8 Bible Verses about Bigotry

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women,

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. read more.
And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.

And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.

Now they were also bringing infants to him that he might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them."

And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. read more.
Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote to them our decision that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles, and they gave great joy to all the brethren. read more.
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up, and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the Law of Moses." The apostles and the elders came together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us; and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you test God by putting upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

Since we have heard that some persons from us have disturbed you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. We did not yield to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

Then what advantage has the Jew, or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way! To begin with, they are entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some did not have faith? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? read more.
Certainly not! Let God be true, though every man a liar. As it is written: "That you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged." But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) Certainly not! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? Why not say as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just. What then? Are we Jews any better off? Certainly not; for we have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to practice deceit." "The poison of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their ways are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they do not know." "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. Therefore no flesh will be justified in his sight by works of the law, for through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." read more.
Now to him who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin." Is this blessedness only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to him? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be reckoned to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are to be the heirs, faith has no value and the promise is void, because the law brings wrath, for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all his descendantsnot only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all

But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for us also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered to death for our sins and was raised for our justification.

John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name and we forbade him, because he was not one of us." But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who does a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is for us.

Now John answered, "Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he that is not against you is for you."

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it they all murmured, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place; and besides he also brought Greeks into the temple, and he has defiled this holy place." For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

Up to this word they listened to him, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he ought not to live."

Then they reviled him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we do not know where he comes from."

They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her deeds."

The Pharisee was surprised to see that he did not first wash before dinner. But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last.

When the time drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people did not receive him, because his face was set for Jerusalem. read more.
And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

And he sent messengers on ahead, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people did not receive him, because his face was set for Jerusalem.

Then the woman of Samaria said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Just then his disciples came. And they marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.