1 Corinthians 3:13

Plain English Version

One day, Jesus Christ will come back, and then God will show which workers did a good job, like the fire in the picture story shows if part of the house is good or not.

Cross References

Luke 2:35

When they do that, they will show everyone what they really think. And Mary, later you will be really sad. It will hurt, like somebody is stabbing you with a big knife.”

Romans 2:16

God sees everything that everybody does and everything that everybody thinks. Nobody can hide anything from him. One day, God will get Jesus Christ to judge everybody about these things. That is the message that I tell everybody. (The next part, 2:17—3:8, mainly talks to Jewish people, so we have not translated it yet.)

Romans 2:5

If you don’t turn around and come back to God, you just make things worse for yourself. One day, he will get really angry with you. On that day he will judge everybody properly and fairly.

1 Corinthians 1:8

God will keep you believing properly in our leader Jesus Christ, and you will stay strong for him until the day when he will come back from heaven. At that time, nobody will be able to blame you or say that you did anything wrong.

1 Corinthians 3:12

I’ll tell you more of this picture story about the builders. Good builders build with really good things like gold, or silver, or jewels. But other builders don’t work properly, they don’t care, they only use wood, or grass, or leaves. If a fire comes, the parts of the house that are made of wood, or grass, or leaves, those parts will burn up. But the parts that are made of gold, or silver, or jewels, those parts will stay good. So you can know which builders did a good job. Christian workers are like those builders in the picture story. Some Christian workers do a good job and tell God’s word properly, and some don’t do a good job.

1 Corinthians 4:5

So I’m telling you, don’t judge people before the right time comes. You have to wait until our leader Jesus comes back again from heaven. He knows every secret. He will show everyone the secret things that people think about doing. And at that time God will praise each of his good workers, and he will say good things about them.

2 Timothy 1:12

So I tell everyone about him. Those people that don’t like Jesus, they make trouble for me. But I know God, and I believe in him, so I don’t feel shame when I get that trouble. I know that he will look after me right up until the day when Jesus will come back.

2 Timothy 4:8

I followed Jesus all the way, and very soon he will give me a prize, like a sportsman gets a medal after he wins. Jesus will make me properly good, that will be my prize. Jesus, our leader, is a fair judge, and he has got that prize ready to give me on the day that he comes back. And not just to me. He will give that prize to everybody that wants him to come back again, he will make them all properly good.

1 Peter 1:7

You know about gold. It is very special. People put that gold into a fire to make it really clean. The fire makes it better, it burns away all the rubbish that isn’t real gold. But even gold will not last for ever. It belongs to this world. Now think about the troubles that come to us. They make us better because they show that we really trust God. If we keep on trusting him, God will say, “You are very special to me. You are much more special to me than gold.” So keep on trusting God, and after Jesus comes again, God will talk to you like that, and he will make you important.

1 Peter 4:12

My friends, you are following Jesus, and from that you are getting trouble. Don’t be surprised about it. God lets you get that trouble to show that you really trust Jesus.

2 Peter 3:10

But one day our leader, Jesus, will come back, and everybody will get a shock. You know how people get a shock if a robber comes while they are asleep and steals their things? Listen, Jesus Christ will come back suddenly, and people will get a big shock like that. The sky will go away with a very loud noise, and it will not be there any more. Fire will burn up everything in it. And God will finish up all the earth and everything on it.

2 Peter 3:7

And now God is saying his word again in the same way. He is telling the sky and the earth that he will judge them, and he will burn them with fire, and finish them up. That will be the day when God will judge everybody, and he will finish up all the bad people.