25 Bible Verses about Abuse, Of Christian Freedom
Most Relevant Verses
Therefore let not sin rule as king in your mortal body, compelling you to obey its lusts.
For sin shall not lord it over you; for you are not under the rule of law, but under the rule of grace.
Seeing then that we are encircled with this great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings about us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured a cross, despising shame, and has now taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
If any one sees his brother committing a sin that is not deadly, he shall ask, and God will give him life, for any one who is not committing a deadly sin. There is a deadly sin; concerning that I do not say that he should pray. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is sin that is not deadly. We know that whoever is a child of God is not habitually committing sin; but he who is God's child guards himself, and the Evil One never touches him.
What then shall we say? Shall we continue to abound in sin, in order that grace may come to abound? No indeed; how shall we who have died to sin still go on living in it any longer?
What then? Shall we commit an act of sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not.
But if our unrighteousness thus brings out God's righteousness, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous?? speak after the manner of men??hen he inflicts his anger on us? Be it far from us; for in that case how could God judge the world? But if by a falsehood of mine the truthfulness of God has been made to redound to his glory, why am I still tried as a sinner?read more.
And why not say (as I myself am slanderously reported to say), "Let us do evil that good may come out of it"? Such arguments are rightly condemned.
But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves also have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? Far from it! For if I am rebuilding the very things which I destroyed, I am proving myself a transgressor. For it is through law I died to law, in order to live to God.read more.
I have been crucified with Christ, so it is no longer I who am living, but it is Christ who is living in me; and the life I am now living in the flesh, I am living in faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not annul the grace of God; for if righteousness comes by way of the Law, then indeed Christ died Christ for nothing.
But see to it lest this right of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if any one should see you, the possessor of "knowledge," reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience, if he were weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? So he is lost, this weak man, lost by your "knowledge." this brother for whom Christ died.read more.
In so sinning against your brothers, and in ever and again wounding their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ.
For you, brothers, were called for freedom; only do not make your freedom an excuse for self-indulgence, but in love enslave yourselves to one another.
Live like free men; and yet do not make your freedom a cloak for misconduct, but be the slaves of God.
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even among the heathen??hat a man has taken his father's wife! Yet you are puffed up instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this thing.
"All things are lawful for me"? Yes, but not all things are good for me. "All things are lawful for me"? Yes, but I will not let myself be enslaved by the power of any. "Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food"? Yes, but God will soon put an end both to the one and to the other. The body, however, exists not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body; and the God who raised up our Lord will up-raise us also by his mighty power.read more.
You know, do you not, that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one with her in body? (For God says, The two shall become one flesh.) While a man who is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit? Flee from immorality. Every other sin that a man commits lies outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you, the Spirit whom you have from God? You are not your own; for you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your bodies.
But I have this against you, that you are tolerating that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she is teaching and leading my slaves astray, leading them to practise immorality, and to eat food which has been sacrificed to idols. I have given her time for repentance; but she is determined not to turn from her immorality. Behold, I will lay her on a sick bed, and bring great distress upon those who have committed adultery with her, unless they turn away from her works.
But a man named Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold a farm of his, kept back some of the purchase price, with the connivance of his wife. He brought only a part and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Again, when you meet together, there is no true eating of the Lord's Supper; for each one of you begins to eat his own supper; one goes hungry, while another gets drunk. What! Have you no houses in which to eat or drink? or do you wish to show your contempt for the church of God, and to shame those who have no homes to eat in? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I certainly do not praise you.
Seeing then that we are encircled with this great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings about us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, faithful is he and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all wrong-doing. If we say, "We have not sinned," we are making him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Let no man deceive you with empty arguments, for it is these vices that bring down the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience;
and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble over it because they are disobeying God's word, and to this they were also appointed.
This is how we may know that we have come to know Him, by always keeping his commandments. He who says, "I know Him," but does no continue obeying his commandments, is a liar,
Hotly pursue this love, yet seek earnestly spiritual gifts, and chiefly that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a "tongue" speaks not to man but to God, for no one understands him, but in the Spirit he utters secret truths. But he who prophesies addresses words to men that build up, encourage, and console.read more.
He who speaks in a tongue upbuilds himself; but he who prophesies upbuilds the church. Now I should like you all to speak with "tongues"; but I should rather that you prophesied, For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up. Now brothers, if I should come to you speaking with tongues, what should I benefit you, unless I speak to you some revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching? For if lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp give no distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is fluted or harped? Or, for example, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, what soldier will be prepared for battle? In the same way with you, if you utter unintelligible words with your tongue, how can what you say be understood? You will be speaking to the winds! There are, let us say, so many languages in the world, and none without its meaning. If then I do not know the force of expression, I shall seem a barbarian to the one who uses it, and he will seem a barbarian to me. So also in your case, since you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them for the upbuilding of the church. So let him who speaks with tongues pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is barren. What then? I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray also with my mind. I will praise God with my spirit, but I will praise him with my mind, also. For if you in your spirit bless God, how shall he who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen to your thanksgiving, when he does not know what you are talking about? You on the one hand offer a good thanksgiving, but the other is not built up. Thank God I speak with tongues more than you all, but in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, so as to instruct others, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue. Brothers, do not become children in understanding; be babes in malice, but in understanding become mature men.
Now in regard to food which has been offered to idols, we are sure of course that "we all have knowledge." But knowledge puffs up, while love builds up. If a man thinks that he already has knowledge, he does not yet truly know as he ought to know; but if a man loves God, he is known by him.read more.
Now as to eating food that has been offered to idols, we know well that an idol has no real existence in the universe, and that there is no God but One. For though there be so-called "gods," celestial of terrestrial, as indeed there are gods many and lords many, yet for there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. But that "knowledge" is not possessed by all; but some, accustomed until now to the idol, eat food as that which has actually been offered to an idol, and so their conscience, being still weak, is defiled. Now food does not bring us nearness to God. Neither if we eat do we gain any advantage, nor if we eat not, do we lose any. But see to it lest this right of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if any one should see you, the possessor of "knowledge," reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience, if he were weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? So he is lost, this weak man, lost by your "knowledge." this brother for whom Christ died. In so sinning against your brothers, and in ever and again wounding their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I make my brother to stumble.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat food offered to idols, and to practise immorality.
