37 Bible Verses about Warnings Against Apostasy

For it is impossible that those who once received the light and tasted of that heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit and likewise have tasted the good word of God and the virtue of the age to come, and have backslidden, be renewed again by repentance, crucifying again for themselves the Son of God and putting him to an open shame.read more.
For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes often upon it and brings forth herbs in season for those by whom it is dressed receives blessing from God; but that which bears thorns and briers is rejected and is near unto cursing, whose end shall be by fire.

But he that was planted in stony places, the same is he that hears the word and receives it immediately with joy; yet he has no root in himself but is temporal, for when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended.

And likewise these are those who are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness but have no root in themselves and are temporal; afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Those on the rock are those that when they hear, receive the word with joy, but these have no root, who for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the princes of the priests and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, came unto the princes of the priests to deliver him unto them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because lawlessness shall abound, the charity of many shall wax cold.

For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful hope of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised the law of Moses died without mercy under two or three witnesses:read more.
Of how much greater punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know who he is that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel,

Then Satan entered into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went and spoke with the princes of the priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and covenanted to give him money.read more.
And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in the heavens.

then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say unto you, I know you not from where ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

Let no one deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, they shall heap up unto themselves teachers who shall speak to them according to their own lusts, and thus they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall return unto fables.

but he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, listening to spirits of error and doctrines of demons;

He who does not abide in me shall be cast forth as an unsound branch and shall wither, and they are gathered and cast into the fire and are burned.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but this happened that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

if we suffer, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unfaithfulness, to depart from the living God.

Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things in advance, be on guard lest by the error of the wicked ye be deceived with the others and fall from your own steadfastness.

When there arises among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God proves you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.read more.
Ye shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and hear his voice, and ye shall serve him and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and ransomed you out of the house of slavery, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son or thy daughter or the wife of thy bosom or thy friend who is as thine own soul should entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou nor thy fathers have known, namely, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you, near unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth, thou shalt not consent with him nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him; neither shalt thou have compassion; neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou must kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou must stone him with stones, and he shall die because he has sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery; so that all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I took away from before thee.

But when he was strengthened, his heart lifted itself up unto corruption, for he rebelled against the LORD his God, entering into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah, the priest, went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, that were valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah, the king, and said unto him, It does not pertain unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense; go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast rebelled; neither shall it be for thy glory before the LORD God.read more.
Then Uzziah was angry and had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and in this his anger with the priests, the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, next to the altar of incense. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from there, and he also hastened to go out because the LORD had smitten him. And Uzziah, the king, was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD; and Jotham, his son, was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

After this, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession and defrauded of the price, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to defraud of the price of the land?read more.
Retaining it, was it not thy own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the spirit; and great fear came on all those that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. Then Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out. Then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the spirit; and the young men came in and found her dead and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the congregation and upon as many as heard these things.

holding fast faith and a good conscience, which some, having cast away, have shipwrecked in their faith, Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and rebellious and reprobate unto every good work.

for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who covertly shall bring in destructive sects and shall deny the Lord that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed; and in covetousness they shall make merchandise of you with feigned words, upon whom the condemnation from a long time ago does not delay, and their perdition does not sleep.

and chiefly those that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise dominion; presumptuous, arrogant, they are not afraid to speak evil of the higher powers; whereas even the angels, who are greater in power and might, bring no curse of judgment against them before the Lord. But these, speaking evil of the things that they do not understand (as natural animals without reason, who are made to be taken and destroyed), shall utterly perish in their own corruption,read more.
receiving the reward of their unrighteousness, as those that count it pleasure to live luxuriously every day. These are spots and blemishes, who eat together with you, while at the same time they revel in their deceit, having their eyes full of adultery, and not knowing how to cease from sin, baiting unstable souls, having their heart exercised in covetous practices; cursed sons, who forsaking the right way have erred, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

Certainly, if having separated themselves from the contaminations of the world, by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again entangle themselves therein and are overcome, their latter end is made worse for them than the beginnings. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog returns unto his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

For there are certain men crept in unawares without fear or reverence of God, who from beforehand have been ordained unto this condemnation, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying God who alone has dominion, and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

In the same manner these deceived dreamers, defile their flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of higher powers. Yet when Michael, the archangel, contended with the devil, disputing over the body of Moses, he dared not bring against him a curse of judgment, but said, The Lord reprehend thee. But these speak evil of those things which they do not know; but what they know by nature as animals without reason, in those things they corrupt themselves.read more.
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your banquets of charity, feeding themselves without any fear whatsoever: clouds without water, carried to and fro of the winds; trees withered as in fall, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own abominations; erratic stars, to whom is reserved gross darkness eternally. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have unfaithfully committed and of all the hard words which the unfaithful sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own desires; and their mouth speaks arrogant things, admiring persons to take advantage.

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel (who calls herself a prophetess) to teach and to seduce my slaves to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I have given her time to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed and those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds.

It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it incensed Samuel, and he cried unto the LORD all night.