Leaders: Who Gets the Credit?

Word of the Week

July 19, 2025

Leaders: Who Gets the Credit?

 

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:6 ESV

Strong leaders are hard to ignore.

Dr. John MacArthur passed away recently, leaving behind an influential church, a college and seminary, a worldwide radio ministry, and a remarkable collection of writings.  Although a host of others labored to make these achievements possible, it is only natural to see them as the legacy of a remarkably gifted man.

Like most leaders, he could spark controversy.  Some revered him; others criticized him.  But you couldn’t ignore him.

We can all think of other leaders who have left their imprint on the churches or ministries they have served.  If you have belonged to a specific church very long, you have seen pastors come and go.  Each one brings something new to the congregation’s life.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to compare one leader with another.  “I like Brother Smith’s sermons better!”  “But Pastor Jones will visit you in the hospital!”

The impulse is so universal that it surfaced in the first century church.  The Christians in the Greek city of Corinth had deteriorated into a free for all of competing factions, each promoting a different leader.  Some were loyal to Paul, the founding apostle.  Others preferred Apollos, a younger preacher who had followed Paul.  One group wished that Peter was their leader, and a fourth bunch refused to recognize anyone other than Jesus Himself!

This squabble was so destructive that Paul spent the first four chapters of his letter to them exposing their faulty understanding of church leadership.  He sums up his argument in a single verse that is even more powerful when you read it in the original Greek.

What reality had the Corinthians overlooked?

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).

1. Human leaders are important.

The Corinthian church had flourished under two great leaders.

Paul was the founding pastor.  He had arrived in Corinth to plant a new church in that community.  Acts 18 tells the story of his initial ministry there, lasting 18 months (Acts 18:11).  Many of the believers there came to faith under the preaching of Paul, and he set the church on a firm foundation.  Then he moved on to spread the gospel elsewhere.

Apollos arrived in Corinth after Paul left.  Mentored by Priscilla and Aquila, this eloquent teacher came to town to encourage the church there. He carried on a powerful outreach to the Jewish community, building on the solid base of Paul’s work.

Each man helped build the church in Corinth.  They were different in personality and they had different tasks.  Paul used the imagery of farming to clarify the difference.

“I planted” – Sowing the seed is the first step in growing a crop.  That was Paul’s job.  He made sure the seed was in the soil, taking care to ensure that started to grow.

“Apollos watered” – Plants only grow with regular watering.  If it doesn’t rain, you have to provide water.  The Greek word here means to provide liquid to a person, animal or plant.  Apollos had the responsibility of providing continued nourishment for the church sprouting up in the city.

However, as any gardener knows, planting and watering do not guarantee a crop.  My wife plants lots of flowers and makes sure that they get the water they need.  But they don’t all flourish.  Some produce beautiful blooms; others do nothing.

As Paul points out, our efforts can’t produce spiritual growth.  Regardless of the human effort involved, “God gave the growth.”

The Corinthians were foolish enough to think that the human leader is the key to growth.  Paul reminds us that it all depends on God.

The point becomes even stronger when you notice the Greek verbs in this verse.

Greek has more than one verb tense to show action in the past, and Paul switches the verb tense halfway through this verse.

When he says, “I planted” and “Apollos watered,” he uses the aorist tense, which describes a simple action in the past.  It tells you that something has happened without going into extra detail about how long it took.  An event either happened or didn’t happen.

Paul planted the church at a certain time.  Apollos came later and served for a particular time.  Those were two episodes in the history of the church in Corinth.

However, when Paul declares, “God gave the growth,” he changes to the imperfect tense, which is used most often to describe continued action that keeps on happening.

In other words, God was the one who was continually working behind the scenes causing the church to grow.  Paul and Apollos could come and go, but the church could still flourish because God was the one who actually produced that growth.

We should respect human leaders.  We are grateful that the Lord sends them to make an impact on our needy world.  But no human can take credit for the work of God.  After all, it’s His garden and He is the one who makes the flower grow!

 

Study Hint:

People who know Greek may complain that I have oversimplified the explanation of aorist and imperfect verb tenses.  They’re right!  There is a lot to say about the way Greek verb tenses work, and we don’t have room to do a full explanation here.

If you would like to explore this topic more fully, you can go to ezraproject.com.  Click on “Grammar” on the tool bar at the top of the page, and you’ll find several pages that expand your understanding of Greek verb tenses.

 

Coming Up

Let’s do one more Greek study that expands your understanding of a particular verse.  Next week we will look at the Great Commission!

Ezra Project 2025