100 Bible Verses about Self Righteous

Luke 18:9-14 ESV / 191 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!’ ...

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV / 171 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.

Romans 10:3 ESV / 157 helpful votes

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

Isaiah 64:6 ESV / 157 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.

Romans 3:10 ESV / 154 helpful votes

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Titus 3:5 ESV / 129 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,

Matthew 7:1-5 ESV / 127 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Luke 18:9 ESV / 123 helpful votes

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

1 John 1:9 ESV / 111 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 110 helpful votes

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Mark 12:31 ESV / 100 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 97 helpful votes

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Proverbs 30:12 ESV / 97 helpful votes

There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.

Luke 16:15 ESV / 96 helpful votes

And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Galatians 2:16 ESV / 89 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.

1 John 2:16 ESV / 88 helpful votes

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.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 88 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 10:29 ESV / 88 helpful votes

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 86 helpful votes

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 83 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Matthew 7:1-2 ESV / 80 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Luke 10:27 ESV / 78 helpful votes

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.”

James 3:18 ESV / 77 helpful votes

And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Romans 14:1 ESV / 76 helpful votes

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

Job 32:2 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

2 Corinthians 10:12 ESV / 75 helpful votes

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Romans 14:10-13 ESV / 70 helpful votes

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 69 helpful votes

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Romans 7:1-25 ESV / 69 helpful votes

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. ...

Romans 5:8 ESV / 69 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Matthew 23:1-39 ESV / 69 helpful votes

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, ...

Revelation 3:17-18 ESV / 68 helpful votes

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Isaiah 46:12 ESV / 68 helpful votes

“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness:

Romans 12:19 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 66 helpful votes

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

John 14:6 ESV / 66 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.

Isaiah 46:13 ESV / 66 helpful votes

I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.”

1 Corinthians 4:7 ESV / 64 helpful votes

For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

1 John 4:19-21 ESV / 63 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.

Romans 3:20 ESV / 63 helpful votes

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Romans 1:17 ESV / 63 helpful votes

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Deuteronomy 28:1-68 ESV / 63 helpful votes

“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ...

Romans 5:1 ESV / 62 helpful votes

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hosea 12:8 ESV / 62 helpful votes

Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”

Proverbs 16:2 ESV / 62 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 10:18 ESV / 61 helpful votes

For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Zephaniah 3:11 ESV / 61 helpful votes

“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain.

Deuteronomy 9:4 ESV / 61 helpful votes

“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.

Numbers 16:3 ESV / 61 helpful votes

They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

Galatians 5:5 ESV / 60 helpful votes

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Romans 3:27 ESV / 59 helpful votes

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 59 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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.’

Isaiah 51:5 ESV / 59 helpful votes

My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.

Matthew 5:20 ESV / 58 helpful votes

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

John 14:15 ESV / 57 helpful votes

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Matthew 6:7 ESV / 57 helpful votes

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Proverbs 21:2 ESV / 57 helpful votes

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

Matthew 7:5 ESV / 55 helpful votes

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Isaiah 65:5 ESV / 55 helpful votes

Who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.

Psalm 10:5 ESV / 55 helpful votes

His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them.

Luke 1:37 ESV / 54 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Matthew 5:38-39 ESV / 54 helpful votes

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Philippians 2:3 ESV / 53 helpful votes

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Romans 12:3 ESV / 53 helpful votes

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 53 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.

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV / 52 helpful votes

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

Romans 9:31 ESV / 52 helpful votes

But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

Luke 16:14 ESV / 52 helpful votes

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

1 Timothy 6:11 ESV / 51 helpful votes

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Romans 1:18-32 ESV / 51 helpful votes

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ...

Luke 18:11 ESV / 51 helpful votes

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.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV / 51 helpful votes

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Revelation 3:17 ESV / 50 helpful votes

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 50 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 John 1:8 ESV / 49 helpful votes

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Jeremiah 17:5 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.

John 15:5 ESV / 46 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.

Romans 3:23 ESV / 45 helpful votes

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 2:17 ESV / 45 helpful votes

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God

Galatians 6:3 ESV / 44 helpful votes

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 44 helpful votes

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

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 43 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.

Philippians 3:9 ESV / 42 helpful votes

And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 41 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Matthew 7:1 ESV / 40 helpful votes

“Judge not, that you be not judged.

Jeremiah 2:34-35 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’

John 3:16-17 ESV / 39 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.

Colossians 3:12 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

Ephesians 2:9 ESV / 36 helpful votes

Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Galatians 2:21 ESV / 36 helpful votes

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 36 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.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV / 35 helpful votes

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 34 helpful votes

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Galatians 3:21 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 34 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 2:1 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Matthew 5:5 ESV / 34 helpful votes

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 33 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

1 John 1:10 ESV / 33 helpful votes

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5-6 ESV / 32 helpful votes

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

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