What Does the Bible Say About Self-justification?

1 John 3:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Luke 10:25-37 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ...

1 John 4:19-21 ESV / 4 helpful votes

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

James 1:13-15 ESV / 4 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Romans 1:1-32 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, ...

Mark 12:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Matthew 22:40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 16:24-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

1 Samuel 15:1-35 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. ...

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ...

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

James 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Ephesians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Galatians 2:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 6:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 1:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Acts 5:1-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. ...

John 10:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

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.

Luke 18:10-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ...

Luke 10:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Mark 16:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Mark 3:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—

Matthew 22:23-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. ...

Matthew 7:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 5:1-7:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ...

Jeremiah 20:14-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

Ecclesiastes 7:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

Proverbs 16:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Psalm 13:2-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

Job 7:15-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Exodus 20:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ...

Genesis 3:12-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

42 Bible Verses about Self-justification

1 John 3:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 10:25-37 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:19-21 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:13-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:1-32 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 12:31 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 12:30 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 22:40 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 16:24-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 15:1-35 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Ephesians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

Romans 6:1-2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 5:1-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

Luke 18:10-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 18:9-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 10:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Mark 3:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 22:23-33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:22-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:1-7:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 20:14-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 7:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 13:2-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 7:15-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:12-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Suggest a Verse

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