Colossians 2:18

Plain English Version

There are some people that tell lies and say, “God has shown us special things.” Those people think up their own ideas, and that makes them feel smart. But they tell you that they are not smart, and then they tell you to show respect to God’s angel messengers, as if those angels are God. But they are trying to trick you. Don’t take any notice of those people, and don’t believe those lies.

Cross References

Genesis 3:13

Then God said to the woman, “Why did you do that bad thing?” The woman said, “That snake tricked me. That’s the reason why I ate that fruit.”

Romans 1:25

They didn’t want the true story about God. They wanted to believe a lie, and they respected the things that God made instead of respecting God himself. You know, God is really great, and everyone has to tell him, “You are really good.” And they have to keep on doing it for ever. Yes, that’s right, but people didn’t respect God like that.

Romans 16:18

They don’t work for our leader, Jesus Christ, but they just work for themselves. They try to trick people. They talk really nicely to people and say good things about them. They do that to get whatever they want for themselves. They trick people that don’t think about it properly.

1 Corinthians 13:4

If we love people, we will be good to them, and we will not get angry with people that give us trouble. If we love people, we will not be jealous of them. If we love people, we will not reckon we are better than they are, and we will not think we are really good when we are not good.

1 Corinthians 3:3

Even though you are Christians you still don’t live like Christians. You still let your old human spirits control you. You want things that other people have. And you argue with each other. That shows that you are letting your human spirits control you, not the Holy Spirit. You are still like people that don’t know God.

1 Corinthians 4:18

You see, some of you reckon you are really great, and you say, “Paul is frightened to come back here.”

1 Corinthians 4:6

My Christian friends, I’ve been talking about Apollos and me, to help you to understand the things we teach you. You know that wise people say this, “Don’t do anything more than what is in God’s book.” We want to help you learn what that means. You see, nobody can say that one person is better than another person.

1 Corinthians 8:1

I will answer your next question now, about those statues that some people make, and they think those statues are gods. They give food to those statues, and they reckon the statues give that food power. Then those people eat that food, or they sell it to other people. And you Christians asked me, “Can we eat that food that they gave to those statues?” That’s what you asked me. Well, before I answer your question, I want you to remember this. All of us know something, but if we think we know more than other people, we start thinking wrong, like we reckon we are really smart. No, we can’t try to be smart. Instead, we have to love people. If we love other people, it helps them to get strong.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Now think about the people that run in a race. They all run, but only one of them wins that race and gets the prize. Well, we have to be like those people that run in a race. We have to try hard to win. That is, we have to try hard to do whatever God wants, so that in the end God will give us new life. That will be like our prize.

Ephesians 4:17

I’m telling you this message that our leader, Jesus, wants me to tell you, so you have to take notice of it. Don’t live any more like the people that don’t know God. They can’t think straight.

Ephesians 5:6

Don’t believe anyone that says you can do those bad things. Don’t let them trick you. Don’t believe their lies. God will get really angry with people that do those bad things, and he will punish those people that will not listen to him or do what he says.

Philippians 3:14

I keep trying to be like Jesus, so that God will take me up to properly join up with Jesus. That will be my prize.

Colossians 2:23

Those laws might sound like they are good, but they are useless. They get people to do things that hurt their bodies, and then they think they are good, and they think it makes God happy. But even when people try to follow those laws, they still can’t stop themselves from going wrong. Their bodies still make them want to do bad things, and then they do those bad things. So those laws are useless.

Colossians 2:4

I’m telling you these things so that you will not listen to people that teach lies. They might talk in a way that sounds good, but they are liars.

Colossians 2:8

Some people might try to make you believe some ideas about God that are wrong. Those ideas didn’t come from Jesus Christ, but they came from bad spirits, and from the people of this world. People taught those ideas to their kids, and to their grand-kids. But those ideas are not true. They might sound good, but they are tricky lies. Be careful. Don’t believe them.

1 Timothy 1:7

They reckon they teach the law that God gave to Moses, and they want everybody to respect them. They talk strongly, like they know all about that law, and they think they are always right. But really, they are all mixed up. They don’t understand that law properly, and they don’t know what they are talking about.

1 Timothy 4:1

The Holy Spirit tells us clearly about things that will happen in the last days of this world. He says that some people will stop believing the true word from God. Instead, they will believe lies that come from bad spirits. Those bad spirits will trick them, and they will believe those lies.

2 Peter 2:14

They are always looking for a woman to sleep with, like a man sleeps with his wife. They do bad things, and they keep looking for more bad things to do. If somebody doesn’t strongly trust Christ, those people will trick that person and get them to go wrong. They are really greedy, wanting lots of money and things. They are the sort of people that God says he will properly punish.