37 Bible Verses about Warnings Against Apostasy

For [it is] impossible [concerning] those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and become sharers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age, and having fallen away, to renew [them] again to repentance, [because they] have crucified again for themselves the Son of God and held him up to contempt.read more.
For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth vegetation usable to those [people] {for whose sake} [it is] also cultivated, shares a blessing from God. But [if it] produces thorns and thistles, [it is] worthless and near to a curse, whose end [is] for burning.

And what was sown on the rocky ground--this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he does not have a root in himself, but {lasts only a little while}, and [when] affliction or persecution happens because of the word, immediately he falls away.

And these are like the ones sown on the rocky ground, who whenever they hear the word immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but are temporary. Then [when] affliction or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

And those on the rock [are those] who receive the word with joy when they hear [it], and these do not have [enough] root, who believe for a time and in a time of testing fall away.

Then one of the twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests [and] said, "What are you willing to give me if I in turn deliver him to you?" So they set out for him thirty silver coins. And from that time on, he began seeking a favorable opportunity in order that he could betray him.

And Judas Iscariot, who [was] one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And [when] they heard [this], they were delighted, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how he could betray him conveniently.

And then many will be led into sin and will betray one another and will hate one another, and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many, and because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.

For [if] we keep on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that is about to consume the adversaries. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses.read more.
How much worse punishment do you think the person will be considered worthy of who treats with disdain the Son of God and who considers ordinary the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy and who insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, "Vengeance [is] mine, I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." [It is] a terrifying [thing] to fall into the hands of the living God.

I am astonished that you are turning away so quickly from the one who called you by the grace of Christ to a different gospel,

And Satan entered into Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. And he went away [and] discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he could betray him to them. And they were delighted, and came to an agreement with him to give [him] money.read more.
And he agreed, and began looking for a favorable opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd.

But whoever denies me before people, I also will deny him before my Father [who is] in heaven.

Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!' And he will reply, saying to you, 'I do not know where you are from! Go away from me, all [you] {evildoers}!'

Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, for [that day will not come] unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

For there will be a time when they will not put up with sound teaching, but in accordance with their own desires, they will accumulate for themselves teachers, {because they have an insatiable curiosity}, and they will turn away from the hearing of the truth, but will turn to myths.

but the one who denies me before people will be denied before the angels of God.

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw [them] into the fire, and they are burned.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they went out], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.

if we endure, we will also reign with [him]; if we deny [him], he also will deny us;

Watch out, brothers, lest there be in some of you an evil, unbelieving heart, [with the result that you] fall away from the living God.

Therefore, dear friends, [because you] know [this] beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position [because you] have been led away by the error of lawless persons.

"If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes [about] that he spoke to you, {saying}, 'Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,' you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God {is testing you to know whether you love} Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all [of] your inner self.read more.
You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the [one] redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so [in this way] you shall purge the evil from your midst. "If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter {or your wife whom you embrace} or {your intimate friend} in secrecy {says}, 'Let us go and let us serve other gods!' [gods] that you and your ancestors have not known, from [among] the gods of the people who are around you, {those near you or those far from you}, from [one] end of the earth and up to the [other] end of the earth, you must not give in to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall not have compassion, and you shall not cover [up] for him. But you shall certainly kill him; your hand shall be first against him to kill him and next the hand of all [of] the people. And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the [one] bringing you from [the] land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. And all [of] Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and {they shall not continue to act} according to this evil thing in your midst.

But my loyal love shall not depart from him as I took [it] from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

But on account of his strength his heart grew proud unto destruction. And he acted unfaithfully against Yahweh his God and went into the temple of Yahweh to offer an incense offering on the altar. And Azariah the priest, along with eighty strong priests with him, went in after him. And they stood against King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but [it is] for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully. There will be no honor for you from Yahweh God."read more.
Then Uzziah, his censer in hand to burn incense, became angry. And when he became angry with the priests, then leprosy appeared on his forehead in front of the priests in the house of Yahweh at the altar of incense. When Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him, behold, he [was] leprous in the forehead. So they rushed him away from there, and he also hastened to go out, for Yahweh had smitten him. So King Uzziah was leprous until the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house as a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son [was] over the house of the king, judging the people of the land.

For this [reason] many of his disciples {drew back} and were not walking with him any longer.

Now a certain man {named} Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. But Peter said, "Ananias, for what [reason] has Satan filled your heart, [that] you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself [some] of the proceeds of the piece of land?read more.
[When it] remained to you, did it not remain [yours]? And [when it] was sold, was it at your disposal? How [is it] that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God!" And [when] Ananias heard these words, he fell down [and] died. And great fear came on all those who heard about [it]. So the young men stood up, wrapped him up, and carried [him] out [and] buried [him]. And it happened that [there was] an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you [both] were paid this much [for] the piece of land." And she said, "Yes, this much." So Peter [said] to her, "How [is it] that it was agreed by you [two] to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband [are] at the door, and they will carry you out!" And immediately she fell down at his feet and died. So [when] the young men came in, they found her dead, and carried [her] out [and] buried [her] with her husband. And great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard about these [things].

having faith and a good conscience, which some, [because they] have rejected [these], have suffered shipwreck concerning their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, in order that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny [him], [because they] are detestable and disobedient, and unfit for every good deed.

For Demas deserted me, [because he] loved the present age, and went to Thessalonica. Crescens [went] to Galatia; Titus [went] to Dalmatia.

But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you also, who will bring in {destructive heresies}, even denying the Master who bought them, [thus] bringing on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentious ways, because of whom the way of truth will be reviled. And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation [from] long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

and especially those who go after the flesh in defiling lust and who despise authority. Bold [and] arrogant, they do not tremble in awe [as they] blaspheme majestic beings, whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring against them a demeaning judgment. But these persons, like irrational animals born [only with] natural [instincts] for capture and killing, blaspheming {about things} they do not understand, in their destruction will also be destroyed,read more.
being harmed [as the] wages of unrighteousness. Considering reveling in the daytime a pleasure, [they are] stains and blemishes, carousing in their deceitful pleasures [when they] feast together with you, having eyes full of [desire for] an adulteress and unceasing from sin, enticing unstable persons, [and] having hearts trained for greediness. Accursed children! [By] leaving the straight path, they have gone astray, [because they] followed the way of Balaam the [son of] Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

For if, [after they] have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these [things] [and] succumb to [them], the last [state] has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known [it], to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. The [statement] of the true proverb has happened to them, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, [after] washing herself, [returns] to wallowing in the mud."

For certain men have slipped in stealthily, who were designated long ago for this condemnation, ungodly ones, who change the grace of our God into licentiousness and who deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

Despite that, in the same way also these [men], [because of their] dreams, defile the flesh and reject authority and blaspheme majestic beings. But Michael the archangel, when he argued with the devil, disputing concerning the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" But these persons blaspheme all that they do not understand, and all that they understand by instinct like the irrational animals, by these [things] they are being destroyed.read more.
Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain, and have given themselves up to the error of Balaam for gain, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the ones feasting together without reverence, hidden reefs at your love feasts, caring for themselves, waterless clouds carried away by winds, late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea foaming up their own shameful deeds, wandering stars, for whom the deep gloom of darkness has been reserved for eternity. And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these [people], saying, "Behold, the Lord came with tens of thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly deeds that they have committed in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These [people] are grumblers, discontented, proceeding according to their desires, and their mouths speaking pompous [words], {showing partiality to gain an advantage}.

But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. And I have given her time in order to repent, and she did not want to repent from her sexual immorality. Behold, I am throwing her into a sickbed and those who committed adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent from her deeds.

"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.