25 Bible Verses about Abuse, Of Christian Freedom
Most Relevant Verses
Let not Sin therefore reign as king in your mortal bodies, causing you to be in subjection to their cravings;
Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us, simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself-- where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.
If any one sees a brother man committing a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and God shall give him life--for those who do not sin unto death. There is such a thing as sin unto death; for that I do not bid him make request. Any kind of wrongdoing is sin; but there is sin which is not unto death. We know that no one who is a child of God lives in sin, but He who is God's Child keeps him, and the Evil one cannot touch him.
To what conclusion, then, shall we come? Are we to persist in sinning in order that the grace extended to us may be the greater? No, indeed; how shall we who have died to sin, live in it any longer?
Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!
But if our unrighteousness sets God's righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous--I speak in our everyday language-- when He inflicts punishment? No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all mankind?) If, for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God's truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am I judged all the same as a sinner?read more.
And why should we not say--for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing--"Let us do evil that good may come"? The condemnation of those who would so argue is just.
But if while we are seeking in Christ acquittal from guilt we ourselves are convicted of sin, Christ then encourages us to sin! No, indeed. Why, if I am now rebuilding that structure of sin which I had demolished, I am thereby constituting myself a transgressor; for it is by the Law that I have died to the Law, in order that I may live to God.read more.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if acquittal from guilt is obtainable through the Law, then Christ has died in vain."
But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance to the progress of weak believers. For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth of this matter, reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer) Why, your knowledge becomes the ruin of the weak believer--your brother, for whom Christ died!read more.
Moreover when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, you are, in reality, sinning against Christ.
You however, brethren, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an excuse for giving way to your lower natures; but become bondservants to one another in a spirit of love.
Be free men, and yet do not make your freedom an excuse for base conduct, but be God's bondservants.
It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and of a kind unheard of even among the Gentiles--a man has his father's wife! And you, instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this deed of shame, are filled with self-complacency!
Everything is allowable to me, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable to me, but to nothing will I become a slave. Food of all kinds is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will cause both of them to perish. Yet the body does not exist for the purpose of fornication, but for the Master's service, and the Master exists for the body; and as God by His power raised the Master to life, so He will also raise us up.read more.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? No, indeed. Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute is one with her in body? For God says, "The two shall become one." But he who is in union with the Master is one with Him in spirit. Flee from fornication. Any other sin that a human being commits lies outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you--the Spirit whom you have from God? And you are not your own, for you have been redeemed at infinite cost. Therefore glorify God in your bodies.
Yet I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching leads astray My servants, so that they commit fornication and eat what has been sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent, but she is determined not to repent of her fornication. I tell you that I am about to cast her upon a bed of sickness, and I will severely afflict those who commit adultery with her, unless they repent of conduct such as hers.
There was a man of the name of Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold some property but, with her full knowledge and consent, dishonestly kept back part of the price which he received for it, though he brought the rest and gave it to the Apostles.
When, however, you meet in one place, there is no eating the Supper of the Lord; for it is his own supper of which each of you is in a hurry to partake, and one eats like a hungry man, while another has already drunk to excess. Why, have you no homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you wish to show your contempt for the Church of God and make those who have no homes feel ashamed? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I certainly do not praise you.
Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,
If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts. If we confess our sins, He is so faithful and just that He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we deny that we have sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Message has no place in our hearts.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming upon the disobedient.
and "a Stone for the foot to strike against, and a Rock to stumble over." Their foot strikes against it because they are disobedient to God's Message, and to this they were appointed.
And by this we may know that we know Him--if we obey His commands. He who professes to know Him, and yet does not obey His commands, is a liar, and the truth has no place in his heart.
Every one who is guilty of sin is also guilty of violating Law; for sin is the violation of Law.
Be eager in your pursuit of this Love, and be earnestly ambitious for spiritual gifts, but let it be chiefly so in order that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in an unknown tongue is not speaking to men, but to God; for no one understands him. Yet in the Spirit he is speaking secret truths. But he who prophesies speaks to men words of edification, encouragement and comfort.read more.
He who speaks in an unknown tongue does good to himself, but he who prophesies does good to the Church. I should be right glad were you all to speak in 'tongues,' but yet more glad were you all to prophesy. And, in fact, the man who prophesies is superior to him who speaks in 'tongues,' except when the latter can interpret in order that the Church may get a blessing. But, brethren, as things are, if I come to you speaking in 'tongues,' what benefit shall I confer on you, if the utterance is neither in the form of a revelation nor of additional knowledge nor of prophecy nor of teaching? Even inanimate things--flutes or harps, for instance--when yielding a sound, if they make no distinction in the notes, how shall the tune which is played on the flute or the harp be known? If the bugle--to take another example--gives an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? And so with you; if with the living voice you fail to utter intelligible words, how will people know what you are saying? You will be talking to the winds. There are, we will suppose, a great number of languages in the world, and no creature is without a language. If, however, I do not know the meaning of the particular language, I shall seem to the speaker of it, and he to me, to be merely talking some foreign tongue. Therefore, seeing that you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them so as to benefit the Church. Therefore let a man who has the gift of tongues pray for the power of interpreting them. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is barren. How then does the matter stand? I will pray in spirit, and I will pray with my understanding also. I will praise God in spirit, and I will praise Him with my understanding also. Otherwise, if you bless God in spirit only, how shall he who is in the position of an ungifted man say the 'Amen' to your giving of thanks, when he does not know what your words mean? Rightly enough you are giving thanks, and yet your neighbor is not benefited. I speak in a tongue, thank God, more than all of you; but in the Church I would rather speak five words with my understanding--so as to instruct others also--than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, do not prove yourselves to be children in your minds. As regards evil, indeed, be utter babes, but as regards your minds prove yourselves to be men of ripe years.
Now as to things which have been sacrificed to idols. This is a subject which we already understand--because we all have knowledge of it. Knowledge, however, tends to make people conceited; it is love that builds us up. If any one imagines that he already possesses any true knowledge, he has as yet attained to no knowledge of the kind to which he ought to have attained; but if any one loves God, that man is known by God.read more.
As to eating things which have been sacrificed to idols, we are fully aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One. For if so-called gods do exist, either in Heaven or on earth--and in fact there are many such gods and many such lords-- yet *we* have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we and all things exist. But all believers do not recognize these facts. Some, from force of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted. It is true that a particular kind of food will not bring us into God's presence; we are neither inferior to others if we abstain from it, nor superior to them if we eat it. But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance to the progress of weak believers. For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth of this matter, reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer) Why, your knowledge becomes the ruin of the weak believer--your brother, for whom Christ died! Moreover when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, you are, in reality, sinning against Christ. Therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall, never again to the end of my days will I touch any kind of animal food, for fear I should cause my brother to fall.
Yet I have a few things against you, because you have with you some that cling to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block in the way of the descendants of Israel--to eat what had been sacrificed to idols, and commit fornication.
