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The answer to these questions is not that Paul and Apollos are nothing, but they are
servants of Christ, nothing more and nothing less. They are not to be idolized on the one
hand, or ignored on the other. They were the channels Christ had chosen to reach them
with the gospel, and appreciation of this would have saved the Corinthians from such
party divisions.
"I planted, Apollos watered the plants. It was not we however, but God Who made
them grow. It follows that neither he who plants nor he who waters counts for anything,
but only He Who causes the growth--God" (3: 6, 7 100: K. Barrett).
Paul likens the ministry of himself and Apollos to gardeners. No gardener, however
diligent, can give either life or growth to the plant. This is God's work alone. The
significance is that God accepts his labour and uses it. In himself, the gardener has no
independent importance. So it was with the service of Paul and Apollos, and since they
were but instruments in the hand of Christ, it was foolish to play one off against the
other--"He that planteth and he that watereth are one" (8). That is to say that the aim
and result of their work are identical.
This naturally leads to the important question of the quality of Christian service and its
final assessment by the Lord, leading either to reward or loss. This line of truth has
always to be kept distinct from salvation as God's free gift by grace apart from works or
merit. Much damage has resulted from these two linked yet separate truths being
confused, or one being stressed at the expense of the other. Many Bible problems can be
solved by `rightly dividing' these two aspects of doctrine and they are principles that run
right throughout the Bible, and the importance of correctly evaluating them can hardly be
over-stressed. The immediate context here relates first of all to the service of Paul and
Apollos, but the argument broadens out to take in all believers:
". . . . . But each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are
God's fellow-workers; ye are God's husbandry, God's building" (3: 8, 9 R.V.).
The A.V. "we are labourers together with God" is possible from the Greek, but the
R.V. is to be preferred and fits the context better. It is not so much that the apostles
were working together and God was working with them (although this was true), but
rather that they were united in service and belonged to the Lord. They were "God's
fellow-workers", whereas the church at Corinth was likened both to a field and a
building. "Ye re God's husbandry, God's building." They were likened to agricultural
and architectural work done by the Lord. The Apostle now drops the horticultural
metaphor and goes on to describe them as a structure and builders whom the great
Architect was using. He reminds them of their responsibility as such; they could be wise
builders or jerry builders using bad materials and becoming shoddy workers. At the end
they would have to account to the Master, hence they should think very carefully about
their present conduct and quality of service. Grace does not mean that God will overlook
bad workmanship or disloyalty to His truth.