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Ambrosiaster

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,043 passages across 16 books

Commentary

41–60 of 1,043
1 Corinthians 3:6

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

To plant is to evangelize and to bring to faith, to water is to baptize with the approved form of words. To forgive sins, however, and to give the Spirit belongs to God alone. We know that the Holy Spirit is given by God without the laying on of hands, and it has happened that an unbaptized person has received the forgiveness of his sins. Was such a person invisibly baptized, considering that he received the gift which belongs to baptism?

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:7

So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

In relation to God’s honor, human honor is nothing. As far as the ministry is concerned, a man may be honored in the way that a servant is honored.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:8

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

Even though they are equal, the one who preaches the gospel is still greater than the one who baptizes and will receive a greater reward.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:10

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

The wise master builder is one who preaches the same gospel as that which was preached by the Savior. Afterward other people build on the foundation, sometimes well and sometimes badly. We need to pay attention to make sure that what we build coheres with the foundation, because if it is crooked or lightweight it will collapse, though the foundation itself will remain intact. Even when people have taught badly, the name of Christ endures, because it is the foundation, although the bad teaching collapses.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:11

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Nobody can lay another foundation, because even if some people are heretics, they do not teach except in the name of Christ. They cannot commend the inventions of their error in any other way. So through the dignity of his name they try to make contradictory and absurd ideas acceptable.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:13

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

In the fire, bad teaching will become clear to everyone, though for the moment it is deceiving some.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:14

If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

If anyone’s work proves lasting, he will receive his wage. He will be just like the three brothers in the fiery furnace, destined to receive as his wage heavenly life with glory.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:15

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

To suffer loss is to endure reproof. For what person, when subjected to punishment, does not lose something thereby? Yet the person himself may be saved. His living soul will not perish in the same way that his erroneous ideas will. Even so, however, he may suffer punishments of fire. He will be saved only by being purified through fire.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:16

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

It is necessarily the case that God lives in his own temple. Note that because he says that the Spirit of God lives in us, the word God must be taken to refer to the Holy Spirit [in this verse].

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:17

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Paul says this in order to prick the consciences of those who have corrupted their bodies through evil living, especially the man who was having an affair with his father’s wife..

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:18

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

Here Paul is returning to what he said [in the first chapter].

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1 Corinthians 3:20

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Knowing that their thoughts are vain, God rebukes their wisdom in order to prove that they are foolish, showing that what they thought was false is true and vice versa.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:21

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

Human reasoning is unwise and weak, so one should not glory in man but in God, whose word cannot be altered. Whatever human beings think apart from God is foolishness.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 3:23

And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

We are Christ’s because we were made by him, both physically and spiritually.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 4:1

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Paul says this because some of the Corinthians were denigrating him. He did not preach anything different from the apostles. By calling himself a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God, Paul implicitly points out who the false apostles are. He denies that what they preach is of Christ, because it is not in accord with apostolic tradition.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 4:3

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

It is obvious that Paul was not worried about himself because he had a clear conscience.

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1 Corinthians 4:5

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

God will judge in his own good time. A judge is insulted if a servant presumes to pronounce a verdict before the judge makes the decision known.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 4:7

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Paul wrote this to people who thought that it was better to be baptized by some people rather than by others, who had been led astray by their eloquence and who by some trick believed that perverse teachings were right. In fact, everything these people had they had received from the apostle.

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1 Corinthians 4:10

We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

Those who love Christ are fools as far as the world is concerned.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

1 Corinthians 4:14

I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

Paul is acting here like a good physician who alleviates the pain caused by his operation to remove the disease, so that the sick person will let himself be cured.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

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