What Does the Bible Say About Selfish Ambition?

Philippians 2:3 ESV / 16 helpful votes

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

James 3:13-17 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 11 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 2:8 ESV / 11 helpful votes

But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Philippians 2:3-4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 8 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.

1 Samuel 15:23 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

James 3:14-16 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 5 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.”

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James 5:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

James 3:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

Philippians 1:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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;

James 3:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 4 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.

Titus 3:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Philippians 2:1-11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ...

Galatians 5:1-26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ...

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 3 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.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. ...

Galatians 5:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

2 Corinthians 12:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

1 Corinthians 4:7 ESV / 2 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 Corinthians 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

Romans 13:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 1:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

John 6:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Luke 21:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Mark 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

Matthew 9:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Habakkuk 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

Proverbs 29:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Proverbs 22:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

Proverbs 20:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.

2 Chronicles 33:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

2 Chronicles 26:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, ...

Exodus 20:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

44 Bible Verses about Selfish Ambition

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

James 3:13-17 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 2:8 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:3-4 ESV / 9 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Samuel 15:23 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 3:14-16 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 5:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 3:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 1:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 3:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Titus 3:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:1-11 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:1-26 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 5:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 6:1-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 12:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 13:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

John 6:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 21:1-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 1:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 9:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Habakkuk 1:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 29:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Proverbs 20:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Chronicles 33:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Chronicles 26:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

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