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100 Bible Verses about Self Denial

Luke 9:23-24 ESV / 199 helpful votes

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Titus 2:11-12 ESV / 177 helpful votes

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 135 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Luke 9:23 ESV / 122 helpful votes

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Matthew 16:24 ESV / 108 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.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV / 104 helpful votes

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Romans 8:7-8 ESV / 88 helpful votes

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 53 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV / 46 helpful votes

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Luke 14:26 ESV / 46 helpful votes

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Galatians 5:24 ESV / 45 helpful votes

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Luke 4:1-13 ESV / 44 helpful votes

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ...

Jeremiah 29:11-14 ESV / 41 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

1 John 1:8-9 ESV / 37 helpful votes

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew 10:37-38 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Mark 8:34 ESV / 31 helpful votes

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 28 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV / 28 helpful votes

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

John 15:5 ESV / 28 helpful votes

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Galatians 6:8 ESV / 25 helpful votes

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Titus 2:12 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Romans 6:23 ESV / 24 helpful votes

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 6:16-18 ESV / 23 helpful votes

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

1 Peter 4:2 ESV / 20 helpful votes

So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Judges 20:26 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

1 Timothy 6:12 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Galatians 5:17 ESV / 18 helpful votes

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Romans 8:1-39 ESV / 18 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ...

Matthew 5:3 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

John 3:16 ESV / 17 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 14:33 ESV / 16 helpful votes

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Romans 13:14 ESV / 15 helpful votes

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Luke 18:9-14 ESV / 15 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!’ ...

Exodus 34:28 ESV / 15 helpful votes

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Galatians 6:14 ESV / 14 helpful votes

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

1 Corinthians 10:24 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

Colossians 3:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

John 3:18 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 11 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 11 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.

Romans 7:24 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

James 5:7 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.

Titus 3:5 ESV / 10 helpful votes

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

2 Timothy 2:4 ESV / 10 helpful votes

No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

Mark 8:34-38 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “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 and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 10 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1 John 4:19 ESV / 9 helpful votes

We love because he first loved us.

1 John 4:4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 Peter 2:11 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Mark 9:43 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

Proverbs 23:2 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.

James 4:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 8 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. 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 7:23 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Luke 18:29-30 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Matthew 8:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Matthew 7:14 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Psalm 141:10 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.

Titus 2:12-13 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Colossians 1:27 ESV / 7 helpful votes

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Philippians 2:4 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

John 4:24 ESV / 7 helpful votes

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Matthew 19:27 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

Matthew 16:24-26 ESV / 7 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. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Esther 4:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

1 John 2:22-23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

2 Timothy 2:21 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

2 Timothy 2:11-12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;

Galatians 3:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Romans 8:8 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 6:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Romans 6:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Acts 20:24 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

John 3:30 ESV / 6 helpful votes

He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Matthew 10:38 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Exodus 23:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.

1 John 2:15-17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:15-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

James 4:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Titus 1:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

1 Corinthians 10:33 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Romans 8:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

1 Peter 1:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

1 Peter 1:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

James 1:12-15 ESV / 4 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. 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.

Hebrews 11:24-26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Luke 22:39 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

1 Kings 1:1-53 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not. Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ...

1 Peter 5:6-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

1 Peter 2:20-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 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 4:7-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Hebrews 12:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Hebrews 11:13-15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.

Hebrews 11:24-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

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