What Does the Bible Say About Good Works Without Recognition?

James 1:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Colossians 3:17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Luke 6:38 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Matthew 6:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

John 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Philippians 2:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Acts 20:35 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ...

Matthew 6:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:3-4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 6:1-34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

1 Peter 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

James 2:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Titus 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

2 Timothy 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

1 Timothy 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

2 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ...

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

1 Corinthians 15:52 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Romans 12:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 12:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Acts 2:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Luke 6:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Matthew 25:46 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 25:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 23:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

Isaiah 64:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Proverbs 28:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

Proverbs 11:24-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Genesis 3:17-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Genesis 1:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

51 Bible Verses about Good Works Without Recognition

James 1:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 3:17 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 6:38 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 20:35 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 16:19-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:3-4 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:1-34 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 22:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 2:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Titus 2:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 6:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 15:52 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 2:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 6:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:46 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 23:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 64:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 28:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 11:24-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 15:7-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:17-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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