25 Bible Verses about Abuse, Of Christian Freedom

Therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey it;

For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under law, but under grace.

Wherefore, since we also have so great a cloud of witnesses lying round about us, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that lies before us, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of the faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

If any one see his brother sinning a sin not to death, he shall ask, and he will give him life for those who sin not to death. There is a sin to death: I do not say concerning this, that he should ask. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not to death. We know that whoever has been begotten of God, does not sin: but he that is begotten of God, keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not.

What, then, shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? It can not be. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer in it?

What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? It can not be.

But if our unrighteousness causes God's plan of justifying men to be better known, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who inflicts punishment? I speak as a man. It can not be: for if so, how shall God judge the world? Yet, if the truth of God has, through my lie, been greatly advanced to his glory, why am I still judged as a sinner?read more.
Then, why not say, (as we are slanderously reported as saying, and, as some affirm, that we do say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? Of such persons the condemnation is just.

But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are also found sinners, is Christ, there fore, the minister of sin? It can not be. For if I build again those things which I have destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For, through law, I have died to law, that I might live to God.read more.
I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live; no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God: for if righteousness be through law, then Christ has died in vain.

But take heed, lest, by any means, this right of yours become a stumbling-block to those who are weak. For, if any one see you, who have knowledge, reclining at table in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened, so that he will eat meats offered to idols? and will not the weak brother, for whom Christ died, perish through your knowledge?read more.
But if you sin in this way against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

For you have been called to freedom, brethren: only use not your freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but become servants to one another, through love.

as being free, and yet not using your freedom as a cloak for malice, but as servants of God.

It is generally reported that there is lewdness among you; and such lewdness as is not even mentioned among the Gentiles that a certain one has his father's wife. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that has done this deed might be taken from among you.

All meats are lawful for me: but all are not profitable. All are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under subjection by any. Meats for the stomach, and the stomach for meats; but God will destroy both it and them. But the body is not for lewdness, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body: and God has raised, up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.read more.
Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I, then, take the members of the Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? It must not be. Know you not that he that is joined to a harlot, is one body? For the two, says the scripture, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit. Shun lewdness. Every sin that a man commits, is without the body; but he that is guilty of lewdness sins against his own body. Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.

But I have against you that you suffer that woman Jezebel, who calls her self a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my servants to practice lewdness, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I have given her time to repent; and she will not repent of her lewdness. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent of their deeds.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, and his wife was conscious of it; and he brought a certain part of it, and laid it at the feet of the apostles.

"When, therefore, you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper; for each one, in eating, takes before another, his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have you not houses in which to eat and drink? or do you despise the church of God, and put those to shame who have nothing to eat? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Wherefore, since we also have so great a cloud of witnesses lying round about us, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that lies before us,

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Let no one deceive you with vain words: for on account of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense to the disobedient, who stumble at the word because they are disobedient, to which stumbling they were also appointed.

And by this we know that we do know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Every one that works sin, works also transgression of law: and sin is transgression of law.

Cultivate love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. For he that speaks in an unknown tongue, speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands him: but yet in spirit he speaks mysteries. But he that prophesies speaks to men so as to build them up, to exhort and comfort them.read more.
He that speaks in an unknown tongue, edifies himself; but he that prophesies, edifies the church. I am willing, indeed, that you should all speak in tongues, but rather that you should prophesy; for greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, in order that the church may receive instruction. Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, in what will I profit you, unless I speak to you by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophecy, or by teaching? And even lifeless instruments, which produce sound, whether pipe or harp, unless they give a distinction in the notes, how shall that which is piped or harped be known? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle? So, also, unless you, with the tongue, utter words that are intelligible, how shall that which is spoken be known? for you will speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without meaning. If, then, I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian; and he that speaks will be a barbarian to me. So, also, do you, since you greatly desire spiritual gifts, seek to excel to the building up of the church. For which reason, let him that speaks in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, the spirit which I have prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What, then, is it? I will pray with the spirit which is given to me, and I will pray with my understanding also. I will sing with the spirit that is given to me, and I will sing with my understanding also. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit that is given to you, how will he that occupies the place of the unlearned man say Amen, when you give thanks, since he understands not what you say? For you give thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may instruct others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding: yet, in malice, be childlike; but, in understanding, be full-grown men.

Now, with respect to meats offered to idols, we know, (for we all have knowledge: knowledge puffs up with pride, but love edifies. If any one thinks that he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know it: but if any one loves God, he is taught by him).read more.
With respect, then, to the eating of meats offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For though there are those which are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, (as there are many gods, and many lords,) yet to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. But all have not this knowledge; for some, under the persuasion that an idol is a reality, even yet eat meat, as if it were offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak, is defiled. But meat commends us not to God; for, neither if we eat are we better, nor, if we eat not, are we worse. But take heed, lest, by any means, this right of yours become a stumbling-block to those who are weak. For, if any one see you, who have knowledge, reclining at table in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened, so that he will eat meats offered to idols? and will not the weak brother, for whom Christ died, perish through your knowledge? But if you sin in this way against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. For which reason, if meat cause my brother to fall, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall.

Yet I have a few things against you, that you have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to practice lewdness.