God’s Field, God’s Building: Co-Workers in His Eternal Work
1 Corinthians 3:7–9 declares: "So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.”
This powerful passage calls the Church to humility, unity, and full dependence on God. Paul reminds us that no ministry succeeds by human strength.
As Psalm 127:1 affirms, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” The one who plants (like Paul) and the one who waters (like Apollos) are simply servants. It is God alone who causes spiritual life to flourish (John 3:6; John 15:5).
God calls each believer to labor faithfully in His field. Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37–38).
However, our reward is not based on visible results, but on obedience to God and loyalty to God (1 Corinthians 4:2; Galatians 6:9).
As God’s “building,” we are being fitted together into a spiritual temple (Ephesians 2:21–22). Christ is the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), and each of us must build carefully, with reverence and holiness (Hebrews 12:28–29).
But if a person wants to truly understand and abide by the meaning of this passage, he must "love the Lord your God with all his heart, all his spirit, and all his mind", abide by the commandments of Jesus, and do the will of the Father.
As James 1:22 urges, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Only such wholehearted disciples can be faithful co-workers with God, bearing fruit that will remain (John 15:16), and bringing glory to God alone.
