Ephesians 6:12

Plain English Version

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.

Cross References

Mark 4:19

but after that, they let other things stop them, so they don’t live properly for God. They worry too much about the things they want in this life. They start to think too much about money, and they trick themselves. They want a lot of different things all the time, and they worry too much about all those things. They just think about what they want for themselves, and that stops them listening properly to God’s word, so they can’t live properly for God.

John 12:31

Then Jesus told them how he was going to die. He said, “Soon my enemies are going to lift me up to die on a cross, and then I will call everyone to come to me. And when I die, God will judge everyone in the world. And you know, the boss over the bad spirits is the boss over this world too, but when I die, God will stop his power so he can’t be the boss over the world any more.”

John 14:30

All right, I will not tell you much more, because the boss over the bad spirits is getting close now. He is the boss over this world, but he is not my boss, so he can’t tell me what to do.

John 16:11

And the Holy Spirit will show people that God will judge everyone. You see, God already judged the devil. He is the boss over the bad spirits, and he is the boss over this world too, but God said that he is guilty.

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 8:38

I’m really sure that nothing at all can make God stop loving us. Even if they kill us, it doesn’t matter, God still loves us. Those good spirits, the angels, they will not stop him. And those bad spirits, they can’t make him stop loving us. Things that happen now will not stop him, and things that will happen later will not stop him either. No strong spirit anywhere can stop him from loving us. Nothing anywhere. Nothing way up in the sky, nothing way down in the sea, nothing anywhere can stop him loving us. You see, God showed us that he loves us. He sent Jesus Christ, our leader, to die for us. (The next part, 9:1—10:4, mainly talks to the Jewish people, so we have not translated it yet.)

1 Corinthians 15:50

My Christian friends, this is what I’m telling you. We can’t go to God and live for ever in his family in our normal bodies. They are made of meat, blood, bones, skin, and all that. These bodies that we have now have to die. They can’t go on for ever.

Galatians 1:16

God wanted me to go and tell the message about Jesus to the people that are not Jews. So he showed Jesus to me, and he told me all about him. Then I believed in Jesus. God told me that message, so I didn’t ask anybody else about it.

Ephesians 1:21

Jesus is now the biggest boss. He is bigger than all the other bosses everywhere, and he is bigger than all the spirits everywhere. He is the big boss over everyone in this world now, and he’s the big boss over everyone in the world that will come later. Not one of them is stronger than Jesus. Only Jesus has God’s power.

Ephesians 1:3

God is the father of our leader Jesus Christ. God joined us to Jesus, and he gave us every good thing that our spirits need. So we have to thank him a lot.

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 3:10

But now God wants everyone to hear that message. He wants to use his church people to show all the spirit bosses, everywhere, that God is really wise, and that he understands all about everything.

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 2:15

God did that, and he finished up the power of all the bad spirit mob. He was even stronger than the most powerful spirit bosses. He finished up their power when Jesus died on the cross. He shamed them, and he showed everyone that he is the winner over all those bad spirits.

2 Timothy 2:5

And you are also like a sportsman. You know that sportsmen have to follow the rules of their game. If they don’t, they can’t win. Well, just like that, you have to follow the rules that God set down, so that in the end God will tell you that you won.

1 Peter 3:22

Jesus is now in heaven with God in the most important place, at God’s right-hand side. All the angels, and all the bad spirits, and all the bosses everywhere, they haven’t got as much power as Jesus. No. He is the strongest one anywhere. He has more power than all of them.