What Does the Bible Say About Greater Good?

Romans 8:28 ESV / 13 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 13:1-4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

John 10:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 1:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 John 2:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ...

1 Timothy 1:9-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Romans 5:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

John 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 Kings 1:1-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.” But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went. The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?” ...

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

James 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

James 1:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ...

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

John 3:16 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.

Mark 10:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 19:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Matthew 19:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Matthew 15:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Matthew 10:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

Matthew 10:29-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Malachi 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Daniel 4:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Lamentations 3:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

Jeremiah 32:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Isaiah 45:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Ecclesiastes 12:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 3:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

Proverbs 16:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Psalm 51:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Job 14:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.

Job 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

2 Samuel 1:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” And David said to him, “How did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.” Then David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?” ...

Ruth 1:1-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. ...

Deuteronomy 5:1-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said: ...

Exodus 22:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not murder.

Genesis 50:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis 21:1-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ...

Genesis 2:18-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ...

Genesis 2:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

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.”

Genesis 1:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

47 Bible Verses about Greater Good

Romans 8:28 ESV / 13 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:1-4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 10:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 1:9-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Kings 1:1-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 7:1-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Mark 10:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 19:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 15:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 10:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 10:29-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Malachi 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 4:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Lamentations 3:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 32:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 45:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 12:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 3:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 16:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 51:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 14:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 2:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 1:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ruth 1:1-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 5:1-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 22:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 50:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 21:1-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:18-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 1:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Genesis 1:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Suggest a Verse

Enter a Verse Reference (e.g., John 3:16-17)