What Does the Bible Say About Too Strict?

Ecclesiastes 7:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

Jude 1:3 ESV / 3 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.

1 John 4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Romans 12:3 ESV / 3 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.

Matthew 23:23-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Ecclesiastes 7:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. ...

Revelation 18:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.

1 John 5:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

James 3:13-17 ESV / 2 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.

James 3:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 2 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.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

1 Timothy 4:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Colossians 3:1-25 ESV / 2 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. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ...

Colossians 2:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2:20-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. ...

Philippians 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

1 Corinthians 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

1 Corinthians 3:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

Romans 16:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

Romans 14:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

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 11:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Romans 10:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Acts 17:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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.

John 14:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Luke 18:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

Luke 18:9-14 ESV / 2 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!’ ...

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 23:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

See, your house is left to you desolate.

Matthew 23:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

Matthew 23:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

Matthew 22:15-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ...

Matthew 9:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 2 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. ...

Matthew 6:1-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...

Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV / 2 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.

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. I say: Keep the king's command, because of God's oath to him. Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. ...

Ecclesiastes 7:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

Ecclesiastes 7:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

Proverbs 25:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

Proverbs 23:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.

Job 28:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job 11:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a man!

Leviticus 19:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

Exodus 20:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Genesis 3:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Genesis 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

53 Bible Verses about Too Strict

Ecclesiastes 7:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jude 1:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 23:23-24 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 7:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 18:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 5:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 3:13-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

2 Timothy 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Colossians 3:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:20-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 3:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 16:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

Romans 11:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Acts 17:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 18:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

Matthew 23:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 23:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 23:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 22:15-22 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 9:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 7:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:1-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 7:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 7:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 25:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 23:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 28:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 11:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 19:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

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

Genesis 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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