Matthew 18:17

Plain English Version

If that person will not listen to all of you, then go to the church, and tell the people in the church what happened. Let them sort it out and talk to that person. If that person doesn’t want to listen to them, then you can treat them like somebody that doesn’t follow me. They are like somebody that doesn’t know God, or like somebody that doesn’t do what God says.”

Cross References

Matthew 11:19

But sometimes I go to parties and eat good food, and sometimes I drink wine, and even though I’m God’s special man from heaven, you rubbish me too. You say, ‘He eats too much, and he drinks too much. He’s a friend of those bad men that get tax money from people and give it to the Roman government, and he’s a friend of other bad people that don’t follow the law properly.’ But really, John and me, we are both wise. And you can know if somebody is wise or not. Just look at what they do, and see if they do good things or not.” (We have not yet translated 11:20-24. You can read that message in Luke 10:13-15.)

Matthew 5:46

You see, if you only love the people that love you, that is nothing. Even bad people do that. God will not give you anything for only loving people that love you.

Matthew 6:7

And when you pray, don’t keep on talking on and on, with lots of words that don’t mean anything. People that don’t know God, they do that. They think that if they talk a lot, God will hear them. But they are wrong.

Luke 15:1

There were some people that everyone reckoned did really bad things. Some of them used to get tax money from the people and give it to the Roman government. Everyone reckoned those tax men were bad men. Lots of those bad people often went up to Jesus and listened to him.

Luke 18:11

The Pharisee man stood in a place where everyone could see him, and he didn’t say he was sorry for anything. He just talked about himself. He said, ‘Thank you, God, that I am different from everyone else. You see, God, I don’t cheat anyone, and I don’t do anything bad. I don’t sleep with anyone that is not my wife. I’m not a bad man, like that man over there. He takes tax money from people to give it to the government.

1 Corinthians 5:9

I wrote you a letter before, and I told you, “Don’t be good friends with bad people. There are some people that sleep with somebody that is not their own wife or husband, as if they are married to them. Keep away from those people.”

1 Corinthians 6:1

There is something else I have to talk to you about. If one of you Christians has a problem with another Christian, why do you go to the court house to sort it out? That is not right. Those court house people are not God’s people. No. You have to get Christians to sort it out. Remember, we Christians are God’s special people

2 Thessalonians 3:6

Listen, Christian friends, Jesus Christ, our leader, wants us to tell you this. If anyone says they are a Christian, but they sit down and never want to do any work, you have to keep away from that person. Remember when we were with you. Think about what we were like. We didn’t sit around doing nothing. And we told you, “Don’t be lazy.” We want you to live the way we lived when we were with you.

1 Timothy 6:5

Then they keep on arguing with each other. You see, they listened to those wrong teachers and those teachers tricked them. Those wrong teachers made them think the wrong way, so they don’t really know the true message. They think that if they follow God’s way they will get a lot of money, but they are wrong.