32 Bible Verses about Self Control

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this present age,

Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

but hospitable, a lover of what is good, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled;

The older men are to be temperate, serious, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.

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.

Therefore I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as a man beating the air. But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

But if any man thinks that he is not acting properly toward his betrothed, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let them marry. But he who stands firm in his heart, being under no constraint, but has control over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who does not marry her will do better.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that is, that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to take his own spouse for himself in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the heathen, who do not know God;read more.
and that no man transgress and wrong his brother in this matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be sober in spirit, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

The end of all things is near; therefore be clear minded and sober for your prayers.

Be sober, be alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger,

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies.read more.
Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the members of the body. The tongue corrupts our whole person, sets the whole course of our life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. But if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

"But I say to you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic.

Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are overbearing. For a man is approved if, mindful of God, he bears up under pain while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you patiently endure? But if when you do right and suffer for it you patiently endure, you have favor with God.read more.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth;" when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he uttered no threats, but he trusted himself to him who judges justly.

But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and when they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"read more.
And they spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.

and we toil, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as a man beating the air.read more.
But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, "Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you."

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural.read more.
And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a base mind, to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, depravity. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Do not deprive one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

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.

But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed, reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, will be destroyed in the same destruction with them, suffering wrong for their wrongdoing. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you. They have eyes full of adultery, that never cease from sin; they entice unstable souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you obey its passions.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.