1 Corinthians 13:2

Plain English Version

Suppose we tell people God’s messages, and suppose we know God’s secrets and understand all about everything, and suppose we trust God so strongly that we can get him to move mountains, but if we don’t love other people, we are nothing.

Cross References

Acts 13:1

Barnabas and Saul, and some other men in the church in Antioch, used to tell people God’s messages and teach them God’s word. Those other men were Simeon (his other name was Niger), and Lucius from the country called Cyrene, and Manen (he grew up with Herod, the big boss).

Romans 15:14

My Christian friends, I’m sure that you already know about the things that I wrote in this letter. Before I started to write this letter, I remembered that you are good people and that you know a lot, and you even teach each other about the things I wrote about. But I got brave and started to write to you anyway, to get you to think a bit more about some of those things. God is good to me,

Romans 16:25

God is really great and powerful, so everybody has to tell him that he is good. He can make you strong. This is his message. It is the good news about Jesus Christ. A long time ago, God planned to get both the Jewish people, and the people that are not Jews, to believe in him. But at first he kept it a secret, and he just got the Jewish people to follow him. After that, he got his men to write about it ahead of time, and their words are in his book. Now his message about Jesus is for every nation. It is not just for the Jewish people, but everybody everywhere can trust him, and they can listen to him and do what he wants. God is the only one that can think good enough to make it all work out like that. So everybody has to tell God and Jesus Christ, “You are great.” They have always got to do that for ever. From Paul

1 Corinthians 11:4

So think about that when you meet together, and think about what other people might reckon when they see what you do. If a man prays, or if he tells a message from God in your meeting, he can’t cover his head. If he covers his head, other people will reckon that he isn’t following his leader, and that will shame his leader, Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:28

And God gives people different jobs in his church, and he gives them the power to do those jobs. – 1st, there are Jesus’s special workers, that God sends to other places to tell people his good news. – 2nd, there are those other people that God uses to tell his messages. – 3rd, there are those people that can teach other people. – After that, there are those people that have the power to do great things. – Then there are those people that have the power to make sick people better. – And there are those people that can help other people. – And there are those people that can lead other people. – And there are those people that can talk in special languages.

1 Corinthians 13:1

You see, we can have power from God, but if we don’t love people, we are nothing. Suppose we talk in the languages of other people and even talk in the languages of angels, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless. We will only be making a noise, like somebody banging a drum or hitting a bell.

1 Corinthians 13:3

Suppose we give everything that we have to poor people, and suppose we stay strong for Jesus, even if somebody burns our bodies so that we die, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless.

1 Corinthians 13:8

You know, I talked to you already about the special power that God gives to his people, and now I’m telling you that one day we will stop using that special power. But we can’t stop loving people. If you love somebody properly, you will always love them. But the time will come when God will not need to give us special power any more. When that time comes, God will not tell people his special messages, and God will not get people to talk in special languages, and God will not let people know special things.

1 Corinthians 14:29

And if the Holy Spirit has given some of you the power to tell messages from God, well, 2 or 3 of you can tell those messages. And the other people there have to think carefully about each message and check it, to make sure each message is really from God.

1 Corinthians 14:39

So, my Christian friends, this is what I’m telling you about your meetings. If you want to tell messages from God, that is good. And don’t stop people from talking in special languages.

1 Corinthians 14:4

You see, a person that talks in a special language helps only themselves. But a person that tells messages from God helps all the people in the church to get strong.

1 Corinthians 15:51

Listen, I’m telling you something new. God didn’t tell other people this message before, but it is important. He will change all of us. Some of us will still be alive at that time, but maybe some of us will be dead. It doesn’t matter, God will change all of us.

1 Corinthians 16:22

And I want to say this to anyone that doesn’t love our leader, Jesus, “God will punish you.” And I’m telling Jesus, “Please come back soon.”

1 Corinthians 4:1

So when you think about me and Apollos, remember that we are just workers for Jesus Christ. You see, at first God didn’t tell anyone his message, but now he wants Apollos and me to tell that message to people. That is the special job that God gave us.

1 Corinthians 7:19

It doesn’t matter if you get that Jewish operation, or not. This is what’s important, you have to do what God tells us all to do.

1 Corinthians 8:4

All right, now I will answer your question about the food that people give to those statues that they think are gods. We Christians know that a statue is not really a god at all. We know that there is only the one God.

Galatians 5:16

So this is what I’m telling you, let God’s spirit control your lives, and you will not do any of those bad things that make you feel good.

Galatians 5:22

But if God’s spirit controls people, he gets them to do good things. You know that a good fruit tree always gets good fruit on it. Well, like that, a person with God’s spirit does good things. If you let God’s spirit lead you, he will get you to love God and to love other people. And you will be happy. And you will feel good and quiet inside yourself so that you will not fight with other people. God’s spirit inside you will help you be good to people and not get angry, even if they give you trouble. And he will get you to be friendly to other people, and he will get you to do good things. He will make you the sort of person that other people can trust.

Galatians 6:3

Don’t think that you are too important to help other Christians. If you are not very important, but you reckon you are really important, then you are just tricking yourself.

Ephesians 3:4

When you read those words, you will understand that I know what God planned about Christ.

Ephesians 6:19

And pray for me too. Ask God to give me the right words to say every time I start to tell people the good news about Jesus. Pray that I will not be too frightened to tell them that message properly. God kept it secret for a long time,

Colossians 1:26

At first, God didn’t let anyone know what he planned to do. He kept that plan a secret for a really long time. But now he is showing it to his people.

1 Timothy 3:16

God shows us something about Jesus that is really true, and nobody can argue with it. He shows us that Jesus is really great, He came in a man’s body for people to see, but the Holy Spirit showed us that he was really from God. And God’s angel messengers saw him too. The people that believed in him told other people everywhere about him. They even went to other countries to tell people about him, and people all over the world believed in him. And God took him up into heaven.