So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Paul wrote this letter to a Christian community in Corinth, Greece, that was splitting into factions over which teacher they preferred — Paul or a teacher named Apollos. Paul confronts this directly using a farming metaphor: one person plants the seed, another comes along to water it, but neither of them is the reason the plant actually grows. Only God causes real growth. Paul's point is that placing excessive importance on any human teacher, leader, or method misunderstands how spiritual transformation works. The people doing the planting and watering are servants — not the source. This verse is a humbling corrective for both pride in human achievement and discouragement over human limitations.
God, I confess I want to see what my effort produces — and when I don't, I start to wonder if any of it matters. Help me plant and water faithfully without needing to be the one who makes things grow. You hold the outcomes. I just need to keep showing up. Amen.
You've probably poured yourself into something that didn't seem to take root. A friendship you invested years in that still fell apart. A child you raised carefully who walked away from everything you hoped for them. A prayer you brought to God every morning for a long time, still apparently unanswered. Paul's words here are aimed at the Corinthians' arrogance — but they land with equal force on our discouragement. You are not the one who makes things grow. You never were. That job was never yours to carry. And here's what's quietly revolutionary about that: it frees you. Your job is to plant. To water. To show up with what's in your hands and do it faithfully — not because the outcome depends on you, but because faithfulness is its own whole, complete thing. You can pour into people without needing to be the one who transforms them. You can do your small, unglamorous, consistent thing and trust Someone bigger with what happens next. That's not passivity. That's actually one of the most difficult forms of trust there is — acting without controlling, loving without owning the result.
What was the actual problem in the Corinthian church that prompted Paul to write this verse, and why was it spiritually dangerous?
Where in your own life do you struggle most to do the faithful thing without needing to control or witness the outcome?
Does this verse give people an excuse for laziness or lack of effort? How do you hold faithfulness and releasing results in the same hand?
How might this perspective change the way you relate to colleagues, fellow believers, or friends who seem to get more credit for work you both contributed to?
What is one area of your life where you need to simply show up faithfully this week and consciously release the outcome to God?
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Hosea 10:12
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Psalms 90:17
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
Ecclesiastes 11:6
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:26
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Galatians 6:3
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing .
John 15:5
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
John 15:16
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Psalms 127:1
So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but [only] God who causes the growth.
AMP
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
ESV
So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
NASB
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
NIV
So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
NKJV
It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.
NLT
It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow.
MSG