53 Bible Verses about False Teachings

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice sexual immorality. So you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Whoever then breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron, who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'"

In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

If with Christ you died to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you still belonged to it, do you submit to regulations such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (referring to things which are all destined perish with use), according to human commandments and teachings?read more.
These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than the divine trainingwhich is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.read more.
For some men have wandered away from these things and turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. They must be silenced, because they are upsetting whole families by teaching things they ought not to teach for the sake of sordid gain.

and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you.

Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

They have eyes full of adultery, that never cease from sin; they entice unstable souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

These things I have written to you about those who try to deceive you.

And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled.

And Jesus answered them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

And Jesus began to say to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and will deceive many.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires,

For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.read more.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world and therefore speak as of the world, and the world listens to them.

For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men.read more.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which he was given power to do in the presence of the beast. He ordered them to make an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak, and to cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron,

But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.

And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from long ago their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to human tradition, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.read more.
No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.read more.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

For you put up with anyone if he makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or exalts himself, or strikes you in the face.

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is of God practices sin, for God's seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.read more.
By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother.

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, which produce envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a means of gain.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than the divine trainingwhich is by faith.

Avoid godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have gone astray from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and upset the faith of some.

Let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel which is really not another gospel; but there are some who are disturbing you, and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preached to you, let him be accursed!read more.
As we have said before, so I say again now, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!

I give you this command, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies once made about you, that by them you may fight the good fight, holding faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and made shipwreck of their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Follow the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure that has been entrusted to you.

I urge you, brethren, to take note of those who cause divisions and difficulties, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simple.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,read more.
treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding a form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, weighed down with sins and swayed by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and quarrels about the Law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Warn a man who is factious once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him, knowing that such a man is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Anyone who runs ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting; for he who greets him shares in his wicked work.