16 Bible Verses about Formality

And the Lord said, because this people come near to me with their mouths, and give honour to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is false, a rule given them by the teaching of men;

Put your feet down with care when you go to the house of God, for it is better to give ear than to make the burned offerings of the foolish, whose knowledge is only of doing evil.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

With what am I to come before the Lord and go with bent head before the high God? am I to come before him with burned offerings, with young oxen a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of sheep or with ten thousand rivers of oil? am I to give my first child for my wrongdoing, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings.

When the priests go in, they may not go out of the holy place into the outer square, and there they are to put the robes in which they do the work of the Lord's house, for they are holy: and they have to put on other clothing before they come near that which has to do with the people.

Your feasts are disgusting to me, I will have nothing to do with them; I will take no delight in your holy meetings. Even if you give me your burned offerings and your meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: I will have nothing to do with the peace-offerings of your fat beasts. Take away from me the noise of your songs; my ears are shut to the melody of your instruments.

You have no desire for an offering or I would give it; you have no delight in burned offerings. The offerings of God are a broken spirit; a broken and sorrowing heart, O God, you will not put from you.

And when they were going away, Jesus, talking of John, said to all the people, What went you out into the waste land to see? a tall stem moving in the wind? But what went you out to see? a man delicately clothed? Those who have fair robes are in kings' houses. But why did you go out? to see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

Then there came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes, saying, Why do your disciples go against the teaching of the fathers? for they take food with unwashed hands.

A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make men give a tenth of all sorts of sweet-smelling plants, but you give no thought to the more important things of the law, righteousness, and mercy, and faith; but it is right for you to do these, and not to let the others be undone.

But now that you have come to have knowledge of God, or more truly, God has knowledge of you, how is it that you go back again to the poor and feeble first things, desiring to be servants to them again? You keep days, and months, and fixed times, and years. I am in fear of you, that I may have been working for you to no purpose.

If you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world, why do you put yourselves under the authority of orders

But be certain of this, that in the last days times of trouble will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, uplifted in pride, given to bitter words, going against the authority of their fathers, never giving praise, having no religion, Without natural love, bitter haters, saying evil of others, violent and uncontrolled, hating all good,read more.
False to their friends, acting without thought, lifted up in mind, loving pleasure more than God; Having a form of religion, but turning their backs on the power of it: go not with these.

But as for you who have the name of Jew, and are resting on the law, and take pride in God, And have knowledge of his desires, and are a judge of the things which are different, having the learning of the law, In the belief that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in the dark,read more.
A teacher of the foolish, having in the law the form of knowledge and of what is true; You who give teaching to others, do you give it to yourself? you who say that a man may not take what is not his, do you take what is not yours? You who say that a man may not be untrue to his wife, are you true to yours? you who are a hater of images, do you do wrong to the house of God? You who take pride in the law, are you doing wrong to the honour of God by behaviour which is against the law? For the name of God is shamed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is said in the holy Writings. It is true that circumcision is of use if you keep the law, but if you go against the law it is as if you had it not. If those who have not circumcision keep the rules of the law, will it not be credited to them as circumcision? And they, by their keeping of the law without circumcision, will be judges of you, by whom the law is broken though you have the letter of the law and circumcision. The true Jew is not one who is only so publicly, and circumcision is not that which may be seen in the flesh: But he is a Jew who is a secret one, whose circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

Even though I myself might have faith in the flesh: if any other man has reason to have faith in the flesh, I have more: Being given circumcision on the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in relation to the law, a Pharisee: In bitter hate I was cruel to the church; I kept all the righteousness of the law to the last detail.read more.
But those things which were profit to me, I gave up for Christ.