46 Bible Verses about ethics, and grace

For out of the heart proceed wicked thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, impiety of speech.

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:

For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin. For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.

For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.

for all alike have sinned, and all consciously come short of the glory of God,

But Scripture has shown that all mankind are the prisoners of sin, in order that the promised blessing, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who believe.

If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts.

Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling--not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.

You however are to be complete in goodness, as your Heavenly Father is complete.

"Not every one who says to me, 'Master, Master,' will enter the Kingdom of the Heavens, but only those who are obedient to my Father who is in Heaven.

"Why do you ask me," He replied, "about what is good? There is only One who is truly good. But if you desire to enter into Life, keep the Commandments."

your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.

Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.

But you, O man of God, must flee from these things; and strive for uprightness, godliness, good faith, love, fortitude, and a forgiving temper.

But for this very reason--adding, on your part, all earnestness-- along with your faith, manifest also a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge; along with knowledge, self-control; along with self-control, power of endurance; along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness, brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love.

Therefore, dear friends, since you have these expectations, earnestly seek to be found in His presence, free from blemish or reproach, in peace.

And every man who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself so as to be as pure as He is.

What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."

But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may know the blessings that have been so freely given to us by God. Of these we speak--not in language which man's wisdom teaches us, but in that which the Spirit teaches--adapting, as we do, spiritual words to spiritual truths. The unspiritual man rejects the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot attain to the knowledge of them, because they are spiritually judged.

This then is what I mean. Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your lower natures.

"If you love me, you will obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be for ever with you--the Spirit of truth. That Spirit the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him, because He remains by your side and is in you.

For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature; in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures. For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things.

The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence; good faith, meekness, self-restraint.

And from us thanks are always due to God on your behalf--brethren whom the Lord loves--because God from the beginning has chosen you for salvation through the Spirit's sanctifying influence and your belief in the truth.

chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, with a view to their obedience and to their being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May more and more grace and peace be granted to you.

seeing that His divine power has given us all things that are needful for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who has appealed to us by His own glorious perfections.

I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who continues in me and in whom I continue bears abundant fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

No temptation has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it.

Put on the complete armour of God, so as to be able to stand firm against all the stratagems of the Devil.

For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of sound judgement.

For inasmuch as He has Himself felt the pain of temptation and trial, He is also able instantly to help those who are tempted and tried.

But He gives more abundant grace, as is implied in His saying, "God sets Himself against the haughty, but to the lowly He gives grace."

(Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!)

who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.

and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.

For of this I am confident, that He who has begun a good work within you will go on to perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ.

Thus He will build up your characters, so that you will be faultlessly holy in the presence of our God and Father at the Coming of our Lord Jesus with all His holy ones.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

For those whom He has known beforehand He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;

And all of us, with unveiled faces, reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness, from one degree of radiant holiness to another, even as derived from the Lord the Spirit.

But in accordance with His promise we are expecting new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will dwell.

The Son of Man will commission His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all causes of sin and all who violate His laws; and these they will throw into the fiery furnace. There will be the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth. Then will the righteous shine out like the sun in their Father's Kingdom. Listen, every one who has ears!

But as for cowards and the unfaithful, and the polluted, and murderers, fornicators, and those who practise magic or worship idols, and all liars--the portion allotted to them shall be in the Lake which burns with fire and sulphur. This is the Second Death."

The unclean are shut out, and so are all who practise magic, all fornicators, all murderers, and those who worship idols, and every one who loves falsehood and tells lies.