GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CORINTHIANS 3:6-7
6 I planted. Apollos watered. But God makes it grow. 7 So it is not the one who plants or the one who waters, but rather it is God who makes things grow.
Paul illustrates his point with a familiar scene. One man plants. Another waters. Then the plant grows. The Greek verbs for planting and watering show a past event that is completed and finished. Paul and Apollos did their work. But the word for “makes it grow” shows that this part of the work continues. The believer, once faith is planted and watered, keeps growing in his faith for his whole life. This is the work of our loving God.
Perhaps there is a slight hint about the very little baptizing Paul did by saying that Apollos was the one who watered, but this might be stretching Paul’s planting illustration beyond his intentions. It is more likely that Paul is hinting that he began the work in Corinth (Acts 18:1-17) and that Apollos came later, but once again this isn’t his main point. What Paul really wants to show is that God’s work continues long after this or that minister has done his work.
My childhood teacher, Pastor Harold Sturm, valiantly tried to manage a classroom of nearly fifty middle school students every Wednesday evening, teaching us all our catechism with a firm hand and a loud voice. His lessons still resound in my heart and my mind today, watered by other teachers, professors, and doctors of the church. I am grateful for them all (and not least for Pastor Sturm), but I also know that it was God who was causing that faith, planted and watered, to grow.
God is the one giving growth everywhere in his creation, whether the flowers (Luke 12:27), the fish (Genesis 1:22), the planted seed (Mark 4:8), a building being built or raised (Ephesians 2:21), or the phases of the moon. And he also grows the numbers of mankind, especially his own dear people. He blesses marriage to “be fruitful and increase in numbers” (Genesis 1:28; Leviticus 26:9).
And just as he does this in the world, so he accomplishes growth in our hearts. Paul said: “Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you” (2 Corinthians 10:15-16).
The Scriptures show that God is the one who makes faith grow in each believer even as he makes the whole church grow. Paul says to Christians: “We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). And again, about the whole church: “In Christ the whole building is joined together and rises (grows) to become a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21). Peter, too, explains the work of God’s gospel in us as enabling us to “grow in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:2), and later he encourages us: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18).
Yet this passage also reminds us that God works through us, through humble servants, whether moms, dads, grandparents, pastors, teachers, or wise neighbors. He alone make our faith grow. He could do it without any planting or watering from us, but he doesn’t. He works through the same means that he has given to all of us, which is his powerful and miraculous word. He works through the sacraments, too, but it is still the word of God at work, and not the mere earthly elements of water, wine, and bread that accomplish the task. “If anyone believes his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him” (1 John 2:5). It is the same with all of the things God does for us. He works through us so that we will not tempt him, and so that we will remember the true value of his priceless word. We see it working in our own lives, and so we are compelled to share it with the world starting with those whose feet are under our own tables.
Bless the Lord and give thanks to God, for his love and mercy endure forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 God makes it grow