1 Corinthians / Question
Paul uses planting and watering to describe different roles of gospel workers (1 Corinthians 3:5–6). His main point is that “only God…gives the growth,” so loyalty and credit should not center on human leaders (1 Corinthians 3:7).
In 1 Corinthians 3:5–7, Paul redirects the Corinthians’ loyalty away from famous teachers and back to God. He asks what Apollos and Paul really are, then answers: they are servants who helped people come to belief, each doing a role assigned by the Lord. Using a farming picture, Paul says he “planted” and Apollos “watered,” but only God produced the growth. These verses sit inside Paul’s larger effort to stop divisions in the Corinthian community, where people were rallying around different leaders and using those loyalties to compete for status (1 Corinthians 1:12).
Paul’s point is to shrink the Corinthians’ tendency to treat famous teachers as team captains. In these verses he asks, “Who is Apollos?” and “Who is Paul?” and answers: they are servants—people God uses as channels, not the basis for group identity (explicit claim). Paul also affirms that real human work happened.
A common mistake is to turn the wording into a slogan. The better reading keeps the phrase tied to the passage, the speaker, and the problem the book is addressing.
Start with 1 Corinthians 3:5-6, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
5Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
6I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.