31 Bible Verses about Ritual

And when the days for their purification appointed by the Law of Moses had passed, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord-- as it is written in the Law of the Lord: "Every first-born male shall be called holy to the Lord." And they also offered a sacrifice as commanded in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons."

One day there came a leper to Jesus entreating Him, and pleading on his knees. "If you are willing," he said, "you are able to cleanse me." Moved with pity Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. "I am willing," He said; "be cleansed." The leprosy at once left him, and he was cleansed.read more.
Jesus at once sent him away, strictly charging him, and saying, "Be careful not to tell any one, but go and show yourself to the Priest, and for your purification present the offerings that Moses appointed as evidence for them."

And a leper came to Him, and throwing himself at His feet, said, "Sir, if only you are willing you are able to cleanse me." So Jesus put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I am willing: be cleansed." Instantly he was cleansed from his leprosy; and Jesus said to him, "Be careful to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses appointed as evidence for them."

On another occasion, when He was in one of the towns, there was a man there covered with leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, threw himself at His feet and implored Him, saying, "Sir, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean." Reaching out His hand and touching him, Jesus said, "I am willing; be cleansed!" And instantly the leprosy left him. He ordered him to tell no one. "But go," He said, "show yourself to the Priest, and make the offering for your purification which Moses appointed, as evidence for them."

Yet let us send them written instructions to abstain from things polluted by connexion with idolatry, from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.

But the Pharisees saw it and said to Him, "Look! your disciples are doing what the Law forbids them to do on the Sabbath."

So the Pharisees said to Him, "Look! why are they doing what on the Sabbath is unlawful?"

And some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what the Law forbids on the Sabbath?"

Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been circumcised counts for nothing.

"Are even you," He answered, "still without intellingence? Do you not understand that whatever enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is afterwards ejected from the body? But the things that come out of the mouth proceed from the heart, and it is these that defile the man.read more.
For out of the heart proceed wicked thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, impiety of speech. These are the things which defile the man; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile."

"Have *you* also so little understanding?" He replied; "do you not understand that anything whatever that enters a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and passes away ejected from him?" By these words Jesus pronounced all kinds of food clean. "What comes out of a man," He added, "that it is which makes him unclean.read more.
For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly: all these wicked things come out from within and make a man unclean."

"Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you wash clean the outside of the cup or dish, while within they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily. But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision--not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing: obedience to God's commandments is everything.

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.

These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

And Jesus said to them: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; so that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by hand, when you threw off your sinful nature in true Christian circumcision;

For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves, the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near. For then would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, because the consciences of the worshippers--who in that case would now have been cleansed once for all--would no longer be burdened with sins? But in those sacrifices sins are recalled to memory year after year.

For their efficacy depends only on meats and drinks and various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the body and imposed until a time of reformation.

because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and passes away ejected from him?" By these words Jesus pronounced all kinds of food clean.

The next day, while they were still on their journey and were getting near the town, about noon Peter went up on the house-top to pray. He had become unusually hungry and wished for food; but, while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance. The sky had opened to his view, and what seemed to be an enormous sail was descending, being let down to the earth by ropes at the four corners.read more.
In it were all kinds of quadrupeds, reptiles and birds, and a voice came to him which said, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." "On no account, Lord," he replied; "for I have never yet eaten anything unholy and impure." Again a second time a voice was heard which said, "What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy."

But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.

As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am certain that in its own nature no food is 'impure'; but if people regard any food as impure, to them it is.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only faith working through love.

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature.

by setting aside the Law with its commandments, expressed, as they were, in definite decrees. His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man,

And to you--dead as you once were in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your natural state--He has nevertheless given Life with Himself, having forgiven us all our transgressions. The bond, with its requirements, which was in force against us and was hostile to us, He cancelled, and cleared it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross. And the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly displayed them as His conquests, when by the Cross He triumphed over them.read more.
Therefore suffer no one to sit in judgement on you as to eating or drinking or with regard to a festival, a new moon or a sabbath.