Matthew 5:46

Plain English Version

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.

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 18:17

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.”

Matthew 5:47

And if you only talk to your friends, that is nothing. Everybody talks to their friends, even people that don’t believe in God do that. So if you only talk to your friends, you are no better than those people.

Matthew 6:1

Jesus kept on teaching the people. He said, “If you only do good things so that people will see you and think you are good, God will not do good to you. Instead, you have to do good things and keep them secret. Then your father in heaven will do good things for you.

Mark 2:15

Later that day, Jesus and his followers were eating some food at Levi’s house. There were lots of people there. Some of them were men that used to get tax money from people and give it to the Roman government, and some other people there didn’t live God’s way.

Mark 2:16

Some of the Jewish law teachers saw Jesus eating with all those people. Those law teachers also belonged to the Pharisee mob. They were really strong for the law, so they asked Jesus’s followers, “Why does Jesus eat with those people that don’t live God’s way?”

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 18:13

But the tax man was sorry for the bad things he did. He felt shame, so he did not stand close to the other people. He looked down at the ground, and he hit himself on his chest. He said, ‘I’m sorry, God. I know I did bad things. Please feel sorry for me and don’t punish me.’ ”

Luke 19:2

A very rich man lived there. His name was Zakias. His job was to get tax money from the people and give it to the government, and he was the boss over some other tax men too. Sometimes tax men cheated people and kept some money for themselves, so nobody liked them.

Luke 19:7

But when the other people saw this, they were angry with Jesus. They said, “Look. He has gone to stay with a bad man. He shouldn’t do that.”