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100 Bible Verses about Works Are Filthy Rags

Isaiah 64:6 ESV / 24 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.

Philippians 3:9 ESV / 8 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—

Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV / 7 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 2:21 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 7 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 3:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

Galatians 2:16 ESV / 6 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.

James 2:10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Titus 3:5 ESV / 5 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,

Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

1 John 3:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Philippians 2:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Romans 4:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Acts 10:35 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Isaiah 64:1-12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? ...

Revelation 19:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

1 John 2:29 ESV / 3 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 2:1-29 ESV / 3 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: ...

1 John 1:9 ESV / 3 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 Peter 1:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Titus 2:14 ESV / 3 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.

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

1 Timothy 2:1-15 ESV / 3 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, ...

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— ...

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Philippians 1:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Ephesians 2:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV / 3 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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV / 3 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.

1 Corinthians 6:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ...

Romans 11:6 ESV / 3 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 10:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Romans 6:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:1-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ...

Romans 3:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 3:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

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.

Acts 10:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

John 14:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

John 3:16 ESV / 3 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.

John 1:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Luke 1:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

Matthew 22:36-40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 16:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Matthew 5:48 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Matthew 5:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Isaiah 48:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.

Isaiah 1:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Psalm 34:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

Psalm 5:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Revelation 22:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Revelation 22:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.

Revelation 20:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Revelation 14:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

Revelation 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

1 John 5:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 3:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

1 John 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

1 John 2:3-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

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.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

1 Peter 3:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 2 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.

1 Peter 2:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ...

1 Peter 1:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

1 Peter 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

James 3:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

James 2:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

James 2:14-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ...

Hebrews 11:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Hebrews 9:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Titus 1:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

2 Timothy 4:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

1 Timothy 6:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 2:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

1 Thessalonians 4:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

Colossians 1:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Philippians 3:6-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 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

Philippians 2:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Ephesians 6:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 4:24-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. ...

Ephesians 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

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