30 Bible Verses about Self Deception

If we claim "We are already free from sin," we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in our hearts.

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not have a share in the kingdom of God? Stop being misled; people who are sexually immoral or idolaters or adulterers or sensual or guilty of unnatural sexual vice or thieves or greedy graspers for more or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers will not have a share in the kingdom of God.

If we claim "We have not sinned," we are making Him a liar, and His message is not in our hearts.

Because you say, 'I am rich, I have already become rich, I need nothing,' and you do not know that you are the very one that is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked;

"A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you bolt the doors of the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you let those who are trying to do so go in. Omitted Text. A curse on you, you hypocritical scribes and Pharisees! For you scour land and sea to win a single convert, and when he is won you make him twice as fit for the pit as you are.

But a curse on you Pharisees, because you pay tithes on mint, rue, and every tiny garden herb, but neglect justice and the love of God! These latter especially you ought to have done, but ought not to have neglected the former. A curse on you Pharisees, because you like to have the front seats in synagogues, and to be greeted with honor in public places! A curse on you, because you are like unmarked graves which men walk over without knowing it!"read more.
Then an expert in the law interrupted Him and said, "Teacher, in saying this you are insulting us, too." He said, "Yes, a curse on you experts in the law, too, because you load people down with loads too heavy to carry, and yet you do not touch the loads yourselves with one of your fingers! A curse on you, because you build monuments for the prophets, whom your forefathers killed! So you testify to what your forefathers did and approve it, because they killed them and you build monuments for them. This is why the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill, and some they will persecute'; so that the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the creation of the world may be charged against the men of this age -- from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against the men of this age. A curse on you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to the door of knowledge! You did not go in yourselves, and you kept out those who tried to get in."

They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and we never have been anybody's slaves. How can you say to us, 'You will be set free'?" Jesus answered them, "I most solemnly say to you, everyone who lives in sin is a slave of sin.

Keep on obeying this message; do not merely listen to it, and so deceive yourselves. Because if anyone merely listens to the message without obeying it, he is like a man who looks in a mirror at his own face, for he looks and then goes off and at once forgets how he looked.read more.
But the man who looks at the flawless law that makes men free, and keeps on looking, proving himself to be, not a forgetful hearer but an actual doer of what it requires, will be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives himself, his religious worship is worthless.

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a city and stay a year, go into business and make money," although you do not have the slightest knowledge of tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? It is really nothing but a mist which appears for a little while and then disappears. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord is willing, we shall live and do this or that."read more.
But, as it is, you boast of your proud pretensions. All such boasting is wicked.

Then He told them a story, as follows: "A certain rich man's lands yielded bountifully. So he began to argue with himself, 'What am I to do, because I have nowhere to store my crops?' Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and in them I will store all my grains and my goods.read more.
Then I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Go on taking your ease; continue to eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is to be demanded of you. Then who will have all that you have prepared?'

Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance you profess, and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather? For I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones.

Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance that you profess, and do not even begin to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather,' for I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones.

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who practice doing the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, was it not in your name that we prophesied, and in your name that we drove out demons, and in your name that we did many wonder-works?' And then I will say to them openly, 'I never knew you at all. Go away from me, you who practiced doing wrong.'

when once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand on the outside and to knock on the door again and again and say, 'Lord, open it for us'; but He will answer, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But He will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from. Go away from me, all you wrongdoers!'

"Then He will say to those at His left, 'Be gone from me, you who are now cursed, to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For when I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink, when I was a stranger you did not welcome me to your homes, when I needed clothes you did not put them on me, when I was sick and in prison, you did not look after me.'read more.
Then they will answer, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not wait on you?' Then He will answer, 'I solemnly say to you, every time you failed to do a good deed to one of these most insignificant people, you failed to do a good deed to me.' Then these will go away to everlasting punishment, but the upright to everlasting life."

They answered Him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, you must be practicing what Abraham did. But right now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that He has learned from God. Abraham never did that. You are practicing what your real father does." They said to Him, "We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, even God."read more.
Then Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. No, indeed, I have not come on my own authority, but He has sent me. Why is it that you misunderstand what I say? It is because you cannot listen to what I teach. You sprang from the devil, your real father, and you want to practice your father's wishes. He was a murderer from the very start, and he does not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks out of his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Who of you can prove me guilty of sin? But if I do tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is sprung from God listens to what God says. This is why you do not listen to me: you are not sprung from God."

Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on law, and boast about God, and understand His will, and by being instructed in the law can know the things that excel, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness,read more.
a tutor of the foolish, a teacher of the young, since you have a knowledge of the truth as formulated in the law -- you who teach others, do you not teach yourself too? You who preach that men should not steal, do you steal yourself? You who warn men to stop committing adultery, do you practice it yourself? You who shrink in horror from idols, do you rob their temples? You who boast about the law, do you by breaking it dishonor God? For, as the Scripture says, the name of God is abused among the heathen because of you. Now circumcision benefits you only if you practice the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision is no better than uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised heathen man observes the just demands of the law, will he not be counted as though he were a Jew? And shall not the heathen man who is physically uncircumcised, and yet observes the law, condemn you who have the letter of the law and are physically circumcised, and yet break the law? For the real Jew is not the man who is a Jew on the outside, and real circumcision is not outward physical circumcision. The real Jew is the man who is a Jew on the inside, and real circumcision is heart-circumcision, a spiritual, not a literal, affair. This man's praise originates, not with men, but with God.

Being circumcised or not being circumcised has no value, but keeping God's commands is important.

Look out for those dogs, those mischief-makers, those self-mutilators! For we are the true circumcision, who by the Spirit of God worship Him, who take pride in Christ Jesus only, and do not rely on outward privileges, though I too might rely on these. If anyone thinks that he can rely on outward privileges, far more might I do so:read more.
circumcised when I was a week old; a descendant of Israel; a member of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew, a son of Hebrews. Measured by the law, I was a Pharisee; by the standard set by zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and measured by the uprightness reached by keeping the law, I was faultless. But for Christ's sake I have counted all that was gain to me as loss.

Let no one deceive himself. If any one of you supposes that he is wise in this world's wisdom, as compared with the rest of you, to become really wise he must become a fool. For this world's wisdom is mere nonsense to God. For the Scripture says, "He who catches the wise with their own cunning," and again, "The Lord knows that the arguings of the wise are useless."

Peter answered, "Though all the rest of them stumble over you, I will never do so." Jesus said to him, "I solemnly say to you, this very night, before a cock crows, you will disown me three times." Peter answered, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you."

Then Jesus said to them, "You will all stumble over me, for the Scripture says, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.' But after I am raised from the dead, I will go back to Galilee to meet you." Then Peter said to Him, "Although all the rest of them stumble over you, yet I will never do so myself."read more.
Then Jesus said to him, "I solemnly say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you, yes, you, will disown me three times." But Peter kept on emphatically saying, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And they all kept saying the same thing.

But Peter said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go even to prison and to death with you!" But He said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow today before you deny three times that you know me!"

Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow you right now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "You will lay down your life for me! I most solemnly say to you, before a cock crows, you will three times disown me!"

Indeed, I do not dare to count or compare myself with certain men who are always recommending themselves. But they do not show good sense, because they do continue measuring themselves with one another and comparing themselves with one another.

For if anybody thinks he is somebody when really he is nobody, he deceives himself.

"Also, whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, to attract the attention of people. I solemnly say to you, they already have their reward.

Then He said to them, "You are the men who exhibit your uprightness before the public, but God knows your hearts. For what stands high in the sight of men is detestable in the sight of God.

To some people who were confident that they themselves were upright, but who scorned everybody else, He told the following story: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood and said this self-centered prayer, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector.read more.
I fast two days in the week. I pay a tithe on everything I get.' But the tax-collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but continued to beat his breast, and say, 'O God, have mercy on me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man, and not the other, went back home forgiven and accepted by God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Forever since the creation of the world, His invisible characteristics -- His eternal power and divine nature -- have been made intelligible and clearly visible by His works. So they are without excuse, because, although they once knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give Him thanks, but became silly in their senseless speculations, and so their insensible hearts have been shrouded in darkness. Though claiming to be wise, they made fools of themselves,read more.
and have transformed the splendor of the immortal God into images in the form of mortal man, birds, beasts, and reptiles.