Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
Paul planted the church at Corinth by first preaching the gospel and gathering believers, and Apollos watered it by following with further teaching to help that seed grow. Paul and Apollos, with Cephas and all ministers, are only men and servants through whom people believed, each working just as the Lord assigned and enabled him. Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything in himself or causes growth, for human learning, eloquence, zeal and effort cannot convict or convert a soul without God and the Holy Spirit, who alone changes the heart and gives the increase. Saying I am of Paul or I am of Apollos, with rallying around leaders, comparisons, envying and strife, is carnal walking as men and reveals failure to feed on Christ and grow in grace. He that plants and he that waters are one, laborers together with God while believers are God's field and building, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Words and Corinthian Setting
Paul planted the gospel at Corinth by first preaching there and gathering the church, and Apollos watered it by coming after him with further instruction to help the seed sown to develop. They were only human ministers through whom the Corinthians believed, each working just as the Lord gave and enabled him, engaged in one common work of teaching the truth and establishing believers on Christ and not attaching men to themselves. Their different appointed parts did not make one greater than the other, for neither the one who plants nor the one who waters causes growth, but God alone gives the increase, transforms character, and deserves the honor for transformed lives. To compare them so as to exalt one over the other made them rivals for allegiance when they were servants of the same gospel, and that fostered party spirit and threatened the progress of the church.
At Corinth hearers contrasted Paul's manner with that of Apollos, for Paul purposely presented the gospel in its simplest form, dwelling on Christ and His mission without worldly wisdom or adornment after his disappointment with learned eloquence at Athens, while Apollos preached with eloquence and manifest learning. Out of that contrast parties arose, some claiming Paul over Peter, some claiming Apollos over Paul in address and power of oratory, some claiming Peter over Paul because Peter had been most intimate with Christ on earth while Paul had been a persecutor of believers. Beside these there was a party claiming to belong to Christ that refused due respect to His ambassadors, professing to follow no human teacher and to be taught directly from Christ without ministers of the gospel. Holding the ministers in contrast on such imaginary differences was a rival spirit that threatened to ruin the church and greatly hinder the progress of truth, bringing conflict and trial inside as well as outside.
Paul and Apollos themselves were in perfect harmony and labored for the advancement of the same cause, with Apollos supporting Paul's mission. Apollos was disappointed and grieved by the dissension and by the preference shown to himself, and he took no advantage of it and did nothing to encourage it. He hastily left the field of strife, and though Paul afterward urged him to revisit Corinth he declined. He did not labor there again until long afterward, when the church had reached a better spiritual state.
Even as the Lord gave to every man means that God gives to each of His messengers his distinctive work and part, so all do not have the same work to do in the cause of God. They are individually engaged in the same work marked out by their Heavenly Father and are wholly dependent on Him for the success attending their labors. While there is diversity of gifts, all are to blend harmoniously in carrying forward the one great work of salvation as only instruments of divine grace and power.
The verse belongs to the lesson of the whole third chapter for every church, where envying and strife and divisions over Paul or Apollos prove believers carnal and walking as men. Dwarfed spiritual growth leaves members as babes in Christ able to bear only milk and not meat, offended by a plain Thus saith the Lord and ready to rank the faithful teacher as an accuser and faultfinder. With the first two chapters it explains why few men of worldly business ability and experience believe the truth, for men given to worldly pursuits and worldly wisdom count the preaching of the cross as foolishness, and not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak and base and despised things to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence, but Christ is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that he that glories let him glory in the Lord.
Ministers Are Only Instruments
Paul and Apollos, with Cephas and every gospel minister, are only men, servants and stewards through whom others believed, each serving just as the Lord assigned and enabled him. They are not the source of faith, wisdom, growth, or spiritual authority, and their appointment to service gives no ground for factional loyalty or boasting. One planted and another watered, but attention is directed away from the human workers to God under whose direction their service stands.
Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything in himself or causes growth. Even apostolic authority, Paul's deep learning united with zeal and earnest energy, and Apollos's stirring eloquence and skillful logic, together with all other human effort, energy, skill and talent, cannot convict anyone, convert one soul to Christ, or lead to repentance without God and the Holy Spirit. God alone by His grace and power works behind the instrument to give divine efficiency, planting the seed of truth, making it take root, changing the heart, and producing deep, lasting fruit. Human beings remain valuable and honored with a special part as channels prepared to cooperate with divine power in saving their own souls and many others, yet conversion depends wholly on divine agency.
The honor for transformed lives and success belongs to God, who directs the work and gives the increase. People are to honor Him and His Word rather than fix their thoughts on human instruments, give them the glory and devotion that belong to God, or praise leaders as though they were the source, authors, and directing power of truth. When leaders are so praised they may trust themselves and seek control over minds and consciences, while people look to them instead of God's Word, and this hinders reform. Paul and Apollos shared the same work and depended on God for its success, with differing God-appointed roles that made neither greater than the other, so effectiveness in saving people calls believers to depend on the Lord and give Him the honor.
He who plants and he who waters are one, laborers together with God, while those who believe are God's husbandry and God's building. Each worker will receive his own reward according to his own labor. The Lord uses some to plow the field and sow the seed and others to reap, fitting one laborer for one kind of work and another for another, and He makes both those who sow and those who reap rejoice together at harvest time. No worker is divorced from the work when it passes to others, but is to stay interested and thankful that others can carry it forward successfully, with all moving forward together in harmony from the lowliest to the most educated, each in his distinctive place doing his best.
By the grace of Christ Paul and Apollos were made what they were and distinguished for spiritual excellencies. By earnest, persevering prayer they obtained the endowment of the Holy Spirit, then went forth weighted with the burden of saving souls and filled with zeal to extend the triumphs of the cross, bringing many from darkness to light and raising up many churches. That same grace and power is just as ready to be given now to devoted Christian missionaries and workers, enabling them to serve rather than leave the work to others. All are therefore to cultivate physical and mental powers to the utmost, gain intelligence and knowledge to work where providence calls, show themselves workers together with God true as steel to principle, and with earnest united prayers of faith reveal the same distinguishing excellence with unmistakable clearness and power.
Party Spirit Is Carnality
Declaring I am of Paul or I am of Apollos and rallying around human leaders with party loyalty, preferences, comparisons and faultfinding is carnal, childish walking as men, marked by envying, strife, jealousy and divisions. Paul and Apollos are only ministers through whom people believed, not rival chiefs to be claimed, each doing only what the Lord gave and assigned to every man. Such faction proves dwarfed growth that leaves members as babes in Christ able to bear only milk and not meat, offended by a plain Thus saith the Lord and ready to rank the faithful teacher as an accuser and faultfinder. It reveals a divisive spirit, narrow comprehension, failure to feed on Christ and grow in grace, and want of the mind and Spirit of Christ, with views and feelings bound about by selfishness and by narrow, conceited wisdom. Instead of jealousy and contention believers are to show the liberality, generosity and tenderness that reveal an abiding Christ.
Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything in himself, for Paul planted and Apollos watered but only God gives the increase, yet planter and waterer are one as laborers together with God while believers are God's husbandry and God's building, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Ministers may differ in emphasis or manner of presenting truth, yet their aim is the same, so no minister is to be condemned for a different presentation and no envy or jealousy is to be cherished, lest pulling away from some brethren while clustering around others bring weakness to the church. One who partakes of the divine nature will not seek to stand at the head of a party, for true workers do not attract people to themselves but to Christ, preaching the truth that makes all one in Christ Jesus.
No believer should link up with the one man under whose labors the light of present truth was received, tie up in separate bundles around human teachers, stand as independent atoms, or refuse harmony with brethren. Those who take sides with the one who brought them light and refuse unity are carnal, babes in Christ, not sanctified through the truth, showing want of meekness and humility and wholehearted kindness and need of a better understanding of the spirit that should control believers in Christ Jesus. Such cementing to a man endangers lame souls and makes claimed conversion a stumbling block to sinners, so those thus cemented need reconversion. All who receive truth in love must make straight paths and live in love and harmonious action, presenting sanctifying truth strengthened by one another, for all are prepared and aided by one Agency and from one great and powerful Source come love and unity.
Paul and Apollos and Cephas are only ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, given for the good of believers, and are no cause for glorying in men. All things are the believers', and believers are Christ's, and Christ is God's, so hearts are to be humbled, men are not to be thought of above what is written, and no one is to be puffed up for one minister against another by showing preferences and comparing one with another to the detriment of the one not preferred. Nor are brethren to be judged because they do not count all words and spirit and actions perfection, for it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, and their judgment belongs to the Lord who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, so nothing is to be judged before the time. Ministers are nothing in themselves to be made centers of party or nationality, and erecting national barriers is a human invention God can never endorse, so men of every nationality must remove every barrier and be one in Christ Jesus in the service of the Master.
There is to be no jealousy and no party cry of Paul or Apollos or Cephas between those in ministry and those in medical missionary work. With varied gifts all are united in one body under Christ the only Leader, to wear Christ's yoke in humility of mind before God and use gifts to bless humanity as His helping hand. All parts of the work are to be controlled and guided by the wisdom God gives, drawing in even cords in harmony in every action without friction, giving room to fellow laborers and not measuring brethren by one's own ideas, for one in whose heart Christ abides will not quarrel with his brother. All must follow no human devising and fasten the soul to no human leader, but stand under the standard of Christ Jesus, united by desire to strengthen His work in every line, following His directions as the Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race, to restore the moral image of God in humanity in His name and for the glory of God, as faithful stewards dying to self and living to Christ.
Clinging to a favorite minister and refusing to accept the labors of another teacher and be profited by them is strong evidence that the truths of the Bible have not sanctified the receivers. The Lord sends help to His church as they need, not as they choose, because short-sighted mortals cannot discern what is for their highest good. Seldom does one minister have all the qualifications needed to perfect a church in all the requirements of Christianity, so God sends other ministers to follow him, one after another, each possessing some qualifications in which the others were deficient. The church should gratefully accept these servants of Christ as they would accept the Master Himself, and seek to derive all possible benefit from the instruction they give from the Word of God, accepting and appreciating in meekness of humility the truths they bring, while ministers themselves are not to be idolized and are to have no religious pets and favorites among the people.
No minister is to be exalted or made a favorite with pomposity and masterly effort to gain the supremacy, for all are God's little children. Giving least affection to proper objects, as when affection due to a wife is given to another and she is made to take second place, and being imprisoned in dangerous sentimental affection, is carnality worked by the enemy, dishonoring God and defiling His building and temple. Christ will take charge of the affections of those who love and honor God and cause them to center on proper objects. Therefore mind and heart must be guarded from impurity in thought, word and deed, with repentance and conversion and turning wholly to God, a husband respecting, cherishing and loving his wife, and all being as true as steel to marriage vows.
Duties of Gospel Workers
The teacher of truth is to know he is God's servant, commissioned to teach truth and wholly dependent on Him for any success attending the labor. God marks out the work and gives each messenger his distinctive work, and while gifts differ all are to blend harmoniously as only instruments of divine grace and power in the one great work of salvation. That consciousness gives energy and diligence with an eye single to the Master's glory, keeping the worker near the cross himself in order to bring sinners to it. He preaches Christ while studiously avoiding calling attention to himself, lest he encumber sacred truth and hinder its saving power.
One who partakes of the divine nature will not seek to stand at the head of a party, for ministers are not rival party leaders to quarrel over. True workers do not attract people to themselves but to Christ, preaching the truth that makes all one in Christ Jesus. The minister must take the humble position belonging to every gospel minister, drawing converts to Christ and not to himself, never thinking he can of himself gain success. He must not bind those who accept truth under his labors to himself as if they were his property, for to exalt self and draw people to self greatly dishonors God. No matter how great and good the work done through him, he gains no ownership over those converted through his instrumentality, and no convert is to place himself under that minister's control. Souls are to be brought direct to Christ, for converts are Christ's property and ever answerable to Him alone, and every person keeps an individuality that no other person can claim.
Ministers are servants through whom people believe, with work and opportunity coming from the Lord, and they should be respected and loved for their service but not idolized. They are not to be given the glory and devotion that belong to God, for the power in the message comes from God and not from the minister. God is to receive the glory and the people's deepest affection, while the minister points them to Jesus.
Though ministers may differ in emphasis or manner of presenting truth, their aim is the same and their service is individual under God. No minister should be condemned for a different presentation, and no envy or jealousy should be cherished against brethren, for pulling away from some for imagined reasons while clustering around others brings weakness to the church. Workers should improve themselves rather than criticize another's work, reading the chapter as teaching that Christian service is individual. God's servants are not to order, control, or judge one another's God-given duties, but each is to seek God directly, be taught by the Holy Spirit, and use the freedom God gives to develop the gift and win souls to Christ. In that freedom each gives room to fellow laborers and refuses to measure brethren by his own ideas.
Human ministers are not the power that changes hearts, and their energy or skill cannot convert souls without divine agency. Teachers must therefore submit methods, plans, and ideas to God's correction and be sanctified daily by the Holy Spirit, because human judgment is imperfect and self can take control. Faith and practice must be energized by the Holy Spirit and not by human power, for human leaders are not the source of faith, wisdom, or spiritual authority. No ruling power should compel men to obey the dictates of the finite mind, and men must cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. Turning minds to lean on human wisdom puts a veil between God and man so that Him who is invisible is not seen, and such reliance must be put away.
From the lowliest worker to the most educated, each has a distinctive place in soul-saving and his own work to do with his best, one fitted for one kind of work and another for another, moving forward together in harmony. The Lord uses some to plow the field and sow the seed and others to reap, as a Paul may plant and an Apollos water while only God gives the increase, and He makes both those who sow and those who reap rejoice together at harvest. No worker is divorced from the work when it passes to others, but should stay interested and thankful that others can carry it forward successfully. The Lord gives to every man his own work and no one man is a complete whole, so the load must be shouldered by men of varied capabilities each doing the work God gave him. A leader who carries too many responsibilities and burdens in his own line will break down and be laid aside unless he changes his program.
By grace workers are made what they are and distinguished for spiritual excellencies, and by earnest persevering prayer they obtain the endowment of the Holy Spirit and go forth weighted with the burden of saving souls, filled with zeal to extend the triumphs of the cross. The same grace and power is just as ready to be given to devoted missionaries and workers today. All are to cultivate physical and mental powers to the utmost of ability and gain intelligence and knowledge to work for God where His providence calls, so that His glory may be revealed with unmistakable clearness and power. Hands are not to be slack, nor are workers to stay at home in ease living only for self, but to show themselves workers together with God, true as steel to principle. With earnest united prayers of faith inspiring Christlike zeal, God will raise up helpers and bless the labor on minds, raising up laborers full of faith and patience and zeal to take the place of some who fall away.
Unity and Personal Application
Paul and Apollos were ministers through whom people came to believe, not rival leaders to be claimed in factions, and what each one did and what each believer received depended on what the Lord gave to every man. Rallying around human leaders with party loyalty, preferences for men, and leaning on them as though eternal life depended on them, with envying and strife and divisions, proves believers are yet carnal and walk as men. Such contentions show narrow, conceited minds bound about by selfishness and reveal that they do not have the mind and Spirit of Christ. Instead believers must come into unison with Christ and reprove strife and divisions, showing the liberality, generosity and tenderness that reveal an abiding Christ and strengthening one another in harmonious action. God is the backing of it all and His power is what makes people, and those who are sincere and earnest and determined to believe the truth will have the truth in rich measure.
Religious leaders are ministers through whom people believe, not the source, authors, or directing power of truth, since God gives each person a part and directs the work. Honor and praise must therefore go to God and His Word rather than fixing thoughts on human instruments. When leaders are praised as though they were the source of truth, they may trust themselves and seek control over the minds and consciences of others, while people look to them instead of God's word, and this can hinder reform. Removing Luther from public view turned attention from him to God, the eternal Author of truth.
The verse is to be thought over at home and personally applied to test readiness for the Lord's coming, because many who think they are prepared are not. Applied with God's help, it calls for separating from all hindrances, knowing the will of God and walking in that pathway. It calls for confessing Christ and telling one's experience, and for coming out of darkness into His marvelous light to become free and all light in the Lord.
Paul planted the church at Corinth by first preaching the gospel and gathering believers, and Apollos watered it by following with further teaching to help that seed grow. Paul and Apollos, with Cephas and all ministers, are only men and servants through whom people believed, each working just as the Lord assigned and enabled him. Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything in himself or causes growth, for human learning, eloquence, zeal and effort cannot convict or convert a soul without God and the Holy Spirit, who alone changes the heart and gives the increase. Saying I am of Paul or I am of Apollos, with rallying around leaders, comparisons, envying and strife, is carnal walking as men and reveals failure to feed on Christ and grow in grace. He that plants and he that waters are one, laborers together with God while believers are God's field and building, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
Words and Corinthian Setting
Paul planted the gospel at Corinth by first preaching there and gathering the church, and Apollos watered it by coming after him with further instruction to help the seed sown to develop. They were only human ministers through whom the Corinthians believed, each working just as the Lord gave and enabled him, engaged in one common work of teaching the truth and establishing believers on Christ and not attaching men to themselves. Their different appointed parts did not make one greater than the other, for neither the one who plants nor the one who waters causes growth, but God alone gives the increase, transforms character, and deserves the honor for transformed lives. To compare them so as to exalt one over the other made them rivals for allegiance when they were servants of the same gospel, and that fostered party spirit and threatened the progress of the church.
At Corinth hearers contrasted Paul's manner with that of Apollos, for Paul purposely presented the gospel in its simplest form, dwelling on Christ and His mission without worldly wisdom or adornment after his disappointment with learned eloquence at Athens, while Apollos preached with eloquence and manifest learning. Out of that contrast parties arose, some claiming Paul over Peter, some claiming Apollos over Paul in address and power of oratory, some claiming Peter over Paul because Peter had been most intimate with Christ on earth while Paul had been a persecutor of believers. Beside these there was a party claiming to belong to Christ that refused due respect to His ambassadors, professing to follow no human teacher and to be taught directly from Christ without ministers of the gospel. Holding the ministers in contrast on such imaginary differences was a rival spirit that threatened to ruin the church and greatly hinder the progress of truth, bringing conflict and trial inside as well as outside.
Paul and Apollos themselves were in perfect harmony and labored for the advancement of the same cause, with Apollos supporting Paul's mission. Apollos was disappointed and grieved by the dissension and by the preference shown to himself, and he took no advantage of it and did nothing to encourage it. He hastily left the field of strife, and though Paul afterward urged him to revisit Corinth he declined. He did not labor there again until long afterward, when the church had reached a better spiritual state.
Even as the Lord gave to every man means that God gives to each of His messengers his distinctive work and part, so all do not have the same work to do in the cause of God. They are individually engaged in the same work marked out by their Heavenly Father and are wholly dependent on Him for the success attending their labors. While there is diversity of gifts, all are to blend harmoniously in carrying forward the one great work of salvation as only instruments of divine grace and power.
The verse belongs to the lesson of the whole third chapter for every church, where envying and strife and divisions over Paul or Apollos prove believers carnal and walking as men. Dwarfed spiritual growth leaves members as babes in Christ able to bear only milk and not meat, offended by a plain Thus saith the Lord and ready to rank the faithful teacher as an accuser and faultfinder. With the first two chapters it explains why few men of worldly business ability and experience believe the truth, for men given to worldly pursuits and worldly wisdom count the preaching of the cross as foolishness, and not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak and base and despised things to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence, but Christ is made unto believers wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that he that glories let him glory in the Lord.
Ministers Are Only Instruments
Paul and Apollos, with Cephas and every gospel minister, are only men, servants and stewards through whom others believed, each serving just as the Lord assigned and enabled him. They are not the source of faith, wisdom, growth, or spiritual authority, and their appointment to service gives no ground for factional loyalty or boasting. One planted and another watered, but attention is directed away from the human workers to God under whose direction their service stands.
Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything in himself or causes growth. Even apostolic authority, Paul's deep learning united with zeal and earnest energy, and Apollos's stirring eloquence and skillful logic, together with all other human effort, energy, skill and talent, cannot convict anyone, convert one soul to Christ, or lead to repentance without God and the Holy Spirit. God alone by His grace and power works behind the instrument to give divine efficiency, planting the seed of truth, making it take root, changing the heart, and producing deep, lasting fruit. Human beings remain valuable and honored with a special part as channels prepared to cooperate with divine power in saving their own souls and many others, yet conversion depends wholly on divine agency.
The honor for transformed lives and success belongs to God, who directs the work and gives the increase. People are to honor Him and His Word rather than fix their thoughts on human instruments, give them the glory and devotion that belong to God, or praise leaders as though they were the source, authors, and directing power of truth. When leaders are so praised they may trust themselves and seek control over minds and consciences, while people look to them instead of God's Word, and this hinders reform. Paul and Apollos shared the same work and depended on God for its success, with differing God-appointed roles that made neither greater than the other, so effectiveness in saving people calls believers to depend on the Lord and give Him the honor.
He who plants and he who waters are one, laborers together with God, while those who believe are God's husbandry and God's building. Each worker will receive his own reward according to his own labor. The Lord uses some to plow the field and sow the seed and others to reap, fitting one laborer for one kind of work and another for another, and He makes both those who sow and those who reap rejoice together at harvest time. No worker is divorced from the work when it passes to others, but is to stay interested and thankful that others can carry it forward successfully, with all moving forward together in harmony from the lowliest to the most educated, each in his distinctive place doing his best.
By the grace of Christ Paul and Apollos were made what they were and distinguished for spiritual excellencies. By earnest, persevering prayer they obtained the endowment of the Holy Spirit, then went forth weighted with the burden of saving souls and filled with zeal to extend the triumphs of the cross, bringing many from darkness to light and raising up many churches. That same grace and power is just as ready to be given now to devoted Christian missionaries and workers, enabling them to serve rather than leave the work to others. All are therefore to cultivate physical and mental powers to the utmost, gain intelligence and knowledge to work where providence calls, show themselves workers together with God true as steel to principle, and with earnest united prayers of faith reveal the same distinguishing excellence with unmistakable clearness and power.
Party Spirit Is Carnality
Declaring I am of Paul or I am of Apollos and rallying around human leaders with party loyalty, preferences, comparisons and faultfinding is carnal, childish walking as men, marked by envying, strife, jealousy and divisions. Paul and Apollos are only ministers through whom people believed, not rival chiefs to be claimed, each doing only what the Lord gave and assigned to every man. Such faction proves dwarfed growth that leaves members as babes in Christ able to bear only milk and not meat, offended by a plain Thus saith the Lord and ready to rank the faithful teacher as an accuser and faultfinder. It reveals a divisive spirit, narrow comprehension, failure to feed on Christ and grow in grace, and want of the mind and Spirit of Christ, with views and feelings bound about by selfishness and by narrow, conceited wisdom. Instead of jealousy and contention believers are to show the liberality, generosity and tenderness that reveal an abiding Christ.
Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything in himself, for Paul planted and Apollos watered but only God gives the increase, yet planter and waterer are one as laborers together with God while believers are God's husbandry and God's building, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Ministers may differ in emphasis or manner of presenting truth, yet their aim is the same, so no minister is to be condemned for a different presentation and no envy or jealousy is to be cherished, lest pulling away from some brethren while clustering around others bring weakness to the church. One who partakes of the divine nature will not seek to stand at the head of a party, for true workers do not attract people to themselves but to Christ, preaching the truth that makes all one in Christ Jesus.
No believer should link up with the one man under whose labors the light of present truth was received, tie up in separate bundles around human teachers, stand as independent atoms, or refuse harmony with brethren. Those who take sides with the one who brought them light and refuse unity are carnal, babes in Christ, not sanctified through the truth, showing want of meekness and humility and wholehearted kindness and need of a better understanding of the spirit that should control believers in Christ Jesus. Such cementing to a man endangers lame souls and makes claimed conversion a stumbling block to sinners, so those thus cemented need reconversion. All who receive truth in love must make straight paths and live in love and harmonious action, presenting sanctifying truth strengthened by one another, for all are prepared and aided by one Agency and from one great and powerful Source come love and unity.
Paul and Apollos and Cephas are only ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, given for the good of believers, and are no cause for glorying in men. All things are the believers', and believers are Christ's, and Christ is God's, so hearts are to be humbled, men are not to be thought of above what is written, and no one is to be puffed up for one minister against another by showing preferences and comparing one with another to the detriment of the one not preferred. Nor are brethren to be judged because they do not count all words and spirit and actions perfection, for it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, and their judgment belongs to the Lord who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, so nothing is to be judged before the time. Ministers are nothing in themselves to be made centers of party or nationality, and erecting national barriers is a human invention God can never endorse, so men of every nationality must remove every barrier and be one in Christ Jesus in the service of the Master.
There is to be no jealousy and no party cry of Paul or Apollos or Cephas between those in ministry and those in medical missionary work. With varied gifts all are united in one body under Christ the only Leader, to wear Christ's yoke in humility of mind before God and use gifts to bless humanity as His helping hand. All parts of the work are to be controlled and guided by the wisdom God gives, drawing in even cords in harmony in every action without friction, giving room to fellow laborers and not measuring brethren by one's own ideas, for one in whose heart Christ abides will not quarrel with his brother. All must follow no human devising and fasten the soul to no human leader, but stand under the standard of Christ Jesus, united by desire to strengthen His work in every line, following His directions as the Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race, to restore the moral image of God in humanity in His name and for the glory of God, as faithful stewards dying to self and living to Christ.
Clinging to a favorite minister and refusing to accept the labors of another teacher and be profited by them is strong evidence that the truths of the Bible have not sanctified the receivers. The Lord sends help to His church as they need, not as they choose, because short-sighted mortals cannot discern what is for their highest good. Seldom does one minister have all the qualifications needed to perfect a church in all the requirements of Christianity, so God sends other ministers to follow him, one after another, each possessing some qualifications in which the others were deficient. The church should gratefully accept these servants of Christ as they would accept the Master Himself, and seek to derive all possible benefit from the instruction they give from the Word of God, accepting and appreciating in meekness of humility the truths they bring, while ministers themselves are not to be idolized and are to have no religious pets and favorites among the people.
No minister is to be exalted or made a favorite with pomposity and masterly effort to gain the supremacy, for all are God's little children. Giving least affection to proper objects, as when affection due to a wife is given to another and she is made to take second place, and being imprisoned in dangerous sentimental affection, is carnality worked by the enemy, dishonoring God and defiling His building and temple. Christ will take charge of the affections of those who love and honor God and cause them to center on proper objects. Therefore mind and heart must be guarded from impurity in thought, word and deed, with repentance and conversion and turning wholly to God, a husband respecting, cherishing and loving his wife, and all being as true as steel to marriage vows.
Duties of Gospel Workers
The teacher of truth is to know he is God's servant, commissioned to teach truth and wholly dependent on Him for any success attending the labor. God marks out the work and gives each messenger his distinctive work, and while gifts differ all are to blend harmoniously as only instruments of divine grace and power in the one great work of salvation. That consciousness gives energy and diligence with an eye single to the Master's glory, keeping the worker near the cross himself in order to bring sinners to it. He preaches Christ while studiously avoiding calling attention to himself, lest he encumber sacred truth and hinder its saving power.
One who partakes of the divine nature will not seek to stand at the head of a party, for ministers are not rival party leaders to quarrel over. True workers do not attract people to themselves but to Christ, preaching the truth that makes all one in Christ Jesus. The minister must take the humble position belonging to every gospel minister, drawing converts to Christ and not to himself, never thinking he can of himself gain success. He must not bind those who accept truth under his labors to himself as if they were his property, for to exalt self and draw people to self greatly dishonors God. No matter how great and good the work done through him, he gains no ownership over those converted through his instrumentality, and no convert is to place himself under that minister's control. Souls are to be brought direct to Christ, for converts are Christ's property and ever answerable to Him alone, and every person keeps an individuality that no other person can claim.
Ministers are servants through whom people believe, with work and opportunity coming from the Lord, and they should be respected and loved for their service but not idolized. They are not to be given the glory and devotion that belong to God, for the power in the message comes from God and not from the minister. God is to receive the glory and the people's deepest affection, while the minister points them to Jesus.
Though ministers may differ in emphasis or manner of presenting truth, their aim is the same and their service is individual under God. No minister should be condemned for a different presentation, and no envy or jealousy should be cherished against brethren, for pulling away from some for imagined reasons while clustering around others brings weakness to the church. Workers should improve themselves rather than criticize another's work, reading the chapter as teaching that Christian service is individual. God's servants are not to order, control, or judge one another's God-given duties, but each is to seek God directly, be taught by the Holy Spirit, and use the freedom God gives to develop the gift and win souls to Christ. In that freedom each gives room to fellow laborers and refuses to measure brethren by his own ideas.
Human ministers are not the power that changes hearts, and their energy or skill cannot convert souls without divine agency. Teachers must therefore submit methods, plans, and ideas to God's correction and be sanctified daily by the Holy Spirit, because human judgment is imperfect and self can take control. Faith and practice must be energized by the Holy Spirit and not by human power, for human leaders are not the source of faith, wisdom, or spiritual authority. No ruling power should compel men to obey the dictates of the finite mind, and men must cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. Turning minds to lean on human wisdom puts a veil between God and man so that Him who is invisible is not seen, and such reliance must be put away.
From the lowliest worker to the most educated, each has a distinctive place in soul-saving and his own work to do with his best, one fitted for one kind of work and another for another, moving forward together in harmony. The Lord uses some to plow the field and sow the seed and others to reap, as a Paul may plant and an Apollos water while only God gives the increase, and He makes both those who sow and those who reap rejoice together at harvest. No worker is divorced from the work when it passes to others, but should stay interested and thankful that others can carry it forward successfully. The Lord gives to every man his own work and no one man is a complete whole, so the load must be shouldered by men of varied capabilities each doing the work God gave him. A leader who carries too many responsibilities and burdens in his own line will break down and be laid aside unless he changes his program.
By grace workers are made what they are and distinguished for spiritual excellencies, and by earnest persevering prayer they obtain the endowment of the Holy Spirit and go forth weighted with the burden of saving souls, filled with zeal to extend the triumphs of the cross. The same grace and power is just as ready to be given to devoted missionaries and workers today. All are to cultivate physical and mental powers to the utmost of ability and gain intelligence and knowledge to work for God where His providence calls, so that His glory may be revealed with unmistakable clearness and power. Hands are not to be slack, nor are workers to stay at home in ease living only for self, but to show themselves workers together with God, true as steel to principle. With earnest united prayers of faith inspiring Christlike zeal, God will raise up helpers and bless the labor on minds, raising up laborers full of faith and patience and zeal to take the place of some who fall away.
Unity and Personal Application
Paul and Apollos were ministers through whom people came to believe, not rival leaders to be claimed in factions, and what each one did and what each believer received depended on what the Lord gave to every man. Rallying around human leaders with party loyalty, preferences for men, and leaning on them as though eternal life depended on them, with envying and strife and divisions, proves believers are yet carnal and walk as men. Such contentions show narrow, conceited minds bound about by selfishness and reveal that they do not have the mind and Spirit of Christ. Instead believers must come into unison with Christ and reprove strife and divisions, showing the liberality, generosity and tenderness that reveal an abiding Christ and strengthening one another in harmonious action. God is the backing of it all and His power is what makes people, and those who are sincere and earnest and determined to believe the truth will have the truth in rich measure.
Religious leaders are ministers through whom people believe, not the source, authors, or directing power of truth, since God gives each person a part and directs the work. Honor and praise must therefore go to God and His Word rather than fixing thoughts on human instruments. When leaders are praised as though they were the source of truth, they may trust themselves and seek control over the minds and consciences of others, while people look to them instead of God's word, and this can hinder reform. Removing Luther from public view turned attention from him to God, the eternal Author of truth.
The verse is to be thought over at home and personally applied to test readiness for the Lord's coming, because many who think they are prepared are not. Applied with God's help, it calls for separating from all hindrances, knowing the will of God and walking in that pathway. It calls for confessing Christ and telling one's experience, and for coming out of darkness into His marvelous light to become free and all light in the Lord.