What Does the Bible Say About Seeking Righteousness?

Philippians 3:9 ESV / 19 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—

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 17 helpful votes

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

Romans 4:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Romans 10:5 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

Romans 3:22 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

James 1:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Philippians 3:8 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 7 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.

Romans 4:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Titus 2:12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 3:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Romans 4:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Romans 8:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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.

James 2:21 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 4 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.

Romans 11:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 9:30-33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Romans 3:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

Romans 3:20 ESV / 3 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 / 3 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.”

John 14:6 ESV / 3 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.

Matthew 25:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 6:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 5:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Isaiah 61:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

1 John 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

1 Timothy 4:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Philippians 3:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV / 2 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.

Galatians 3:21 ESV / 2 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.

Galatians 3:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Romans 13:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Romans 10:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:1-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. ...

Romans 9:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

Romans 9:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Romans 8:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:13 ESV / 2 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.

Romans 8:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Romans 8:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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,

Romans 8:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans 7:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Romans 7:1-25 ESV / 2 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 4:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ...

Romans 3:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Romans 3:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ...

Romans 2:1-29 ESV / 2 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. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. ...

Romans 1:1-32 ESV / 2 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, ...

Acts 3:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

John 14:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 6:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Luke 10:25-37 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?” 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?” ...

Mark 8:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

Matthew 28:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 2 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.’

Jeremiah 23:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Genesis 15:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

66 Bible Verses about Seeking Righteousness

Philippians 3:9 ESV / 19 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Romans 10:5 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:22 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:22 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 3:8 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 4:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Titus 2:12 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 4:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 2:21 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Romans 11:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 9:30-33 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:34 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 61:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Timothy 4:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 3:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

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

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 10:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 10:1-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 9:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 9:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 7:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 4:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 4:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 4:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 2:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:1-32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 3:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 6:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 10:25-37 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 8:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 28:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 23:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 15:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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