Titus 3:3

Plain English Version

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.

Cross References

Genesis 38:9

So Onan married Er’s wife. But Onan didn’t want to have kids with her, because he knew that those kids will not belong to him. So Onan did a bad thing. Every time they slept together, like married people do, he didn’t sleep with her properly. He always stopped early, so she didn’t get any babies growing inside her.

Genesis 39:16

After that, Potifar’s wife put down Joseph’s coat next to her, and she waited for Potifar to come home. Potifar was Joseph’s boss.

Matthew 21:29

The oldest son said, ‘No. I don’t want to.’ But later, he changed his mind, and he went and worked on their farm.

John 8:34

Jesus said, “Listen, this is the true story. You go against God and do bad things, and everyone that does bad things is like a slave. You can’t stop doing those bad things, so they are your boss.

Romans 6:12

So don’t just think about the law that comes from Moses. It talks about the bad things people do. If you just think about that, you will want to do those same bad things yourself. Then that law will be your boss, and your bodies will make you want to do bad things too. Don’t be like that. Don’t let any part of your body be your boss. Don’t do whatever it wants. Instead, you have to give your bodies to God and let him use you to do good things. You have to think about him all the time, and remember that he is very good to you, and that he made you alive again in a new way. If you think like that, you will not want to do anything bad. God is really good to you. That law is not your boss any more.

Romans 6:17

Actually, you used to do bad things all the time, but now you have made God your boss, and you really want to do whatever he wants. I thank God for that.

Romans 6:22

So now you can’t think about doing bad things any more, but instead, you have to only think about working for God. Then you will do good things, and then you will be God’s special people and you will live with him for ever.

Romans 6:6

We know that they nailed Jesus Christ to that cross, and it was like they nailed a part of us there too, that old part of us that makes us do wrong things all the time. It got nailed to that cross with Jesus, and it is dead. So now it doesn’t have any power over us. It can’t make us do bad things.

Galatians 6:3

Don’t think that you are too important to help other Christians. If you are not very important, but you reckon you are really important, then you are just tricking yourself.

Colossians 1:21

And I’m talking about you too. At first you were not God’s friends. You were his enemies. You always thought in a bad way, and then you did bad things.

Colossians 3:7

At one time, you lived the wrong way, and you did bad things like that.

2 Timothy 3:13

And those bad liars will get worse and worse. They will go on tricking people, and just like that, other people will trick them too.

2 Timothy 3:6

They are the sort of people that trick some women that are stupid. They find women that always do anything they feel like doing, women that really went wrong, women that know that they did lots of bad things. That sort of woman is always ready to listen to a teacher that has a new idea, but they can never understand the true message. Those bad men get those women to let them into their homes, then they trick them with their talk, until the women really believe them.

Titus 1:16

Those bad people say that they know God, but they do the bad things that God hates. So those people show that they don’t really know God. They shame themselves. They don’t do what God says. They can’t do anything good.

Titus 2:12

He teaches us to say no to the bad things of this world. He tells us not to live a wild life. He tells us to control ourselves. He tells us to do good things that make him happy.

James 1:26

You might go to church and think you are really good, but if you can’t stop yourself from saying bad things, you are really just tricking yourself, and going to church for nothing.

1 Peter 1:14

In the past, you didn’t know that God was good. So at that time you did all the bad things you wanted to do. But now you are God’s kids. So you have to stop doing those bad things,