30 Bible Verses about Self Deception

If we say, 'We are not guilty,' we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us;

What! do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Realm of God? Make no mistake about it; neither the immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor catamites nor sodomites nor thieves nor the lustful nor the drunken nor the abusive nor robbers will inherit the Realm of God.

if we say, "We have not sinned," we make him a liar and his word is not within us.

You declare, 'I am rich, I am well off, I lack nothing!' ??not knowing you are a miserable creature, pitiful, poor, blind, naked.

Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees! you shut the Realm of heaven in men's faces; you neither enter yourselves, nor will you let those enter who are on the point of entering. ??- Woe to you, you impious scribes and Pharisees! you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when you succeed you make him a son of Gehenna twice as bad as yourselves.

But woe to you Pharisees! you tithe mint and rue and every vegetable, but justice and the love of God you disregard; these latter you ought to have practised ??without omitting the former. Woe to you Pharisees! you love the front bench in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplaces. Woe to you! you are like unsuspected tombs; men walk over them unawares."read more.
One of the jurists said to him, "Teacher, when you say this you are insulting us as well." He said, "And woe to you jurists! you load men with irksome burdens, and you will not put a single finger to their burdens. Woe to you! you build tombs for the prophets whom your own fathers killed: thus you testify and consent to what your fathers did, for they killed and you build. This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some they will kill and some they will persecute'; it was that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world might be charged upon this generation, from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who was slain between the altar and the House of God ??yes, I tell you, it will all be charged upon this generation. Woe to you jurists! you have taken the key that unlocks the door of knowledge; you have not entered yourselves, and you have stopped those who were entering."

"We are Abraham's offspring," they retorted, "we have never been slaves to anybody. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be free'?" Jesus replied, "Truly, truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave.

Act on the Word, instead of merely listening to it and deluding yourselves. For whoever listens and does nothing, is like a man who glances at his natural face in a mirror; he glances at himself, goes off, and at once forgets what he was like.read more.
Whereas he who gazes into the faultless law of freedom and remains in that position, proving himself to be no forgetful listener but an active agent, he will be blessed in his activity. Whoever considers he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his religion is futile.

Come now, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we are going to such and such a city; we shall spend a year there trading and making money" ??14 you who know nothing about to-morrow! For what is your life? You are but a mist, which appears for a little and then vanishes. You ought rather to say, "If the Lord will, we shall live to do this or that." But here you are, boasting in your proud pretensions! All such boasting is wicked.

And he told them a parable. "A rich man's estate bore heavy crops. So he debated, 'What am I to do? I have no room to store my crops.' And he said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my granaries and build larger ones, where I can store all my produce and my goods.read more.
And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample stores laid up for many a year; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' But God said to him, 'Foolish man, this very night your soul is wanted; and who will get all you have prepared?'

Now, produce fruit that answers to your repentance, instead of presuming to say to yourselves, 'We have a father in Abraham.' I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

Now, produce fruits that answer to your repentance, instead of beginning to say to yourselves, 'We have a father in Abraham.' I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

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. Many will say to me at that Day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? did we not cast out daemons in your name? did we not perform many miracles in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from my presence, you workers of iniquity.'

once the master of the House has got up and closed the door. You may stand outside and knock at the door, crying, 'Lord, open for us,' but he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' You will then proceed to say, 'But we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!' 'I tell you,' he will say, 'I do not know where you come from; begone everyone of you, you evildoers.'

Then he will say to those on the left, 'Begone from me, you accursed ones, to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry but you never fed me, I was thirsty but you never gave me drink, I was a stranger but you never entertained me, I was unclothed but you never clothed me, I was ill and in prison but you never looked after me.'read more.
Then they will answer too, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or unclothed or ill or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, 'I tell you truly, in so far as you did not do it to one of these, even the least of them, you did not do it to me.' So they shall depart to eternal punishment, and the just to eternal life."

They answered him, "Abraham is our father." "If you are Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then do as Abraham did; but now you want to kill me ??to kill a man who has told you the truth, the truth I have learned from God. Abraham did not do that. You do the deeds of your father." They said to him, "We are no bastards: we have one father, even God."read more.
Said Jesus, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came here from God; I did not come of my own accord, I was sent by him. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are unable to listen to what I am saying. You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires; he was a slayer of men from the very beginning, and he has no place in the truth because there is no truth in him: when he tells a lie, he is expressing his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. It is because I tell the truth, that you do not believe me. Which of you can convict me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who belongs to God listens to the words of God; you do not listen to them, because you do not belong to God."

If you bear the name of 'Jew,' relying on the Law, priding yourself on God, understanding his will, and with a sense of what is vital in religion; if you are instructed by the Law and are persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to darkened souls,read more.
a tutor for the foolish, a teacher of the simple, because in the Law you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth ??21 well then, do you ever teach yourself, you teacher of other people? You preach against stealing; do you steal? You forbid adultery; do you commit adultery? You detest idols; do you rob temples? You pride yourself on the Law; do you dishonour God by your breaches of the Law? Why, it is owing to you that the name of God is maligned among the Gentiles, as scripture says! Circumcision is certainly of use, provided you keep the Law; but if you are a breaker of the Law, then your circumcision is turned into uncircumcision. (If then the uncircumcised observe the requirements of the Law, shall not their uncircumcision be reckoned equivalent to circumcision? And shall not those who are physically uncircumcised and who fulfil the Law, judge you who are a breaker of the Law for all your written code and circumcision?) He is no Jew who is merely a Jew outwardly, nor is circumcision something outward in the flesh; he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual not literal ??praised by God, not by man.

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

We are the true Circumcision, we who worship God in spirit, we who pride ourselves on Christ Jesus, we who rely upon no outward privilege. Though I could rely on outward privilege, if I chose. Whoever thinks he can rely on that, I can outdo him. I was circumcised on the eighth day after birth; I belonged to the race of Israel, to the tribe of Benjamin; I was the Hebrew son of Hebrew parents, a Pharisee as regards the Law,read more.
in point of ardour a persecutor of the church, immaculate by the standard of legal righteousness. But for Christ's sake I have learned to count my former gains a loss;

Let no one deceive himself about this; whoever of you imagines he is wise with this world's wisdom must become a 'fool,' if he is really to be wise. For God ranks this world's wisdom as 'sheer folly.' It is written, He seizes the wise in their craftiness, and again, The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise is futile.

Peter answered, "Supposing they are all disconcerted over you, I will not be disconcerted." Jesus said to him, "I tell you truly, you will disown me three times this very night, before the cock crows." Peter said to him, "Even though I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the disciples said the same thing.

Jesus said to them, "You will all be disconcerted, for it is written: I will strike at the shepherd, and, the sheep will be scattered. But after my rising I will precede you to Galilee." Peter said to him, "Though all are disconcerted, I will not be."read more.
Jesus said to him, "I tell you truly, to-day you will disown me three times, this very night, before the cock crows twice." But he persisted, "Though I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And they all said the same.

"Lord," he said, "I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow to-day before you have three times denied that you know me."

"Lord," said Peter, "why cannot I follow you just now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus replied, "Lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have disowned me thrice over.

I do not venture to class myself or to compare myself with certain exalted individuals! They belong to the class of self-praisers; while I limit myself to my own sphere, I compare myself with my own standard,

If anyone imagines he is somebody, he is deceiving himself, for he is nobody;

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.

So he told them, "You are the people who get men to think you are good, but God knows what your hearts are! What is lofty in the view of man is loathsome in the eyes of God.

He also told the following parable to certain persons who were sure of their own goodness and looked down upon everybody else. "Two men went up to pray in the temple; one was a Pharisee and the other was a taxgatherer. The Pharisee stood up and prayed by himself as follows; 'I thank thee, O God, I am not like the rest of men, thieves, rogues, and immoral, or even like yon taxgatherer.read more.
Twice a week I fast; on all my income I pay tithes.' But the taxgatherer stood far away and would not lift even his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'O God, have mercy on me for my sins!' I tell you, he went home accepted by God rather than the other man; for everyone who uplifts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be uplifted."

Though they knew God, they have not glorified him as God nor given thanks to him; they have turned to futile speculations till their ignorant minds grew dark. They claimed to be wise, but they have become fools; they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the semblance of the likeness of mortal man, of birds, of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.