25 Bible Verses about Abuse, Of Christian Freedom
Most Relevant Verses
Therefore, with all this host of witnesses encircling us, we must strip off every handicap, strip off sin with its clinging folds, to run our appointed course steadily, our eyes fixed upon Jesus as the pioneer and the perfection of faith ??upon Jesus who, in order to reach his own appointed joy, steadily endured the cross, thinking nothing of its shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
If anyone notices his brother committing a sin which is not deadly, he will ask and obtain life for him ??for anyone who does not commit a deadly sin. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not mean he is to pray for that. All iniquity is sin, but there are sins which are not deadly. We know that anyone who is born of God does not sin; He who was born of God preserves him, and the evil One never catches him.
Now what are we to infer from this? That we are to 'remain on in sin, so that there may be all the more grace'? Never! How can we live in sin any longer, when we died to sin?
But if our iniquity thus serves to bring out the justice of God, what are we to infer? That it is unfair of God to inflict his anger on us? (I speak in a merely human way.) Never! In that case, how could he judge the world? You say, "If my perfidy serves to make the truthfulness of God redound to his glory, why am I to be judged as a sinner?read more.
Why should we not do evil that good may come out of it?" (which is the calumny attributed to me ??the very thing some people declare I say). Such arguments are rightly condemned.
If it is discovered that in our quest for justification in Christ we are 'sinners' as well as the Gentiles, does that make Christ an agent of sin? Never! I really convict myself of transgression when I rebuild what I destroyed. For through the Law I died to the Law that I might live for God;read more.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me; the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not annul God's grace; but if righteousness comes by way of the Law, then indeed Christ's death was useless.
But see that the exercise of your right does not prove any stumbling-block to the weak. Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols? He is ruined, this weak man, ruined by your 'enlightened mind,' this brother for whose sake Christ died!read more.
By sinning against the brotherhood in this way and wounding their weaker consciences, you are sinning against Christ.
Brothers, you were called to be free; only, do not make your freedom an opening for the flesh, but serve one another in love.
Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God.
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality such as is unknown even among pagans ??that a man has taken his father's wife! And yet you are puffed up! You ought much rather to be mourning the loss of a member! Expel the perpetrator of such a crime!
'All things are lawful for me'? Yes, but not all are good for me. 'All things are lawful for me'? Yes, but I am not going to let anything master me. 'Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food'? Yes, and God will do away with the one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; and the God who raised the Lord will also raise us by his power.read more.
Do you not know your bodies are members of Christ? Am I to take Christ's members and devote them to a harlot? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one with her in body (for the pair, it is said, shall become one flesh), while he who joins himself to the Lord is one with him in spirit. Shun immorality! Any other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his body. Do you not know your body is the temple of the holy Spirit within you ??the Spirit you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought for a price; then glorify God with your body.
Still I have this against you: you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who styles herself a prophetess and seduces my servants by teaching them to give way to sexual vice and to eat food which has been sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual vice. Lo, I will lay her on a sickbed, and bring her paramours into sore distress, if they do not repent of her practices;
But a man called Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira had sold some property, appropriated some of the purchase-money with the connivance of his wife; he only brought part of it to lay before the feet of the apostles.
But this makes it impossible for you to eat the 'Lord's' supper when you hold your gatherings. As you eat, everyone takes his own supper; one goes hungry while another gets drunk. What! have you no houses to eat and drink in? Do you think you can show disrespect to the church of God and put the poor to shame? What can I say to you? Commend you? Not for this.
Therefore, with all this host of witnesses encircling us, we must strip off every handicap, strip off sin with its clinging folds, to run our appointed course steadily,
If we say, 'We are not guilty,' we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us; if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, he forgives our sins and cleanses us from all iniquity; if we say, "We have not sinned," we make him a liar and his word is not within us.
Let no one deceive you with specious arguments; these are the vices that bring down God's anger on the sons of disobedience.
a stone over which men stumble and a rock of offence; they stumble over it in their disobedience to God's word. Such is their appointed doom.
This is how we may be sure we know him, by obeying his commands. He who says, 'I know him,' but does not obey his commands, is a liar and the truth is not in him;
Make love your aim, and then set your heart on the spiritual gifts ??especially upon prophecy. For he who speaks in a 'tongue' addresses God not men; no one understands him; he is talking of divine secrets in the Spirit. On the other hand, he who prophesies addresses men in words that edify, encourage, and console them.read more.
He who speaks in a 'tongue' edifies himself, whereas he who prophesies edifies the church. Now I would like you all to speak with 'tongues,' but I would prefer you to prophesy. The man who prophesies is higher than the man who speaks with 'tongues' ??unless indeed the latter interprets, so that the church may get edification. Suppose now I were to come to you speaking with 'tongues,' my brothers; what good could I do you, unless I had some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching to lay before you? Inanimate instruments, such as the flute or the harp, may give a sound, but if no intervals occur in their music, how can one make out the air that is being played either on flute or on harp? If the trumpet sounds indistinct, who will get ready for the fray? Well, it is the same with yourselves. Unless your tongue utters language that is readily understood, how can people make out what you say? You will be pouring words into the empty air! There are ever so many kinds of language in the world, everyone of them meaning something. Well, unless I understand the meaning of what is said to me, I shall appear to the speaker to be talking gibberish, and to my mind he will be talking gibberish himself. So with yourselves; since your heart is set on possessing 'spirits,' make the edification of the church your aim in this desire to excel. Thus a man who speaks in a 'tongue' must pray for the gift of interpreting it. For if I pray with a 'tongue,' my spirit prays, no doubt, but my mind is no use to anyone. Very well then, I will pray in the Spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing praise in the Spirit, but I will also sing praise with my mind. Otherwise, suppose you are blessing God in the Spirit, how is the outsider to say 'Amen' to your thanksgiving? The man does not understand what you are saying! Your thanksgiving may be all right, but then ??the other man is not edified! Thank God, I speak in 'tongues' more than any of you; but in church I would rather say five words with my own mind for the instruction of other people than ten thousand words in a 'tongue.' Brothers, do not be children in the sphere of intelligence; in evil be mere infants, but be mature in your intelligence.
With regard to food that has been offered to idols. Here, of course, 'we all possess knowledge'! Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. Whoever imagines he has attained to some degree of knowledge, does not possess the true knowledge yet; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.read more.
Well then, with regard to food that has been offered to idols, I am quite aware that 'there is no such thing as an idol in the world' and that 'there is only the one God.' (So-called gods there may be, in heaven or on earth ??as indeed there are plenty of them, both gods and 'lords' ??6 but for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all comes, and for whom we exist; one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all exists, and by whom we exist.) But remember, it is not everyone who has this 'knowledge.' Some who have hitherto been accustomed to idols eat the food as food which has been really offered to an idol, and so their weaker conscience is contaminated. Now mere food will not bring us any nearer to God; if we abstain we do not lose anything, and if we eat we do not gain anything. But see that the exercise of your right does not prove any stumbling-block to the weak. Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols? He is ruined, this weak man, ruined by your 'enlightened mind,' this brother for whose sake Christ died! By sinning against the brotherhood in this way and wounding their weaker consciences, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore if food is any hindrance to my brother's welfare, sooner than injure him I will never eat flesh as long as I live, never!
But I have one or two things against you: you have some adherents there of the tenets of Balaam, who taught Balak how to set a pitfall before the sons of Israel by making them eat food which had been sacrificed to idols and give way to sexual vice.
