Faith, wisdom & charity: So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:7

The apostle Paul founded the Church of Corinth during his second missionary journey, where he preached for more than a year, and several years later, during his third missionary journey, probably while in Ephesus, he dedicated to the members of that Church a beautiful epistle that is known in the New Testament as the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
One of the main problems during the course of the first century after Christ was that there were no written gospels, and the transmission of the teachings of the faith was oral. So the difference between the teachings of the different masters of the new Christian faith could differ a lot, and Paul, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, had to face that problem. And this problem reached such a point after Paul left the city of Corinth, that the apostle mentioned in his first letter to the Church of Corinth a certain Apollos with whom the apostle evidently had differences. The possibility of a schism within the Church could not be ignored, and this was due to the influence of pagan doctrines such as Gnosticism, which the apostle Paul, with his experience, knew perfectly well.
But Paul also knew the importance of the spiritual gifts given to believers, something he himself witnessed with the first conversions. Gifts such as charity, faith, and wisdom greatly enriched the new Christians who were converted by the power of his preaching. This is why, when referring to his rivalry with Apollos, the apostle acknowledged the supremacy of the Holy Spirit and his gifts to believers with these words: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow" 1 Corinthians 3:6-7.
And this teaching of Paul is reminiscent of the parables of Jesus, parables such as the parable of the sower, the parable of the yeast, and the parable of the mustard seed, which teach how the Kingdom of God, with its gifts, implies change, growth, and personal transformation in believers. Paul was ultimately the greatest theologian of spiritual gifts during the early church, and his teachings on faith, wisdom, and love continue to inspire Christians to this day.

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