1 Corinthians 3:9
New International Version
For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

New Living Translation
For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

English Standard Version
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Berean Standard Bible
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Berean Literal Bible
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

King James Bible
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

New King James Version
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

New American Standard Bible
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

NASB 1995
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

NASB 1977
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Legacy Standard Bible
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Amplified Bible
For we are God’s fellow workers [His servants working together]; you are God’s cultivated field [His garden, His vineyard], God’s building.

Christian Standard Bible
For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

American Standard Version
For we are God's fellow-workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's building.

Contemporary English Version
Apollos and I work together for God, and you are God's garden and God's building.

English Revised Version
For we are God's fellow-workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's building.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
We are God's coworkers. You are God's field. You are God's building.

Good News Translation
For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field. You are also God's building.

International Standard Version
For we are God's co-workers. You are God's farmland and God's building.

Majority Standard Bible
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

NET Bible
We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God's field, God's building.

New Heart English Bible
For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

Webster's Bible Translation
For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Weymouth New Testament
Apollos and I are simply fellow workers for and with God, and you are *God's* field-- *God's* building.

World English Bible
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
for we are fellow-workmen of God; you are God’s tillage, God’s building.

Berean Literal Bible
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Young's Literal Translation
for of God we are fellow-workmen; God's tillage, God's building ye are.

Smith's Literal Translation
For we are workers together with God: the agriculture of God, ye are the building of God.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
For we are God's coadjutors: you are God's husbandry; you are God's building.

Catholic Public Domain Version
For we are God’s assistants. You are God’s cultivation; you are God’s construction.

New American Bible
For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

New Revised Standard Version
For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
For we work together with God: you are God’s work and God’s building.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For we labor with God and you are the crop and the building of God.
NT Translations
Anderson New Testament
For we are fellow-laborers for God: you are God's field, you are God's building.

Godbey New Testament
For we are God's fellow-laborers; ye are God's farm; ye are God's building.

Haweis New Testament
For we are God’s fellowlabourers: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Mace New Testament
For we are fellow labourers employed by God: you are his field, and his mansion.

Weymouth New Testament
Apollos and I are simply fellow workers for and with God, and you are *God's* field-- *God's* building.

Worrell New Testament
For we are God's fellow-workers; ye are God's husbandry, God's building.

Worsley New Testament
For we are fellow-laborers, the servants of God: and ye are the husbandry of God, ye are the building of God.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Fellow Workers
8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds.…

Cross References
Ephesians 2:19-22
Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, / built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. / In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ...

2 Corinthians 6:1
As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

1 Peter 2:5
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Ephesians 4:12
to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,

Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.

Romans 12:4-5
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, / so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.

1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

2 Timothy 2:21
So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.

Hebrews 3:6
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

John 15:1-5
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. / He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. / You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ...

Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

1 Thessalonians 3:2
We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

Isaiah 61:3
to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Psalm 127:1
A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.


Treasury of Scripture

For we are laborers together with God: you are God's husbandry, you are God's building.

we.

1 Corinthians 3:6
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Matthew 9:37
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Mark 16:20
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

ye are God's.

Psalm 65:9-13
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it…

Psalm 72:16
There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

Psalm 80:8-11
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it…

husbandry.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

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Apollos Building Farming Fellow Fellow-Workers Fellow-Workmen Field God's Labourers Planting Simply Tillage Together Workers
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Apollos Building Farming Fellow Fellow-Workers Fellow-Workmen Field God's Labourers Planting Simply Tillage Together Workers
1 Corinthians 3
1. Milk is fit for children.
3. Strife and division, arguments of a fleshly mind.
7. He who plants and He who waters are nothing.
9. The ministers are God's fellow workmen.
11. Christ the only foundation.
16. You are the temples of God, which must be kept holy.
19. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.














For we are God’s fellow workers
The phrase "God’s fellow workers" is derived from the Greek word "synergoi," which means co-laborers or collaborators. This term emphasizes the partnership between God and His servants in the work of the Gospel. Historically, this reflects the early Christian understanding that their mission was a divine collaboration, not merely human effort. The apostles, including Paul, saw themselves as instruments through which God worked to build His church. This partnership is inspirational, reminding believers that their labor in the Lord is not in vain, as they are part of a divine plan and purpose.

you are God’s field
The metaphor of "God’s field" draws from agricultural imagery common in the ancient world, where fields were cultivated for growth and harvest. In the Greek, the word "georgion" is used, which directly translates to a cultivated field. This imagery suggests that the Corinthian believers are the soil in which God plants His seeds of truth, expecting growth and fruitfulness. It highlights the nurturing role of God and His workers in tending to the spiritual development of the church. This metaphor encourages believers to be receptive to God’s word and to allow it to take root and flourish in their lives.

God’s building
The term "building" comes from the Greek "oikodome," which refers to a structure or edifice. This metaphor shifts from agriculture to architecture, illustrating the church as a spiritual structure being built by God. In the historical context, this reflects the idea of the church as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a concept Paul elaborates on in other parts of his letters. The imagery of a building suggests stability, strength, and purpose, with Christ as the foundation. This encourages believers to see themselves as integral parts of a larger, divine construction, each contributing to the strength and beauty of the whole. It is a call to unity and cooperation in the spiritual edification of the church community.

(9) Thrice in this verse the Apostle repeats the name of God with emphasis, to explain and to impress the assertion of the previous verse, that men are to recognise the unity, and God alone the diversity, in the ministerial work and office. "We are GOD'S fellow-labourers; you are GOD'S field--GOD'S house." The image is thus suddenly altered from agriculture to architecture, as the latter can be more amplified, and will better illustrate the great variety of work of which the Apostle proceeds subsequently to speak. This sudden change of metaphor is a characteristic of St. Paul's style; a similar instance is to be found in 2Corinthians 10:4-8, where the illustration given from architecture is used instead of the military metaphor which is employed in the earlier verses of that passage. See also 1Corinthians 9:7, and Ephesians 3:17, and Colossians 2:6-7, where there is the introduction of three distinct images in rapid succession in so many sentences. It has been suggested that possibly the use of the word "field," in the Greek "Georgion," was the cause of the Christian name "George" becoming so popular in the Church.

Verse 9. - God's fellow workers. Throughout the Bible we are taught that God requires the work of man, and that he will not help those who will do nothing for themselves or for him. The world was to be evangelized, not by sudden miracle, but by faithful human labour (Mark 16:20). God's husbandry; rather. God's field, or tilled land. The thought which he desires again and again to enforce is that they belong to God, not to the parties of human teachers. The word" husbandry" may also mean vineyard, and the metaphor is the same as in Isaiah 5:1; Isaiah 27:2; John 15:1; Matthew 13:3-30; Luke 13:6-9; Romans 11:16-24. God's building. This is one of St. Paul's favourite metaphors, as in vers. 16, 17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:20 - 22; Romans 15:20; 2 Timothy 2:19 (comp. 1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 21:14).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
For
γάρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

we are
ἐσμεν (esmen)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

God’s
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

fellow workers;
συνεργοί (synergoi)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4904: A fellow worker, associate, helper. From a presumed compound of sun and the base of ergon; a co-laborer, i.e. Coadjutor.

you are
ἐστε (este)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

God’s
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

field,
γεώργιον (geōrgion)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 1091: A tilled field, cultivation, husbandry. Neuter of a derivative of georgos; cultivable, i.e. A farm.

God’s
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

building.
οἰκοδομή (oikodomē)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3619: Feminine of a compound of oikos and the base of doma; architecture, i.e. a structure; figuratively, confirmation.


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