with gold, silver, and precious stones, not with wood, grass, and stubble.
