Ephesians 5:5

Plain English Version

Listen, this is true. If you do those bad and dirty things, you will never get the good things that God gives to his people. It’s like this, if you think in a dirty way, you can’t be in God’s family, you can’t be with Jesus Christ. And if you sleep with somebody that is not your wife or husband, as if you are married to them, you can’t be in God’s family. And if you are greedy, wanting lots of money and things, you can’t be in God’s family. You see, greedy people really respect money and things more than they respect God.

Cross References

Acts 20:32

Paul kept on talking. He said, “Now I’m asking God to keep you safe, and to keep you believing the true message that God is very good to you and will save you. If you keep on believing that message, you will grow strong for God, and you will know that you are in God’s family, and God will give you the good life that he is keeping for his own people.

Galatians 5:19

You see, everybody knows about the bad things that people do to make themselves feel good. They sleep with people that are not their own wives or husbands, and they do what married people do together. They think about dirty things, and then they do those bad things. They don’t try to control their bad thoughts.

Galatians 5:21

They want things that belong to other people. They get drunk. They have wild parties and do all sorts of bad things. Listen, I’m telling you again what I told you before. People that keep on doing those bad things will never be in God’s family. They will never get the good things that God will give to the people in his family.

Ephesians 5:3

So don’t sleep with somebody that is not your own wife or husband, as if you are married to them. And don’t be greedy, wanting lots of money and things. You are God’s own people, so don’t even think about doing bad things like that. That’s not the way for God’s people to live.

Colossians 1:13

You know, the boss over the bad spirits always used to push us to do bad things. It’s like we were in a bad place, where he is the boss. But God sent his son, Jesus, to get us out of that place. He took the payback for us, so that now God will not punish us. He set us free from that bad boss, and now we belong to the family of God’s son. God loves his son Jesus very much.

Colossians 3:5

So now you have to stop doing bad things. If that bad part inside you wants you to do something bad, don’t do it. It’s like you have to kill that old bad part inside you. Don’t listen to it. Don’t sleep with anyone that is not your wife or your husband, as if you are married to them. And don’t think bad, dirty thoughts. Don’t think about doing bad things. Don’t be greedy, wanting lots of money and things. Greedy people respect money and things more than they respect God.

1 Timothy 6:10

If you love money a lot, you will do all sorts of bad things to get it. Some people went wrong like that. They wanted a lot of money, so they stopped believing in Jesus, and they got themselves into lots of trouble, and now they are really sad.

1 Timothy 6:17

There are some people that have a lot of money and a lot of things. You have to tell them that they can’t think that they are smart just because they are rich. They still have to pray to God, and they have to trust him for everything they really need. They can’t trust their money. But they have to trust God. He gives us everything we need to be happy. So we have to trust him, not trust money.