1 Corinthians 3:6

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλὼς ἐπότισεν· ἀλλʼ ὁ Θεὸς ηὔξανεν.

Transliteration

Egō ephyteusa, Apollōs epotisen; but the Theos ēuxanen.

Grammar Details

• *Egō*: personal pronoun, 1st person singular, nominative - I
• *ephyteusa*: aorist active indicative, 1st person singular - I planted
• *Apollōs*: proper noun, masculine, nominative, singular - Apollos
• *epotisen*: aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular - he watered
• *Theos*: noun, masculine, nominative, singular - God
• *ēuxanen*: imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular - was giving growth

Word Meanings

• *ephyteusa*: planted/established
• *epotisen*: watered/nourished
• *ēuxanen*: was causing to grow/was increasing

Referenced Verses

• Acts 18:26-27 : 26 He began to speak out fearlessly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately. 27 When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he assisted greatly those who had believed by grace,
• Acts 18:4-9 : 4 He addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them. 5 Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them,“Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!” 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized. 9 The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night,“Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, 10 because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
• 1 Cor 1:30 : 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
• 1 Cor 3:9-9 : 9 We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.
• Prov 11:25 : 25 A generous person will be enriched, and the one who provides water for others will himself be satisfied.
• 1 Cor 9:1 : 1 The Rights of an Apostle Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
• 2 Cor 10:14-15 : 14 For we were not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach as far as you, because we were the first to reach as far as you with the gospel about Christ. 15 Nor do we boast beyond certain limits in the work done by others, but we hope that as your faith continues to grow, our work may be greatly expanded among you according to our limits,
• 1 Thess 1:5 : 5 in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction(surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you).
• 1 Cor 9:7-9 : 7 Who ever serves in the army at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not consume its milk? 8 Am I saying these things only on the basis of common sense, or does the law not say this as well? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses,“Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” God is not concerned here about oxen, is he? 10 Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest. 11 If we sowed spiritual blessings among you, is it too much to reap material things from you?
• 1 Cor 15:1-9 : 1 Christ’s Resurrection Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you– unless you believed in vain. 3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received– that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them– yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.
• 2 Cor 3:2-5 : 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
• Isa 55:10-11 : 10 The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat. 11 In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.”
• Isa 61:11 : 11 For just as the ground produces its crops and a garden yields its produce, so the Sovereign LORD will cause deliverance to grow, and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations.
• Acts 11:18 : 18 When they heard this, they ceased their objections and praised God, saying,“So then, God has granted the repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”
• Acts 14:27 : 27 When they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported all the things God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.
• Acts 16:14 : 14 A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearing woman, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.
• Ps 62:9 : 9 Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air.
• Ps 62:11 : 11 God has declared one principle; two principles I have heard: God is strong,
• Ps 92:13-15 : 13 Planted in the LORD’s house, they grow in the courts of our God. 14 They bear fruit even when they are old; they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. 15 So they proclaim that the LORD, my protector, is just and never unfair.
• Ps 127:1 : 1 A song of ascents, by Solomon. If the LORD does not build a house, then those who build it work in vain. If the LORD does not guard a city, then the watchman stands guard in vain.
• 1 Cor 4:14-15 : 14 A Father’s Warning I am not writing these things to shame you, but to correct you as my dear children. 15 For though you may have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, because I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
• Acts 18:24 : 24 Apollos Begins His Ministry Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker, well-versed in the scriptures.
• Acts 19:1 : 1 Disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went through the inland regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples there
• Acts 21:19 : 19 When Paul had greeted them, he began to explain in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
• Rom 15:18 : 18 For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in order to bring about the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,