1 Corinthians 4:1

Plain English Version

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.

Cross References

Matthew 24:45

Then Jesus said to the people, “Think about a good work-man. He will always do what his boss says. He thinks about it and does it properly. So, if the boss has to go away for a while, he will pick that good work-man to be in charge of all his other workers, to look after them and give them food every day.

Mark 4:11

Jesus said, “You mob follow me, so God wants you to know what my stories are all about, so I will tell you what they mean. Those stories are about how God gets people into his family. But other people don’t follow me, so they only get the picture stories. I will not tell them what they mean.

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 2:7

No, the wise and good things that we talk about are the things that belong to God. He planned those things a long time ago, before he made the world, but he didn’t tell anybody about them until now.

1 Corinthians 3:5

Just think about Apollos and me, Paul. We are not important bosses. We are only workers for God. God gave each of us our jobs, and we helped you believe in Jesus Christ. I’ll use picture talk now. Think about a garden. One worker plants seeds, and another worker puts water on the young plants to help them grow properly. But it is God that makes the seeds grow up to be big plants. The worker that plants the seeds is not important, and the worker that gives water to the plants is not important. The important one is God. He makes the plants grow. Well, that picture story about a garden is a picture of you mob. God is making you grow like he makes those plants grow. And Apollos and me, we work in God’s team, just like those workers in that garden. I started telling you about Jesus, and Apollos taught you more about him. We both want you to have life, but we can’t give you new life. God is the one that gives you new life. We are just his workers, and you know, God will pay each of us for our work.

1 Corinthians 4:13

If people say bad things about us, we answer with good words. But people keep on treating us like we are the world’s worst rubbish.

1 Corinthians 4:2

And, you know, if a boss gives his worker an important job, the worker has to be careful to do it properly.

Ephesians 1:9

God planned it all a long time ago, and nobody knew about it. But now he let us know about it. He told us that he is using Jesus to do the things he planned, things that make him happy.

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 2:2

I’m working like this to help you be strong, so that all of you will be joined together by loving each other. You see, I want you to know and properly understand God’s plan to use Jesus Christ to save people. Then you will be really sure about it, and that will make you really happy.

Colossians 4:3

And pray for us too. Ask God to make a way for us to tell more people about Jesus Christ. We want to clearly tell them the message about God’s plan to use Jesus to save them. You know, I told that message to some people, and they didn’t like it, so they put me in jail.

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.

1 Timothy 3:6

He has to be a man that has been a Christian for a long time, not a new Christian. A new Christian might start to think he is smart, and God might have to throw him out, like he threw the devil out after the devil thought he was smart. That devil is now the boss over the bad spirits. –

1 Timothy 3:9

They have to really believe the things that God has shown us. And they have to always do the right thing, so that they will not feel bad about what they do. –

Titus 1:7

Church leaders are in charge of God’s work on earth, so they have to be really good people, and then nobody will say anything bad about them. Whenever you pick people to be church leaders, – Don’t pick people that think they are better than everyone else. – Don’t pick people that get angry too easily. – Don’t pick people that drink a lot of grog. – Don’t pick people that get into fights. – Don’t pick greedy people, that want lots of money and things.

1 Peter 4:10

God has given each one of you different ways to do good for each other. He has given you the power to do them, so you have to do them properly.