"Besides evidencing a misapprehension of the gospel itself, the Corinthians' slogans bespeak a totally inadequate perception of the church and its ministry."67
3:5 Paul, Apollos, and, of course, Cephas were only servants of Christ each serving in his own way and sphere of opportunity under the Master's direction.
3:6-8 Obviously God deserved more credit for the church in Corinth than either its planter or its nurturer. Next to Him the others were nothing. Human laborers are all equal in that they are human laborers with human limitations. Nevertheless the Lord will reward each one at the judgment seat of Christ because of his or her work. Note that it is our labor that will be the basis of our reward, not the fruit of our labor.
3:9 Paul and Apollos were fellow workers forGod. Elsewhere Paul spoke of believers as fellow workers withGod (2 Cor. 6:1), but that was not his point here. The Corinthians were the field in view in the preceding illustration (vv. 6-8). Paul now compared them to a building. He proceeded to develop this illustration in the following verses (vv. 10-17). This verse is transitional.
To help the Corinthians abandon the party spirit that marked their church, Paul stressed the equality of their teachers as fellow workers underGod's sovereign authority (vv. 5-9).
"Everything is God's--the church, its ministry, Paul, Apollos--everything. Therefore, it is absolutely not permissible to say I belong to Paul,' since the only legitimate slogan' is we all belong to God.'"68
"A sermon on our text [3:1-9] would focus on the attitudes of preachers and congregations about one another as they relate to the gospel of the cross. Peruse this brief sermon sketch:
"I belong to Paul.' I belong to Apollos.' Familiar cries in a world of hi-tech religion. See huge Sunday crowds squint under the glare of spotlights as their' preachers dazzle millions of electronic viewers with wisdom and rhetorical charm. Overhear the Christian public admire TV evangelists and big-time clergy: Oh, I like to listen to _____.' Well, he's O.K. but I like _____ better.' You fill in the blanks. Yes, everyone has their favorite preacher nowadays. In spite of all the notorious hucksters, preacher religion' is in. The result? An increasingly fragmented church. I belong to Paul and you don't.' It is enough to make Corinth look tame by comparison."69
