John 1:1

Plain English Version

This is the story about somebody called the Word. Before God made anything, the Word was with God, and he was just the same as God. You see, the Word was God.

Cross References

Genesis 1:1

First of all, a long time ago, God made everything. He made the sky, and he made the earth. He made all the things that are everywhere.

Matthew 1:23

“There will be a young woman that never slept with a man, like a woman does with her husband, but she will have a baby boy. That boy will have a special name, Immanuel. That name means God is with us.”

Luke 24:53

Every day, they went to God’s ceremony house, and they said, “Thank you God. You are really good.”

John 1:14

You see, the Word became a human being. He came and lived in a body, with us here on the earth. We saw that he was really powerful, just like God. Then we knew that he was God’s only special son, and he showed us what his father is like. He was a really good man, and everything he said was true.

John 1:18

Nobody has ever seen God. But the special man, the one that is God, he is always with his father. He is the one that showed us what God is like.

John 1:2

Yes, the Word was with God before anything happened.

John 16:28

Yes, I came from my father, and I came into the world. But now I am going to leave the world and go back to my father.”

John 17:5

And now, Father, when I come back to you, show people that I am great and powerful, just like I was when I was with you, before we made the world together.

John 20:28

Straight away, Thomas believed that Jesus was alive, and he said, “You are my leader, and you are my God.”

John 8:58

Jesus said, “Listen to this, it’s true. I was alive before Abraham was born. You see, I am always alive.”

Ephesians 3:9

And God sent me to help everyone to understand the message about his plan. A long time ago, when God made everything, he didn’t tell anyone that message. He kept it secret at that time.

Philippians 2:6

He was the same as God. He was just as important as God. But he didn’t reckon that he had to keep on being important, like God is.

Colossians 1:15

Nobody can see God. But God’s son, Jesus, is just like God, and he showed people what God is like. You see, Jesus was there with God a long time ago, and he worked with God to make everything. They made all the things in heaven, and all the things on the earth. They made the things we can see, and the things we can’t see. They made all the spirits, even the spirit bosses that we can’t see. God worked with his son to make everything, so that now everything has to respect God’s son. Jesus is God’s son, and he is the boss over everything.

Colossians 1:17

He was there at first, before anything else, and now he holds everything together, everything everywhere, and he keeps it all working properly.

1 Timothy 3:16

God shows us something about Jesus that is really true, and nobody can argue with it. He shows us that Jesus is really great, He came in a man’s body for people to see, but the Holy Spirit showed us that he was really from God. And God’s angel messengers saw him too. The people that believed in him told other people everywhere about him. They even went to other countries to tell people about him, and people all over the world believed in him. And God took him up into heaven.

Titus 2:13

He tells us to do these things now, while we wait for Jesus Christ to come back. He is our God, and he is the one that saves us. He will come back, and he will show everybody in the world that he is really great. Then we will be very happy.

2 Peter 1:1

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.