It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
Parallel translations
- WEB So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
- KJV So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
- BSB So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
- NKJV So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
- NASB So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Neither the planter nor the waterer counts for anything; only God who gives the growth matters. All glory for spiritual fruit belongs to God alone.
Overview
Paul presses his point: human laborers are 'nothing' in comparison to God, who alone produces growth. This is not to deny their usefulness but to deny them any glory that belongs to God. For a church idolizing leaders, the lesson is to look past the servants to the God who works through them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- John 15:5I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
- Gal 6:3For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
- Ps 115:1Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
- 2 Cor 12:9He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- 1 Cor 13:2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
- Isa 40:17All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
- Dan 4:35All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, What are you doing?
- Isa 41:29Behold, all of them, their deeds are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 3:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.