Lessons #77 and 78
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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God’s supremacy over His workers (1 Cor 3:5-9)
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
An aftermath of the fall that is not easily recognized is that of the tendency to worship heroes. We are saying that because of the fall, humans have the tendency to worship others that they admire because of one thing or another that the individuals do. We often admire those who do things we cannot. This is one reason people are drawn to politicians who show courage rightly or wrongly. When a politician says or does something one wishes to say or do but unable for any reason then there is the tendency to admire that kind of politician. This admiration leads to occult mentality regarding the politician in view to the level that people almost give the person a level of devotion that should only be given to God. This is one reason people fight each other if their favorite politicians are criticized by those who do not admire them. The occult mentality of supporters of politicians is such that their supporters fail to admit any wrongdoing on the part of their favorite politicians, as if they are perfect. To have this kind of mentality is to worship a person. Unfortunately, what I have described also apply to Christians in that they have favorite preachers or teachers of God’s word to whom they are devoted. It is not that it is wrong to have such individuals but that such devotion could lead to worship of them without those involved being aware. Take for example, there was a case that was brought to my attention many years ago where a young preacher showed to some believers who have an unquestionable devotion to a good bible teacher that there was something wrong about what this teacher taught based on other parts of the Scripture that were not properly explained or ignored. When these believers were informed of this, although they did not dispute what the young preacher said but they were reluctant to change their view saying that they hate to believe that their favorite teacher was wrong. That is the kind of thing that, in my judgment, is tantamount to worship of a human by others. It is proper to respect those who teach us the word of God as the Scripture demands of us, but we should never worship them as if they are God.
It is our assertion that the tendency to worship others who have impact in our lives is not only confined to unbelievers but also believers. It is because of this truth that the Holy Spirit directed Apostle Paul to pen down this section of 1 Corinthians we are about to study. You see, the Corinthians were attracted in particularly to the personality of two individuals that have preached or taught them the word of God, Paul and Apollos. Because of their attraction towards them, they developed a view of these men at the expense of focusing on God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit directed the apostle to state a central message to the Corinthians in the passage we are about to study. This central message is that the Corinthians should understand that God is One that is supremely more important in His divine work relating to them than Paul and Apollos. We say this because there were three major facts the apostle stated the Corinthians should understand to help them have the healthy attitude or view with respect to these men. A first fact is that there is a definite relationship between Apollos and Paul in their relation to God’s work. The details involved in this major fact are given in verse 5, 6 and 8. The second major fact is that God’s role in His divine work involves His human agents. The details of this second fact are given verse 7. The third major fact is that there is a unique relationship between God Apollos and Paul and between God and the Corinthians. The details of this fact are given in verse 9. We will examine the details of these three major facts as we consider our passage of study.
The central message of the apostle to the Corinthians enables us to derive the message of the Holy Spirit to us believers who live at this time. The message we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to communicate to you is a responsibility that you should undertake. It is this: Understand that God is infinitely superior to all ministers of His word that He uses in His divine work regarding you. The message is not intended to say that the ministers are not important in God’s work but that we should have proper attitude towards them. We should respect those God uses to advance His word, as that is commanded severally in the Scripture. The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13:
12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.
The human author of Hebrews issues similar command in Hebrews 13:17:
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Consequently, the message we have stated is intended to cause us to have proper perspective of those who teach or preach the word of God in relationship to God. Anyway, we will expound on the message by focusing on three responsibilities that you have as derived from our passage. Because of the way we have arranged these responsibilities, we will not follow strictly the verse ordering of our passage but the verse we consider is to be determined by the responsibility in view. Nonetheless, we will, of course, cover all the verses by the time we finish our study of this section of 1 Corinthians.
A first responsibility you have as a believer, as derived from this passage regarding its message, is that you should understand the position of pastors and teachers of the word to God in their roles in divine work. This responsibility requires you understand four facts Apostle Paul stated about such men in the passage we are studying. But before we get to these facts, we should note that the apostle was emphatic in conveying that there was a misunderstanding on the part of the Corinthians regarding Apollos and himself.
The emphatic manner of conveying the misunderstanding of himself and Apollos by the Corinthians is given by the phrase in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 3:5 after all. The phrase after all is really the way the translators of the NIV and other English versions translated a Greek conjunction (oun) that has different usages in the Greek. It may be used as a marker of result denoting that what it introduces is the result of or an inference from what precedes, leading to the translation “therefore, consequently, then.” It may be used as a marker of continuation of a narrative and so may be translated “so, now, then.” Under this usage, it may be used to indicate a transition to something new. Another usage is as a marker of emphasis with the meaning “indeed, certainly, really, to be sure.” Many of our English versions interpreted it here as a marker of result, implying that the questions of the apostle that follow are those that result from what he charged the Corinthians regarding their partisanship centered around Apollos and himself. This interpretation is true and included in the apostle’s use of the Greek conjunction. Nonetheless, the apostle used the Greek conjunction not only to indicate result but that what he stated is emphatic. It is to indicate emphasis that the NET used the word “really” in their translation of the conjunction. Of course, the use of the phrase after all of the NIV also conveys sense of emphasis. The point is that the apostle was being emphatic as he states what results or the conclusion that was inevitable based on the charge of partisanship among the Corinthians.
It is our assertion that the apostle used the conjunction to emphasize his rhetorical questions What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Some English versions following some Greek manuscripts used the interrogative pronoun “who?” to begin the rhetorical questions. The implication of such translation is that the focus is on the personality of the two men in view. However, majority of our English versions used the interrogative pronoun “what?” since that makes more sense in the context because of the word “anything” that appears in verse 7. The use of the word “what” implies that the focus is on the significance or the function of these men instead of their personality. This notwithstanding, these questions were indeed used to get the Corinthians to recognize that the two men in question are not as important as God Himself in their function in the ministry, although we cannot discount that the apostle would have also had in mind the personality of these two persons. In effect, the apostle wanted the Corinthians from the start to recognize the supremacy of God in the outworking of His divine plan. He uses human agents but that does not mean that those He uses are as important as Himself. Anyway, it is because of the mention of Apollos and Paul that we use the word “ministers” in conveying the overall message of the passage since both men are involved in ministry of the word of God. The apostle’s questions, as we have indicated, are rhetorical in the sense that he did not expect the Corinthians to answer them since he did not pause long enough for them to answer the question before he answered them. His answer and statements that follow are the basis for stating that there are four facts believers should understand regarding ministers of God’s word in the passage we are considering. There is a sense that these four facts constitute advance doctrines.
A first fact is that ministers of God’s word are His agents to bring the message of salvation. This fact is conveyed to the Corinthians in that the apostle describe himself and Apollos as servants in the phrase of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 3:5 Only servants. The translators of the NIV conveyed that Paul and Apollos were not that important when compared to God since they used the word “only” that is not found in the Greek. The apostle stated his answer to the rhetorical questions he posed with the word servants. So, what does the apostle meant to say when he used the word servants? To answer the question, requires examination of the Greek word used.
The word “servants” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (diakonos) that means one who serves but with various nuances. It is used to describe a waiter at a table as it is used for the attendants during marriage ceremony in which the Lord Jesus turned water into wine, as we read in John 2:9:
and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside.
The word may mean “servant of a master” as it is used to describe the disciples or Christians as servants of Christ in John 12:26:
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
The word is used to describe governmental authorities as God’s agents in Romans 13:4:
For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
It is in the sense of God’s special agent that the word is used to describe Christ whose service benefits the Jews and others in Romans 15:8:
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.
The word may mean “minister” to refer to those who are involved in the service of the word of God, that is, those who preach or teach the word of God. Thus, the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe Epaphras in Colossians 1:7:
You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
It is in the same sense that the apostle used our Greek word in his encouragement to Timothy to teach the truth he had passed to him in 1 Timothy 4:6:
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
The word is used to describe a minister that was an assistant or aide to an overseer of a church that is given the translation “deacon” in 1 Timothy 3:8:
Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—
This being the case, the apostle wanted the Corinthians to understand that he and Apollos were ministers of the word of God and so not as important as God Himself.
We are confident of our interpretation that our Greek word means “minister” of the word of God because of what the apostle said concerning his and Apollos’ role as agents of preaching the gospel of salvation to the Corinthians. That they were God’s agents for the salvation of the Corinthians is conveyed in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 3:5 through whom you came to believe.
The word “believe” is translated from a Greek word (pisteuō) that may mean “to entrust” someone or something to another, as it is used of Jesus in John 2:24:
But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.
The word may mean “to be confident about” as in Romans 14:2:
One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
The sentence One man’s faith allows him to eat everything is more literally One believes he may eat all things. However, the standard Greek English lexicon of Bauer, Danker, Arndt and Gingrich, suggests it may be translated the one is confident about eating anything. The word may have the sense of “to think or consider possible.” This seems to be the sense of the word in reporting the apprehension of the early church regarding the conversion of Paul, as stated in Acts 9:26:
When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.
The verbal phrase not believing here has the sense of not considering the possibility of Paul being a disciple. The word may mean “to believe” in the sense of to consider something to be true and so worthy of one’s trust. The word may mean “to believe in, trust”, that is, to entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence with the implication of total commitment to the one who is trusted. In the Scripture, God or Christ is the object of this type of trust. This is the case with the description of the salvation of the Philippian Jailer in Acts 16:34:
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
In some cases, the object of this belief or trust is not specified but the context helps to understand its object. Take for example, Acts 11:21:
The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
The context indicates that it is in the Lord Jesus Christ that the people believed that, of course, led to their salvation. It is the sense of “to believe in” that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:5.
It is true the object of belief is not stated in our passage, but it is certainly Jesus Christ that Apostle Paul and Apollos preached. Thus, when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:5 you came to believe of the NIV or literally you believed, he meant they trusted in Christ and so were saved. By the way, the fact the apostle used an aorist tense in the Greek does not mean that the Corinthians believed once and stopped. No! He was thinking of the time they came to faith in Christ and, of course, they continued to believe in Him. That aside, the concern of the apostle is that when they exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ they were saved. That the apostle meant the Corinthians believed to be saved can be inferred also from what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:21:
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Anyway, the sentence you came to believe in 1 Corinthians 3:5 implies that the act of believing here is one that has been a fact that occurred in the past but not ended in the sense that they stopped believing after that initial faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyway, an implication of that initial belief is that the salvation of the Corinthians is a settled matter. In any event, the first fact believers should understand to maintain proper perspective about those who minister God’s word is that ministers are God’s agents to bring the message of salvation. They are not as important as God Himself in the overall matter of salvation. Therefore, they should not be idolized but respected as God’s agents.
A second fact believers should understand to maintain proper perspective about those who minister God’s word is that each minister of the word has received from the Lord specific assignment to advance God’s word. This specific assignment would imply varying degree in the effectiveness of spiritual gifts. Understanding this fact, should help believers to avoid idolizing ministers of the word of God or comparing them to each other as such. You see, believers, for example, are fond of comparing one pastor to another in terms of effectiveness or impact. What is important is for each pastor to be faithful to his assignment in keeping with the degree of his spiritual gift since it is the Lord that determines the number of spiritual gifts and the degree of their effectiveness regarding each believer as implied in Ephesians 4:7:
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
The clause as Christ apportioned it is more literally according to the measure of gift of the Christ.
The second fact we stated has two elements of, assignment and advancement of God’s word. The element of assignment in God’s work or service is conveyed in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 3:5 as the Lord has assigned to each his task. Literally, the Greek reads and to each as the Lord gave. By strict interpretation, the word each refers to Paul and Apollos but in application it refers to all ministers of the word of God. As the literal translation reads, it does not tell what the Lord gave, and so the clause must be interpreted to convey what it is that the Lord gave to each. To do this, we need to examine the word “gave” as to understand how it applies in our passage. But before we do, we should understand who the apostle meant in his use of the word Lord.
Our word “Lord” is translated from a Greek noun (kyrios) that may mean “owner” as it is used to describe the owners of the colt that Jesus requested to be brought to Him for His entrance into Jerusalem, as recorded in Luke 19:33:
As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
The word may mean “lord, master” as a person in a position of authority. It is in this sense that the word is used to describe Abraham in relationship to the wife Sarah as one with authority hence Sarah describe Abraham as her master meaning that he has authority over her in 1 Peter 3:6:
like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
The word may be used to describe God in a general sense without distinction to the person of the Godhead in view as in Matthew 4:7:
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
It is in the sense of God the Father that the word is used in Matthew 11:25:
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
The word may refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. This may be the case in some quotations from the OT Scripture. Take for example, in Jesus’ quotation from Psalms in the question He posed to His audience as He taught, as reported in Mark 12:36–37:
36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ 37 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.
The word “Lord” is applied to Jesus even when there is no quotation from the OT. Thus, the word was applied to Him when He had ordered His disciples to get Him the colt He would ride into Jerusalem in Luke 19:31:
If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
The word is applied more often to the Lord Jesus Christ in the epistles of Apostle Paul , as for example, in Ephesians 3:11:
according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Apostle Paul when he is not quoting from the OT uses the word often to describe Jesus Christ although in some passages it is difficult to be certain whether he means Jesus Christ or God in a general sense, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:6:
and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:5, it is used as a reference to Jesus Christ. This makes sense since we have noted previously in Ephesians 4:7 that the Lord Jesus determines the number of spiritual gifts and the degree of their effectiveness regarding each believer. This brings us to examine the word “gave” used in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 3:5.
The word “gave” in the literal translation or the expression “assigned... task” of the NIV is translated from a Greek verb (didōmi) that basically means “to give” but with different nuances. The word may mean “to give” in the sense of “to produce” when it is used with crops as it is used in the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:8:
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
The clause where it produced a crop is literally and were giving fruit. The word when used with money may mean “to give” in the sense of “to deposit, put, place” in a bank as in Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19:23:
Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
The verbal phrase put my money on deposit is more literally give my money to the bank. The word may mean “to grant, allow, permit.” It is in the sense of “to grant” that the word is used in John 5:26:
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
But it is in the sense of “to allow, permit” that the word is used in Acts 2:27:
because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
The verbal phrase let your Holy One see decay is translated in the Lexham English Bible as permit your Holy One to experience decay, but the literal Greek reads give the Holy One to see decay. The word may mean “to cast” when used in connection of lots used to determine God’s will in the Scripture as it is used to determine who was to replace Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:26:
Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
The sentence they cast lots of the NIV is literally they gave their lots. The word may mean “to give, donate” as an expression of generosity, as in Acts 20:35:
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
The sentence It is more blessed to give than to receive which Apostle Paul quoted is not found in any of the gospels, but it is certainly from the Lord which the apostle gathered from another source since not everything Jesus said or did is recorded in the gospels, as indicated in John 20:30–31:
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Of course, what the Lord meant in the sentence It is more blessed to give than to receive is that when you give, you feel happier than when you receive from others. This aside. Our Greek word may mean “to give” in the sense of to put something or someone in care of another, that is, “to entrust.” It is in this sense that the word is used in the promise of the Lord Jesus not to lose anyone that the Father had entrusted into His care in John 6:39:
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
The word may mean “to leave” as it is used in the instruction of Romans 12:19:
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
The expression leave room for God’s wrath is literally give place to God’s wrath. The word may mean “to give” in the sense of to dedicate oneself for some purpose or cause, that is, “to give up, sacrifice” as it is used for the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sins in Galatians 1:4:
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
The sense of the Greek word meaning “to sacrifice” is reflected in the NEB’s translation of this passage in Galatians since they translated the clause who gave himself for our sins of the NIV as who sacrificed himself for our sins. The word may mean “to appoint” to special responsibility as it is used to indicated that Jesus Christ is appointed the head of the church in Ephesians 1:22:
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
The verbal phrase appointed him is literally gave him. It is in this sense of “to appoint” that Apostle Paul used it to describe the various offices in the church in Ephesians 4:11:
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
We have considered the range of meanings of the Greek word translated “gave” in our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:5, so the question is in what sense is it used in our passage? It is in the sense of “to entrust”, that is, to put something or someone in care of another. This, of course, does not tell us the thing that is entrusted to Paul and Apollos and so to all the ministers of the word of God, but the context helps us to understand what is entrusted to each. Recall the apostle described himself and Apollos as servants that we interpreted to mean they were ministers or agents of preaching the gospel of salvation to the Corinthians. Thus, the thing entrusted to both men concerns the ministry of the word. Therefore, the apostle when he wrote literally and to each as the Lord gave meant that the Lord Jesus entrusted to each of them the ministry of the word as He determined and according to the spiritual gift of each man or that He appointed them to the ministry of the word. The implication is that each minister of the word of God has been entrusted the ministry of the word in accordance to the degree and effectiveness of the spiritual gift each person received from the Lord. Believers who understand this should avoid comparing one teacher of the word of God to another but be concerned as to whether each teacher of God’s word is faithful to the ministry of the word. In any case, we have considered the first element of the second fact believers should understand about ministers of God’s word that involves their assignment or what is entrusted to each minister. So, we consider the second element that involves the advancement of God’s word that indicates God has entrusted each minister of the word of God with unique aspect of the ministry as the apostle explained regarding Apollos and himself.
Apostle Paul indicated he had a unique ministry related to the word that is in a sense different from that of Apollos, for he stated in the sentence of the 1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted the seed. Literally the Greek reads I planted. This is because we have a Greek verb (phyteuō) that means “to plant.” In the Septuagint, it is used to describe the blessings of the righteous in Psalm 92:13:
planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
It is also used in comparison of the nature of the words of the wise in Ecclesiastes 12:11:
The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one Shepherd.
The phrase embedded nails in the Septuagint is literally nails being planted. In the NT, the word is used for planting of vines and trees as, for example, in Matthew 21:33:
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
In our passage, it used figuratively for Apostle Paul’s work in Corinth. When the apostle wrote literally I planted, he did not state what it is that he planted. However, the context of the apostle’s ministry means that he preached initial gospel to the Corinthians and founded their local church. In effect, the apostle indicates that his unique ministry the Lord entrusted to his care is that of preaching the gospel and founding of the local churches. Thus, he founded the local church in Corinth through the preaching of the gospel, followed by elementary teaching of God’s word. Hence, when the apostle wrote literally I planted, he meant he was a trailblazer regarding the gospel message to the Corinthians. The Lord had entrusted Paul with the task of being a trailblazer as it pertains to the gospel since he would first preach the gospel and then teach basic doctrines to the new converts. Because of the unique task the Lord assigned him he was determined not to go where the gospel has reached, as he stated in Romans 15:20:
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
The point is that the apostle reminded the Corinthians that he founded their church in the sense of preaching the initial gospel and teaching them basic doctrines. This reminder is followed by him stating the task the Lord entrusted to Apollos in the ministry.
Apollos’ task or assignment is to go where the apostle had founded churches and continue the work of the ministry of God’s word. It is this function of Apollos that the apostle gave in the next sentence of 1 Corinthians 3:6 Apollos watered it. Literally, the Greek reads Apollos watered since there is no pronoun “it” in the Greek text. The word “watered” is translated from a Greek word (potizō) that may mean to make it possible for someone or something to drink. Thus, it means “to water” as it applies to animals and plants, so it is used to give water to animals to drink in Luke 13:15:
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?
The verbal phrase give it water is literally to water it. It is in the meaning “to drink” that the word is used regarding a ministry of the Holy Spirit towards believers in 1 Corinthians 12:13:
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
It is in the sense of “to water” that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 3:6 but it is used figuratively. Hence, the word is used to indicate that Apollos continued the ministry of the word that Paul started in the sense that he not only preached the gospel but also taught some truths that Paul did not immediately teach the Corinthians.
In any case, Apostle Paul indicates that he is the trailblazer regarding the gospel message in that he founded the church in Corinth through preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Apollos came after him to continue the ministry of the word according to the gift the Lord had given him. The records in the book of Acts bear out this truth in that Apollos usually came to areas where Apostle Paul had already founded a church. Apostle Paul was the first to go to Corinth and founded a local church during his second missionary trip, as implied in Acts 18:1–4:
1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
The apostle with Aquila and Priscilla then traveled from Corinth to Ephesus, as narrated in Acts 18:18–20:
18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken. 19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined.
After Paul left Ephesus Apollos came there also, according to Acts 18:24–26:
24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
After Apollos received more adequate teaching about the Christian faith, he went to Corinth and was helpful to believers there, as indicated in Acts 18:27–28:
27 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Thus, according the record in Acts, Apollos went to local churches Apostle Paul had already founded. Of course, it is likely that Apollos accompanied Paul when he went to Crete or je came after the apostle departed as implied by his request to Titus to aid Apollos in his journey, probably to come to him, as stated in Titus 3:13:
Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.
There is no doubt that Apollos preached the gospel in Corinth but that was after Apostle Paul founded the church. Consequently, the apostle asserted that Apollos helped teach the Corinthians after he had founded the church. It is this that the apostle meant in the literal sentence of 1 Corinthians 3:6 Apollos watered. In any event, a second fact believers should understand to maintain proper perspective about those who minister God’s word is that each minister of the word has received from the Lord specific assignment to advance God’s word. You can apply this fact to different areas of your life. Take for example, in business, a supervisor should recognize that each employee has a specific role and ability given to the individual by God. This should help in managing those under the supervisor. In marriage, each spouse must recognize that God has assigned a specific task and ability to each. Failure to recognize this has led to marital problems. Anyway, the first responsibility you have regarding this passage is you should understand the position of pastors and teachers of the word of God in their roles in divine work.
09/21/18