It’s All About God’s Glory
I Corinthians 3:6
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”
To say that Paul’s relationship with the Corinthian church was difficult would be an understatement. The church which Paul had founded there was full of strife as the believers there tried to come to grips with the gospel. What was their new center of life mean? What was the relation of their past understanding of world view to the new?
The Greco-Roman world from which most of the believers had come was based upon the Greek philosophers. The task of much of the philosophy was to explain the meaning of life. They struggled with the idea of unity and diversity and how something could be both at the same time. Various solutions had been put forth, but each system was refuted by the next. What was left was skepticism about whether meaning could be found at all. This is similar to what we see in postmodernism today.
The preaching of Christ presented a seismic shift in worldview to the Corinthians. The splits in the church were not so an expression of diversity as it was coming to grips with the new unity. Our thinking is shaped by comparison and contrast with other ways of thinking. So it was natural for the new believers to begin their journey by comparing and contrasting the old way of thinking with the gospel. They understood that there was a new means of unity being proclaimed which was somehow centered around the message of Jesus. The question was which of the teachers they had heard had the correct understanding of this unity. Some thought Paul, others Apollos, others Peter, and yet others Christ Himself. And this struggle continues to this day. Which denomination or theological position best represents our Christian unity?
If Paul answered as many would in this world, he would have said that his view was the correct understanding of the Christian life. He took that approach in dealing with the Judaizers in Galatia. The reason for this was that their gospel was not a gospel at all. There was no unity between their gospel and the one Paul preached.
However, in Corinth, Paul takes a different approach. He includes both Apollos and Cephas as being legitimate proclaimers of the gospel alongside himself. After all, in the Book of Acts, Paul had sent Apollos there to deal with Jewish opposition to the gospel and to strengthen the believers. Peter, although Paul had to deal severely with Cephas at Antioch for hypocrisy nevertheless acknowledged that Peter preached the truth of the Gospel.
When we look at what Scripture records of Peter, Paul, and Apollos, we can see that they had different personalities. Peter seemed to be good hearted but impulsive. Apollos was a great orator and teacher. Paul was a very determined believer and very antithetical in thought, a contrast of black and white. Much has been said about their diversity as well as those who try to separate the teaching of Jesus from all of them as do people today who try to separate the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith. This apparent diversity leads to the fracturing of the church and skepticism of her message.
Paul deals directly with this issue by affirming the unity of the gospel. The gospel if bigger than the personality of Paul or Apollos. This is shown in the verse we are discussing today. The first part says “I planted” (Paul), the second “Apollos watered,” and the third “God gave the increase.” The first two are separated from the third by the Greek conjunction (alla) which is usually translated “but” in English. As is often the case, it is the small words that are more important than the big ones to correctly define. In Greek discourse, this word we translate with “but” has a rich meaning. Of course, it has the English understanding of a contrast. But it also has the idea of replacing what was said earlier with what follows.
The question now arises as to what “God gave the increase” replaces. On the surface one could say that it makes what Paul and Apollos do unimportant and that it is what God alone does is important. If one were to take this to somewhat of an extreme, it would mean that we should sit and do nothing and wait for God to do it. This seems to have been the view of some of the Moravians in England had which John Wesley strongly opposed.
It would seem to me that a better understanding of this replacement is not to deny the importance of Paul, Apollos, or any believer, but rather one of replacing the emphasis of glorying in human teachers to glorifying God. Paul and Apollos as well as others are means by which God is glorified. If we look at the birth of a child, we do not deny the agency of a man and woman (Jesus excepted). But God is the true giver of all life and deserves the glory. For since we are dealing with birth and bringing up children spiritually speaking at Corinth, this illustration seems appropriate here.
So the church and its ministers are engaged in the mission of the Gospel, the end of which as the Westminster Confession states is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” So the unity which the church needs to seek is centered in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is now to the practical outworkings of this truth to which we now turn.
The text here well describes the twofold mission of the church as the agents of the Lord Jesus Christ and are very similar to the words of Jesus contained in the Great Commission. The basis for the mission of the church is the lordship and sovereignty of Jesus to whom all authority is given. Michael Horton is right in saying this is the beginning of the Great Commission. Paul who everywhere calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ and was commissioned directly from Jesus on the road to Damascus. This means that the mission of the church has been set by God.
Now if we compare Paul’s “I planted” with the statement “make disciples of all nations” we realize the mission of the church begins with evangelization. Believers must be won to Christ before they can be disciple. The seal of this is baptism. Logically, this is where it begins. In Paul’s case where everyone had to be won to Christ, this is especially so.
The second part in disciple making is to teach these disciples to observe everything Jesus had taught them. When Paul sent Apollos to Corinth to establish the church and ground it in sound doctrine, he was performing the work of watering or nurture. These new and trained disciples would then enter into this commission. This is the plan of God for us as well.
When we look at Jesus, He used a different method of approach to Nicodemus than to the woman at the well. We see a difference in approach in Paul’s preaching to Jews in the synagogues and the Greek philosophers at Athens. But the message was the same, to win people to Jesus. So I think it is fair to discuss methods of evangelism so long as the message is the same. This is also appropriate for nurture as well.
Still, we still struggle along with the church of Corinth. Christians believe in baptism but disagree on mode and whether infant or believer’s baptism is correct. We all believe in the bread and the cup but struggle with who is permitted to come to the table. I feel this struggle as much as anyone. The Bible shows like with the Galatian controversy that there is an out of bounds. There is a point that the gospel is no longer the gospel. But there is a place within the community to discuss in Christian community our differences as well, in love.
In some ways diversity can testify of unity. We see this in the resurrection accounts. We have five of them including Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. These accounts are the witness that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. However we have some issues trying to harmonize everything. For example, how many women came to the tomb that morning? There are other differences in detail as well. But I ask this question. If five witness testified to a certain event in court and gave verbatim answers, would not everyone say the testimony was rehearsed. One should expect some variance in details due to the fact that the event caught them unexpected. And what could be more expected than a resurrection? The very diversity of detail actually testifies to the veracity of the central truth that Jesus has risen. The bible says that in the word of two or three witnesses a matter is established.
Perhaps rather than emphasizing the differences at points of detail between Baptists, Presbyterians, and other denominations on points of doctrine can in like matter testify to the central truth of Christianity which we all celebrate. The fact we honestly disagree on these matters but agree on the common core of our faith might indeed testify to the truth of the Gospel. Let us acknowledge our differences but concentrate on our common faith. God is One, but there is diversity in unity. There are three Persons and One God. Diversity is part of God’s creation too. The unity is that this diversity was created for the glory of God.
The Corinthian struggle is ours as well. Let us listen to Paul’s answer. There are differences in personality. There is diversity of function and gifts within the united body of believers called saints. But if we remember that the Sovereign God has ordained the church just as He did the sacrifice of Christ from the foundation of the world. Everything has worked, is working, and will work out to the unified purpose of God. We need not worry what God is doing. We need not worry that somehow that something we do will thwart God’s purpose. What we need to do is with a single heart to engage in the fulfillment for the Great Commission to which God has very graciously committed to us as being His means to His end.
