God’s Word for You

1 Corinthians 3:8-9 Fellow workers of God

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, November 25, 2022

8 The one who plants and the one who waters are one, and each will receive his reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are fellow workers of God. You are God’s field, God’s building.

We were told in verses 6 and 7 that the planter and the waterer are insignificant compared with God, who is the one truly at work. Yet here in verse 8 we remember that the various servants of God work as one, together in the service of God and using the same Word of God.

What can it possibly mean for Paul’s “we” to be “fellow workers of God”? To truly understand this, we need to evaluate what he means by “we,” by “fellow workers,” and by “of God.”

“We” in this case means Paul and Apollos, who are the subjects of verse 6, but it also includes all who do the work of preaching the gospel. This is proved by the more general “the one who plants and the one who waters” in this verse, since this would also apply to Peter (Cephas, 1:12; 3:22), and by extension anyone who does the same labor. Therefore we must humbly, and with no little amount of surprise, admit that all pastors and ministers are joined by Paul under this “we.” Dr. Brug says: “Scripture speaks in this bold way and so amazes the minister with the great honor God has given him” (The Ministry of the Word p. 229).

“Fellow workers” in Greek is synergoi (συνεργοί), a simple word that means “working with.” Paul talks this way about anyone who has helped him in his work: “My fellow-workers” (Romans 16:3,9,21; Philippians 4:3; Philemon 1:24). Paul also talks about synergoi in the kingdom of God (Colossians 4:11). Since this passage is not talking about conversion but about the preaching ministry, we know that we do not do the work of turning souls from dead unbelief to living faith. This is purely God’s own work through the gospel: “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 2:13). So while the word itself means “fellow-worker,” it clearly does not mean that we have equal status with God, but equal status with one another as we work for God. This is an important point when we consider the different forms of ministry, since the office of pastor is not the only form of ministry using the means of grace.

“Of God.” Having considered the meaning of “fellow-workers,” we are left with the task of judging the way that “of God” is used. It should be understood as the New Revised Standard Version has it: “We are God’s servants, working together.” The EHV makes the same judgment: “For God is the one whom we serve as coworkers.” These translations place God into his right position as the true Mover and Maker, and his ministers as his servants.

Therefore the glory of the work of the Word of God belongs to God alone, yet he chooses to bring the Word to the world through messengers, specially chosen and called servants. So the credit for anyone coming to faith must be given to God alone, and yet Paul also recognizes that there were Christians in Corinth who came to faith as a result of his own labor in Corinth.

Paul turns to a double illustration to finish his point: “You are God’s field, God’s building.” Here he shows his concern for the way that his people will understand him. Corinth was a growing city, and there were more and more people who were no longer connected with the rural life of farming, planting and harvesting. Therefore Paul adds, “God’s building.” In any metropolitan setting, the idea of a building being carefully built would be recognized and understood. But we should also see that Paul is shifting his thought here, and he will go on with the “God’s building” idea in the verses that follow.

To show the foolishness of divisions and factions, the apostle has taken us into the humble work of those who do the work of ministry. On any given day, a minister may wonder whether he is having any impact at all on his people. But over time, he may see some growth, a little here, a little there, and know that the Lord is working through his labor.

Paul has laid a foundation here of respect for the ministry of the word, the preaching of the word, the public service of ministry and preaching, the value of the sacraments, and the value of repentance and forgiveness. He has also provided a basis for understanding that ministers are merely men, capable of flaws and failures, but who are nevertheless called by God into his service just as Moses and the prophets, apostles and evangelists were. Finally, Paul has shown us the glory of God himself, who works this way among us. Knowing this, we see the concern of a Christian government of a previous century when certain men began preaching contrary to all of these things. A Lutheran monarch of Sweden published an admonition of errors, including these:

1, Some have expounded Scripture as they please…
2, They slandered and belittled the preaching ministry, as if in these times it was neither useful nor powerful, because everyone… could know and do what was required for salvation.
3, They paid little attention to public worship services, going to church, and other Christian ceremonies.
4, They showed little honor for the Lord’s Supper.
5, They thought just as little of Holy Baptism. They dared to say that the new birth occurring through water was not especially useful and necessary for salvation.
6, They represented confession and forgiveness of sins as being only for the simple, who didn’t understand what true improvement was all about, and they thought that they had themselves attained such improvement.
7, They imagined themselves to have a special perfection, as if they, before all others, were holy and renewed Christians; they called others fleshly-minded, worldly, and unspiritual, since they neglected the fact that we are all sinners, and fall short of the glory of God.
8, They took pride in special, inner enlightenment… and they imagined that they had confirmed their salvation and could raise up Christianity, which, they complained, had become completely decayed and corrupted. They took this out of various harmful books, put out by deceptive spirits, who, with dissimulation and lying speech, turn people’s ears away from the truth, because they cannot put up with sound doctrine.
9, Among these, many were also found who spoke contemptuously of marriage, and imagined that marriage greatly hinders the true fear of God, and that the unmarried please God more, despise the world more, and can devote themselves to holiness more than the married.
10, They showed such a hypocritical seriousness as they went about their business… renouncing (laughter and) the physical refreshment which God still permits, if it is used in his fear. They believed that in this way that would go to eternal life by means of patience and good works.
11, They demanded from their priests such a perfect purity that they regarded all their accomplishments in the ministry as futile and feeble, so long as they could find some mistake or scandalous example in them. They acted as if the word of God and the sacraments would lose their divine efficacy, if the priests who execute them might to some extent have some fault in them.

The things that appalled Christian leaders three hundred years ago, we are still appalled by today. The answers to these problems remain the same: Christians must bow before God’s holy will, expressed in his holy Word, listen to preaching and teaching, apply the Word of God in their lives, receive the Lord’s Supper, bring their children to Holy Baptism, and trust in Jesus, not their own piety, for salvation. We must forgive one another, just as Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). We are not saved by anything that we do, but by the saving work of Christ on our behalf. Therefore we pray: “May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise. Then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word” (Psalm 119:41-42).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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