Ephesians 5:8

Plain English Version

You see, you used to be like that before. You didn’t know what was right, like you were living in the dark. But then you came to our leader, Jesus, and now you are in the light. So live like people that belong to the light.

Cross References

Matthew 3:8

If you really are sorry for the bad things you did, and if you are turning around properly to live God’s way, show us. If we see you doing good things, then we will know it is true.

Matthew 4:16

The people there don’t know much about God. It is like they are in the dark, but they will see a big bright light. They thought they were going to die, but a light will start to shine for them.”

Luke 1:79

That light will shine for everybody. Some people are like they are in the dark. They think they will die soon. But that light will shine on everybody. It will show us how to live in a happy and quiet way.”

Luke 16:8

That manager was cheating his boss, but his boss thought, ‘This man is a liar and a cheat, but he is smart too. He has done something that will help him get his food later.’ ” Then Jesus said, “You know, the people that don’t care about God, but only care about the things in this world, they are smart with the things of this world. God’s people are not so smart with the things of this world.

John 12:35

Jesus said, “I am like a light shining for you. You see, I am telling you the true message. But I will only be here with you a little bit longer. So while I am here, you have to listen to my message and believe it. It’s like the light is shining and people have to walk about while there is light, because people that walk in the dark don’t know where they are going. So if you don’t listen properly to my message while I am here, then you will not know the right way to live, and it will be like you are always in the dark.

John 12:36

You have to listen to my message while I am still here, and you have to believe it, so that you will be my followers. Then it will be like you are living in the light that I’m shining for you.” After Jesus said those things, he left that place and stayed away from those people, so they didn’t know where he was.

John 12:46

I came to the world to tell people the true message, so that they can know the true message and believe in me. It’s like people were in the dark, but I came to be a light for them.

John 8:12

Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am like a light for all the people in the world. Anyone that follows me will not live the wrong way, as if they are in the dark, but I will show them how to live the right way, like a light shows people the way, and they will live with God for ever.”

Acts 17:30

You see, at first people didn’t know about God, but at that time he didn’t worry about it. Now it is different. Now he says to all of us, that we have to turn around and stop doing bad things.

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 1:21

The trouble was this. Even though people could work that out about God, they really didn’t want to know him. They didn’t want to say to him, “Thank you, you really are the true God.” They couldn’t think properly about him. They could only think in stupid ways. They didn’t understand anything.

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.

Galatians 5:25

So you and me, we have to live like that too. We live with God’s spirit in us now, so we have to do what God’s spirit tells us to do. We have to let him control us.

Ephesians 2:2

You didn’t do what God wants, but instead, you always did bad things, just like the other people in this world do. You used to do the things the devil wants. He is the boss over those strong bad spirits that are in the air. That devil is working now inside everyone that will not do what God wants.

Ephesians 4:18

They can’t understand anything properly. It is like their minds are in darkness. They don’t want to know God, and they are a long way away from him. He doesn’t give them new life. They do bad things, but they never feel sorry about it.

Ephesians 5:2

Always love other people, just like Jesus Christ loves us. He loved us so much that he took our payback, and he died instead of us. You know how people used to kill animals and burn them, to give them to God, for the good smell to make him happy. Well, just like those animals, Jesus died. When Jesus died, he gave himself to God. Jesus did that because he loved you. So you have to love other people too.

Ephesians 6:12

You see, we are not fighting against people, but we are fighting against a big mob of bad spirits. We are fighting against the bad spirit bosses that we can’t see in this bad world. And we are fighting against the powerful bad spirits that live above the earth too.

Colossians 1:12

And we want you to always say thank you to God, our father. He brought you into his family so that you will get the good things that he promised to give to his people. Then you will live with him in his good place.

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.

Titus 3:3

You know, we were like that before we believed in Jesus. We did silly things too. We didn’t do what God told us to do. People tricked us, and we believed things that were not true. And we wanted to do all sorts of bad things. We couldn’t stop ourselves. If anybody had a lot of things, we wanted those things for ourselves, and we were angry with those people. We hated people, and people hated us.