What Does the Bible Say About Taking Captive Every Thought?

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV / 32 helpful votes

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV / 24 helpful votes

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Romans 12:2 ESV / 15 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.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 ESV / 13 helpful votes

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Ephesians 6:16 ESV / 11 helpful votes

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

Philippians 4:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Psalm 119:1-176 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! ...

1 Peter 1:2 ESV / 9 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 4:7 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

Romans 8:28 ESV / 9 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.

Isaiah 26:3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Colossians 3:1-3 ESV / 8 helpful votes

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Galatians 5:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 8 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Proverbs 28:13 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 7 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 10:1-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ...

Romans 12:1 ESV / 7 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.

John 16:33 ESV / 7 helpful votes

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

John 8:32 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Matthew 21:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 7 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.

Psalm 147:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Philippians 2:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Romans 16:26 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

Romans 1:1-32 ESV / 6 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, ...

Proverbs 4:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 5 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.

Psalm 119:28 ESV / 5 helpful votes

My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!

Psalm 119:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 1:14-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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 5:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Philippians 4:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 2:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Philippians 1:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes

That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Romans 8:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 7:23 ESV / 4 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.

John 14:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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.

John 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 23:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

Job 36:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.

Ephesians 5:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

1 Corinthians 10:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 3 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 5:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Romans 1:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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,

John 8:31-32 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 2:1-22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. ...

Psalm 139:1-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. ...

Joshua 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

1 Peter 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

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.

Isaiah 55:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

64 Bible Verses about Taking Captive Every Thought

2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV / 32 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 25 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:2 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 ESV / 13 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 6:16 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 4:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 119:1-176 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 1:2 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 4:7 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:28 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 26:3 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 3:1-3 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 4:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 10:1-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

John 16:33 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:32 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 21:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 147:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 16:26 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:1-32 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 4:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 119:28 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 119:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 1:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:14-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 5:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 4:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 1:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 5:26 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

Proverbs 23:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 36:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Corinthians 10:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:31-32 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 2:1-22 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 139:1-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Joshua 1:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

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

Isaiah 55:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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