1 Corinthians 3:9

God 's. In this and the two following clauses, God is emphatic. "It is of God that ye are the fellow - workers."

Husbandry [γ ε ω ρ γ ι ο ν]. Rev., in margin, tilled land. Only here in the New Testament. Bengel says : "Embracing field, garden, and vineyard." Building [ο ι κ ο δ ο μ η]. Paul's metaphors are drawn from the works and customs of men rather than from the works of nature. "In his epistles," says Archdeacon Farrar, "we only breathe the air of cities and synagogues." The abundance of architectural metaphors is not strange in view of the magnificent temples and public buildings which he was continually seeing at Antioch, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. His frequent use of to build and building in a moral and spiritual sense is noteworthy. In this sense the two words oijkodomew and oijkodomh occur twenty - six times in the New Testament, and in all but two cases in Paul's writings. 84 Peter uses build in a similar sense; 1 Peter 2:5. See edify, edification, build, Acts 9:31; Romans 14:20; 1 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 8:10, where emboldened is literally built up, and is used ironically. Also Romans 14:19; Romans 14:2; 1 Corinthians 14:3; Ephesians 2:21, etc. It is worth noting that in the Epistle to the Hebrews, while the same metaphor occurs, different words are used. Thus in ch. 3 3, 4, built, builded, represent kataskeuazw to prepare. In ch. 11 10, tecnithv artificer, and dhmiourgov, lit., a workman for the public : A. V., builder and maker. This fact has a bearing on the authorship of the epistle. In earlier English, edify was used for build in the literal sense. Thus Piers Ploughman : "I shal overturne this temple and a - down throwe it, and in thre daies after edifie it newe." See on Acts 20:32. In the double metaphor of the field and the building, the former furnishes the mould of Paul's thought in vers. 6 - 9, and the latter in vers. 10 - 17. Edwards remarks that the field describes the raw material on which God works, the house the result of the work.