Ephesians 4:5Plain English VersionWe all have only one leader, Jesus. There is only one true message that we all believe, the good news about Jesus. We all went through that one ceremony called baptism, to show that we follow Jesus. See the chapter |
Listen, that’s not right. Don’t split up into groups like that. If you do that, it’s like you are splitting up Jesus Christ. Stop and think about it. Did I, Paul, die for you on a cross? No way. And when Christian leaders baptised you, when they took you through that special washing ceremony, did they baptise you to show that you belonged to me, Paul? No way.
Some of us are Jews, and the rest of us are not Jews. Some of us are free, and some of us are like prisoners that have to work for no pay. But no matter what we are, God put his spirit into all of us, that is, he baptised us in his spirit. He did that to join us together into one body. Now we all have that same Holy Spirit in us.
But we Christians know that those statues are nothing at all. We know there is only one God. He is our father. He made everything, and we want to do whatever he wants, as long as we live. And there is only one true boss. He is Jesus Christ. He worked with God, and together they made everything. And Jesus gives us Christians real life.
God will keep on using the people with this spiritual power until we all join in together, and we all work together properly. We all believe in God’s son, so we all have to work together, and we all have to get to know Jesus better. Then we, God’s people, will become like Jesus Christ himself. We will become what God wants us to be.
Yes, they are useless. But I know Jesus Christ. That is the only important thing. He is my leader, and he is really special to me now. I have left every other way, and I only follow him now. I reckon all those other things are rubbish, and I have chucked them away, so that I can join up with Jesus Christ,
Dear Titus, I am Paul, and this letter is from me. I work for God, and I am one of Jesus Christ’s special workers. God sent me to teach people about Jesus Christ, and to help his people believe in him more. And he sent me to help people understand his message better. Then they will know what they have to do to make God happy.
Maybe you reckon, “Some people can believe in Jesus, and other people can do the good things that Jesus says to do.” I answer you like this, “If you don’t do the things that Jesus says, you can’t show me that you believe in him. But whenever I do the good things he tells me to do, I show you that I do believe in him.”
That water is a picture of the baptism ceremony. Like the time our Christian leaders put us under the water to baptise us. They didn’t do that to wash the dirt off the outside of us. No. It’s like that water washed the shame from inside us. When we asked those leaders to baptise us, we asked God to make us clean on the inside, so that we will not feel shame any more. So God saves us and gives us new life. Yes, we can have new life because, after Jesus died, he came back to life again.
I am Peter, and this letter is from me. My other name is Simon. I work for Jesus Christ. I am one of his special workers. You people believe in Jesus Christ, just like I do, so I’m writing this letter to you. Jesus helps us trust him, and that is really special for us. Jesus Christ is God, and he saves us. He is always right, and he is always fair.
You are my very good friends. I really want to tell you about how God has saved us all, but instead I reckon I have to write about something else. You see, we are God’s own people, and he gave us a true message that he will not change. You have to try really hard to keep God’s true message safe. You can’t let anyone stop you doing what that message says.