Apostles And Servants

Quid igitur est Apollo? Quid vero Paulus? Ministri ejus, cui credidistis. Ut quia ministri sunt spes in his non sit, sed in Deo, cujus ministri sunt. Illi enim gratiarum actio deferenda est, cujus donum est; hi vero servi, quos etiam invitos oportet. Numquid non Moyses coactus est ire ad Pharaonem; et Jonas invitius missus est praedicare Ninivitis, et Ananias contradicens missus est Saulo manum imponere? Et unicuique sicut Dominus dedit. Id est, sicut voluit, et scivit?, divisit singulis efficia ministerii Ego plantavi, Apollo rigavit, sed Deus incrementum dedit. Plantare est evangelizare, et ad fidem attrahere: rigare vero, baptizare solemnibus verbis: peccata autem dimittere, et Spiritum dare, Dei solius. Si ergo effectum salutis Deus dat, nulla gloria in hac re hominis est. Scimus enim et Spiritum sanctum sine manus impositione datum a Deo, et non baptizatum consecutum remissionem peccatorum. Numquid non hic invisibiliter baptizatus est, quanod baptismatis consecutus est? Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Primam, Caput I Source: Migne PL 17.198c-199a

What, then, is Apollos? What Paul? His servants, of the One you have believed in...1 So that because they are servants there should be no hope placed in them but rather in God whose servants they are. To Him thanksgiving should be given, to Him who gives the gift. They are servants, and even if they are unwilling. Did not Moses go under constraint to Pharaoh? Was not Jonah unwilling when he was sent to preach to the Ninivites? And did not Ananias protest when he was sent to place his hands on Saul? 2 And as the Lord gives to each one... That is, as He wishes and knows, He distributes to each one useful services. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth... To plant is to evangelise, and to draw to the faith. To water is to baptise with solemn words. But to forgive sins and to give the Spirit belongs to God alone. If therefore God gives the reward of salvation, there is no glory in it for a man. For we know the Holy Spirit has been given by God without the placing on of hands, and that forgiveness of sins has been given without baptism. Is it not that he has been baptised invisibly when that which belongs to baptism follows? Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The First Letter of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 1 1 1 Cor 3.5 2 Exod 3.18-4.17, Jonah 1.1-3, Acts 9.10-19