1 Corinthians 4:15

Plain English Version

I’m like a father to you. I was the first person to tell you the good news about Jesus Christ, and he gave your spirits new life, so I’m your spiritual father on this earth. And even if you have lots of other people teaching you about God, I was the first person to tell you about him, so I’m the only one that is like your father in Christian things.

Cross References

Romans 15:20

I always want to tell that good story to people that have never heard about Jesus Christ. I don’t want to go to places where somebody else already told them about Jesus, and just tell them a bit more. No, I want to go and tell people that haven’t heard about Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:30

But as for you, God joined you to Jesus Christ. You and us together, Jesus helps us to be wise, like God. And Jesus makes us to be God’s friends, so that he will tell us we are all right. And Jesus makes us God’s own special people too. Jesus died to pay for us and set us free from everything that is wrong.

1 Corinthians 15:1

My Christian friends, I want you to remember the good news that I taught you. You listened to that message and believed it, and you still strongly believe it.

1 Corinthians 3:10

This is the picture story. One builder starts to build a house. First, he puts cement down on the ground for the building to stand on. That cement is called the foundation. Then other builders build the house on that cement foundation. This story is a picture of you getting into God’s family. God was good to me and gave me the power to work for him. I told you about Jesus, and it is like I put down a good foundation for you at that time. And now other Christian workers are teaching you more about Jesus. They are like the builders that build on that foundation. They have to do it properly. Jesus is the only strong foundation. Nobody can put down any other foundation for God’s family.

1 Corinthians 9:12

Other people ask you to give them things, and that’s all right for them, so it has to be all right for us too. But we never ask you to give us anything. You see, if we ask for things when we tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, some of them will not listen to that good news. But we want everybody to listen to our message about Jesus, so we never ask anybody for anything. We reckon it’s better to go short of things.

1 Corinthians 9:14

And just like that, our leader Jesus said that his workers have to get something too. He said that the people that hear the good news and get new life, they have to give something to the people that told them that good news, so that Jesus’s workers get the food and other things that they need.

1 Corinthians 9:16

You see, God told me to tell the good news to everyone, so I’ve got to do it. If I don’t tell people that good news, God will give me big trouble. So I can’t say, “I’m really good. I tell people that good news.” No. I can’t do that.

1 Corinthians 9:18

And I’m very happy when I can give everyone that good news for nothing. That is like my pay. You see, it is all right for me to ask them for those things. I know that. But I don’t do it.

1 Corinthians 9:23

I do all these things so that I can help more people hear the good news about Jesus Christ, so that I can be happy, together with all the people that believe in Jesus.

Galatians 4:19

Listen, I got you to believe in Jesus, so you are like my own kids to me. But now you are hurting me a lot. You know, when a woman has a baby, that baby gives her a lot of pain. Well, just like that, you are giving me a lot of pain. And I will keep on feeling this pain until you properly change to be like Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 4:3

You see, people are getting less interested in true stories. One day, they will not listen to good people that teach the true message, but instead they will listen to somebody that says strange things. And they will find teachers that will just say whatever people want to hear.

Titus 1:4

Titus, you and me, we both believe the same things about God, so you are like my own son. I am asking God our father, and Jesus Christ, to be good to you, and to make you feel happy and quiet inside yourself. You know, Jesus saves us.

Philemon 1:19

This is me, Paul, writing this with my own hand so you can be sure I mean it, I will pay that money back to you. But remember you already got a lot from me. I told you about Jesus, and he gave you real life.

James 1:18

He wanted us to be in his own family, so he sent his true word to us. And when we believed that word it was like we were born all over again. That’s how he made us his really special people.

1 Peter 1:23

God gave you new life. It’s not like the life you got from your mother and father. That life will end. But when you listened properly to God’s message, he gave you new life, like you got born again. Your new life will not end, because God’s word will never finish up. It lives for ever.