34 Bible Verses about Religion

And opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him.

Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. read more.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these things is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and first commandment. read more.
And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

since they relate only to food and drink and various washings regulations for the flesh imposed until the time of reformation.

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what counts.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable and disobedient, unfit for any good deed.

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?

holding a form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

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,

Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?

This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief; and as he had the money box, he used to take what was put into it.

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 Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; but how is it you do not know how to interpret this present time?

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.

Paul wanted this man to accompany him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealous for the law,

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?"

and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ;

Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with holiness and godly sincerity, not in worldly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and still more toward you.

For we are not, like so many, peddling the word of God; but as men of sincerity, as from God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable and disobedient, unfit for any good deed.

through the pretensions of liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron,

Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things? Do you desire to be enslaved all over again?

When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash themselves. And there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pitchers and copper vessels.)

Now therefore why do you test God by putting upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

It was for freedom that Christ has set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

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,

yet he did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."

For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.'What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands; nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. read more.
And he made from one man every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being,' as even some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of them all, "If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

So you must observe and do whatever they tell you. But do not do what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.

He who says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

By faith Abel offered God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his gifts. And through faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice their religion in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Now his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, read more.
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham: to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

(...)

For I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you as well.

"Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.

For I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you as well.

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

He took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his family.

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his word.

When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.

for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable and disobedient, unfit for any good deed.

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge another; for in whatever point you pass judgment on him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, but worshipped with fasting and prayer night and day.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, read more.
he took him up in his arms and blessed God, and said: "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

"A certain Ananias, a devout man according to the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." And he himself believed, and all his household.

He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means the Christ).

a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God continually.

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?

If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?

When he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. read more.
And when they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and has built us our synagogue." And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that followed him, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

"Return to your home, and tell how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"

And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him."

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, but worshipped with fasting and prayer night and day.

Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And Mary said:

For I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure is in you as well.