Ephesians 5:26

Plain English Version

He washed us properly clean, not just with water in the baptism ceremony, but with his word too.

Cross References

John 13:10

Jesus said, “After you have a bath, all of your body is clean. You might walk around and get your feet dirty again, so then you just have to wash your feet. Most of you mob are like that, you are clean, but one of you is not clean.”

John 15:3

You are like those good branches. You believed my words, so you are already clean.

John 15:8

And when you live God’s way, other people will see the good things that you do, and they will know that you are my followers, so they will respect my father. You will be like a branch that grows a lot of fruit.

John 17:7

Now they know that everything that I said came from you.

John 3:5

Jesus said, “Listen, I am telling you straight, if anyone wants to be in God’s family, they have to get born again God’s way. God has to make them clean, and he has to put his spirit in them.

Acts 22:16

So now, don’t wait. Stand up, and I will baptise you. Pray to our leader, Jesus, and ask him to wash you properly inside, so God will not punish you for all the bad things you did.’ That’s what Ananias said to me.”

Acts 26:18

and you will tell them the true message about me. It will be like you will open their eyes so that they can see things properly. They will come to God. Then Satan, the boss over the bad spirits, he will not control them with his power any more. It is like they are always in the dark now, but they will come into the light. They will believe in me, and they will stop believing lies. And then God will say they are not guilty of the bad things they did, and they will be God’s people.’ Jesus said that to me.”

Romans 10:8

This is what God says in his book, “You already have God’s message. You know that message, so you can think about it, and you can talk about it.” That message is the same message that we tell everybody. We say, “You have to trust Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 6:11

And I know that some of you used to be bad people like that before. You did that sort of bad thing, but now you believe in Jesus Christ and let him be your boss. And God’s spirit came into you and washed you inside, and he made you God’s own special people, so that God says you are all right now.

Ephesians 6:17

And a soldier wears an iron hat, that stops the enemy from hurting his head. Well, you remember that God has saved you. That will be like an iron hat for you, to keep you safe. – And you know the long knife a soldier has, called a sword? He uses it to fight back against his enemy. Well, in the same way, you can use God’s word to fight back against the devil, and the Holy Spirit will help you.

Colossians 3:16

And always think about the message that came from Jesus Christ, so that you follow it all the time. Talk to each other about Jesus’s message, and help each other to follow it properly. Think about it the right way. If anyone starts to get it wrong, straighten each other out. Remember that God is really good to you, and always be ready to thank him by singing to him with hymns and songs that the Holy Spirit gives you.

Titus 2:14

Jesus died to save us from all the bad things of this world. He did that to change us into his own special people, like he properly cleaned us inside, and now we don’t want to do anything bad, but we only want to do good things.

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 1:2

A long time ago, God, our father, knew you, and he picked you to be in his family. His spirit picked you out from other people to make you his special people. You listened to Jesus’s words, and you did whatever he said. Jesus died and his blood came out, and it is like God put that blood of Jesus on you to make you clean. I’m asking God to be properly good to you, and to make you feel really happy and quiet inside yourselves.

1 Peter 3:21

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.

2 Peter 1:9

But if you don’t live like that, it shows that you don’t understand God’s message properly. You are like blind people that can’t see anything properly. It’s like you forget about what God did for you. You used to do wrong things before, but God made you free from all that, and he made you clean inside yourselves. So don’t forget that. Don’t do wrong things again.

Jude 1:1

This letter is from me, Jude. I work for Jesus Christ. And I’m a brother of James. I’m writing this letter to you people that God loves. God is your father. He picked you to be his people. He helps you stay strong for Jesus, until he comes back.