86 Bible Verses about Striving For Perfection

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 124 helpful votes

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV / 81 helpful votes

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

1 John 2:1-29 ESV / 43 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ...

Hebrews 6:1 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 36 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.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 29 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.

Acts 15:24 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

Titus 2:14 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Genesis 17:1 ESV / 21 helpful votes

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Acts 20:28 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

John 3:16 ESV / 19 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.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 14 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Hebrews 11:40 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 13 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

James 2:10 ESV / 12 helpful votes

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Jude 1:3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Hebrews 12:14 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Genesis 3:17-19 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

1 Peter 1:14-16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Hebrews 8:6-12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ...

Philippians 1:27-28 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Romans 3:1-9:33 ESV / 8 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.) ...

Genesis 2:16-17 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Hebrews 7:11 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

1 Timothy 4:1-2 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

Acts 12:4 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

Hebrews 12:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 10:14 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Philippians 1:27 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

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, ...

John 12:48 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

Matthew 6:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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.

Numbers 1:1-54 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; ...

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 5 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,

1 Peter 1:15-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

James 3:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

James 1:25 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

James 1:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Timothy 2:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

1 Timothy 2:1-15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ...

Colossians 3:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Philippians 3:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Philippians 3:12-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 5:1 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Acts 17:1-34 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. ...

John 3:16-17 ESV / 5 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.

Lamentations 2:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

Psalm 119:96 ESV / 5 helpful votes

I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

Psalm 50:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

Deuteronomy 18:13 ESV / 5 helpful votes

You shall be blameless before the Lord your God,

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.

Colossians 1:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Romans 3:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Acts 24:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

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.

Revelation 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

1 John 2:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

1 John 2:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

1 John 2:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 Timothy 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;

Philippians 3:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

Philippians 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

Philippians 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Galatians 5:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 2 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.

2 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 2 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.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 2 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.

Romans 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Romans 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Acts 2:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

John 3:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Luke 1:37 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Psalm 46:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Job 1:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

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