34 Bible Verses about Religion

Then Peter opened his lips and said, "I see quite plainly that God has no favourites, but that he who reverences Him and lives a good life in any nation is welcomed by Him.

Pure, unsoiled religion in the judgment of God the Father means this: to care for orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself from the stain of the world.

But do you, beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith and pray in the holy Spirit, so keeping yourselves within the love of God and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that ends in life eternal.

intelligence with self-control, self-control with stedfastness, stedfastness with piety, piety with brotherliness, brotherliness with Christian love. For as these qualities exist and increase with you, they render you active and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; read more.
whereas he who has not these by him is blind, shortsighted, oblivious that he has been cleansed from his erstwhile sins.

"Teacher," he said, "what is the greatest command in the Law?" He replied, "You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and chief command. read more.
There is a second like it: you must love your neighbour as yourself. The whole Law and the prophets hang upon these two commands."

since they relate merely to food and drink and a variety of ablutions ??outward regulations for the body, that only hold till the period of the New Order.

Circumcision counts for nothing, uncircumcision counts for nothing; obedience to God's commands is everything.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for good work of any kind.

It is not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord!', who will get into the Realm of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Why call me, 'Lord, Lord!' and obey me not?

Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees! you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and omit the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness; these latter you ought to have practised ??without omit ting the former.

As you died with Christ to the Elemental spirits of the world, why live as if you still belonged to the world? Why submit to rules and regulations like

The Lord replied to him, "You hypocrites, does not each of you untether his ox or ass from the stall on the sabbath and lead it away to drink?

(Not that he cared for the poor; he said this because he was a thief, and because he carried the money-box and pilfered what was put in.)

Such creatures are no servants of Christ our Lord, they are slaves of their own base desires; with their plausible and pious talk they beguile the hearts of unsuspecting people. But surely not of you!

But Jesus detected their malice. He said, "Why do you tempt me, you hypocrites?

You hypocrites, you know how to decipher the look of earth and sky; how is it you cannot decipher the meaning of this era?

"I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel in all the strictness of our ancestral Law, ardent for God as you all are to-day.

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek.

They glorified God when they heard it. Then they said to him, "Brother, you see how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, all of them ardent upholders of the Law.

Some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not allowed on the sabbath?"

and how I outstripped many of my own age and race in my special ardour for the ancestral traditions of my house.

so that you may be transparent and no harm to anyone in view of the day of Christ,

So let us celebrate our festival, not with any old leaven, not with vice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of innocence and integrity.

My proud boast is the testimony of my conscience that holiness and godly sincerity, not worldly cunning but the grace of God, have marked my conduct in the outside world and in particular my relations with you.

I am, for I am not like most, adulterating the word of God; like a man of sincerity, like a man of God, I speak the word in Christ before the very presence of God.

Also, to love him with the whole heart, with the whole understanding, and with the whole strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself ??that is far more than all holocausts and sacrifices."

Pure, unsoiled religion in the judgment of God the Father means this: to care for orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself from the stain of the world.

Meanwhile as the crowd was gathering in its thousands till they trod on one another, he proceeded to say to his disciples first of all, "Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy,

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for good work of any kind.

through plausible sophists who are seared in conscience ??3 men who prohibit marriage and insist on abstinence from foods which God created for believing men, who understand the Truth, to partake of with thanksgiving.

So to men you seem just, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

but now that you know God ??or rather, are known by God ??how is it you are turning back again to the weakness and poverty of the Elemental spirits? Why do you want to be enslaved all over again by them?

they decline to eat what comes from the market till they have washed it; and they have a number of other traditions to keep about washing cups and jugs and basins [and beds].)

Well now, why are you trying to impose a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we ourselves could bear?

with the freedom for which Christ set us free. Make a firm stand then, do not slip into any yoke of servitude.

As you died with Christ to the Elemental spirits of the world, why live as if you still belonged to the world? Why submit to rules and regulations like

though as the bountiful Giver he did not leave himself without a witness, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, giving you food and joy to your heart's content."

Why, as I passed along and scanned your objects of worship, I actually came upon an altar with the inscription TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Well, I proclaim to you what you worship in your ignorance. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, as Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines that are made by human hands; he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, for it is he who gives life and breath and all things to all men. read more.
All nations he has created from a common origin, to dwell all over the earth, fixing their allotted periods and the boundaries of their abodes, meaning them to seek for God on the chance of finding him in their groping for him. Though indeed he is close to each one of us, for it is in him that we live and move and exist ??as some of your own poets have said, 'We too belong to His race.'

But I saw they were swerving from the true line of the gospel; so I said to Cephas in presence of them all, "If you live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, though you are a Jew yourself, why do you oblige the Gentiles to become Jews?" ??15 We may be Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners,'

Why do you note the splinter in your brother's eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye?

so do whatever they tell you, obey them, but do not do as they do. They talk but they do not act.

He who says, 'I know him,' but does not obey his commands, is a liar and the truth is not in him;

blessing and cursing stream from the same lips! My brothers, this ought not to be.

It was by faith that Abel offered God a richer sacrifice than Cain did, and thus won from God the record of being 'just,' on the score of what he gave; he died, but by his faith he is speaking to us still.

(When a widow has children or grandchildren, they must learn that the first duty of religion is to their own household, and that they should make some return to those who have brought them up. In God's sight this is an acceptable thing.)

Suppose some brother or sister is ill-clad and short of daily food; if any of you says to them, "Depart in peace! Get warm, get food," without supplying their bodily needs, what use is that?

but the angel said to him, "Fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard; your wife Elizabeth will bear a son to you, and you must call his name John.

And Zechariah his father was filled with the holy Spirit; he prophesied in these words, "Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, for he has cared for his people and wrought them redemption; he has raised up a strong saviour for us in the house of his servant David read more.
as he promised of old by the lips of his prophets to save us from our foes and from the hand of all who hate us, to deal mercifully with our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant, of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, that freed from fear and from the hand of our foes we should worship him in holiness and uprightness all our days within his presence. And you, my child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go in front of the Lord to make his ways ready, to bring his people the knowledge of salvation through the remission of their sins by the tender mercy of our God, who will make the Dawn visit us from on high, to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our steps into the way of peace."

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for I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, as it dwells (I feel sure) in yourself.

"Ah, sir," he said, "have pity on my son; he is an epileptic and he suffers cruelly, he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

for I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, as it dwells (I feel sure) in yourself.

Also, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street-corners, so as to be seen by men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward.

Then he took them at that very hour of the night and washed their wounds and got baptized instantly, he and all his family.

She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself at the feet of the Lord to listen to his talk.

When she was baptized, along with her household, she begged us, saying, "If you are convinced I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." She compelled us to come.

(for he was a good man, full of the holy Spirit and faith). Considerable numbers of people were brought in for the Lord.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for good work of any kind.

Therefore you are inexcusable, whoever you are, if you pose as a judge, for in judging another you condemn yourself; you, the judge, do the very same things yourself.

There was also a prophetess, Hannah the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher; she was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her girlhood and having been a widow for eighty-four years. She was never away from the temple; night and day she worshipped, fasting and praying.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Symeon, an upright and devout man, who was on the outlook for the Consolation of Israel. The holy Spirit was upon him; indeed it had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he was not to see death before he had seen the Lord messiah. By an inspiration of the Spirit he came to the temple, and when the parents of the child Jesus carried him in to perform the customary regulations of the law for him, read more.
then Symeon took him in his arms, blessed God, and said, "Now, Master, thou canst let thy servant go, and go in peace, as thou didst promise; for mine eyes have seen thy saving power which thou hast prepared before the face of all the peoples, to be a light of revelation for the Gentiles and a glory to thy people Israel." His father and mother were astonished at these words about him, but Symeon blessed them, and to his mother Mary he said, "This child is destined for the downfall as well as for the rise of many a one in Israel; destined to be a Sign for man's attack ??35 to bring out the secret aims of many a heart. And your own soul will be pierced by a spear."

Then a certain Ananias, a devout man in the Law, who had a good reputation among all the Jewish inhabitants,

Then the father realized that it had left him at the very time when Jesus had said to him, "Your son is alive"; and he became a believer with all his household.

In the morning he met his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the messiah" (which may be translated, 'Christ').

a religious man, who reverenced God with all his household, who was liberal in his alms to the People, and who constantly prayed to God.

Why call me, 'Lord, Lord!' and obey me not?

Well, if a man gets circumcised upon the sabbath, to avoid breaking the Law of Moses, are you enraged at me for curing, not cutting, the entire body of a man upon the sabbath?

When he had finished what he had to say in the hearing of the people, he went into Capharnahum. Now there was an army-captain who had a servant ill whom he valued very highly. This man was at the point of death; so, when the captain heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and make his servant well. read more.
When they reached Jesus they asked him earnestly to do this. "He deserves to have this favour from you," they said, "for he is a lover of our nation; it was he who built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them. But he was not far from the house when the captain sent some friends to tell him, "Do not trouble yourself, sir, I am not fit to have you under my roof, and so I did not consider myself fit even to come to you. Just say the word, and let my servant be cured. For though I am a man under authority myself, I have soldiers under me; I tell one man to go, and he goes, I tell another to come, and he comes, I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed he said, "I tell you, I have never met faith like this anywhere even in Israel." Then the messengers went back to the house and found the sick servant was quite well.

"Go home and describe all that God has done for you." So he went off to proclaim through the whole town all that Jesus had done for him.

Jesus saw Nathanael approaching and said of him, "Here is a genuine Israelite! There is no guile in him."

He who sent me is at my side; he has not left me alone; for I always do what pleases him."

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Symeon, an upright and devout man, who was on the outlook for the Consolation of Israel. The holy Spirit was upon him;

and having been a widow for eighty-four years. She was never away from the temple; night and day she worshipped, fasting and praying.

(the woman was a pagan, of Syrophoenician birth) begging him to cast the daemon out of her daughter.

and when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leapt in her womb. Then Elizabeth was filled with the holy Spirit;

Then Mary said "My soul magnifies the Lord,

for I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, as it dwells (I feel sure) in yourself.