Bible verses about "cliques" | WNT

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; ² for the Spirit's Law-- telling of Life in Christ Jesus--has set me free from the Law that deals only with sin and death. ³ For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature; ⁴ in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures. ⁵ For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things. ⁶ Because for the mind to be given up to earthly things means death; but for it to be given up to spiritual things means Life and peace. ⁷ Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so. ⁸ And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, though your body must die because of sin, yet your spirit has Life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will give Life also to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you. ¹² Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that we are under obligation that we should live by their rule. ¹³ For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being under the sway of the spirit, you are putting your old bodily habits to death, you will live. ¹⁴ For those who are led by God's Spirit are, all of them, God's sons. ¹⁵ You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness of being--a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted as sons--a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, "Abba! our Father!" ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness, along with our own spirits, to the fact that we are children of God; ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs too--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; if indeed we are sharers in Christ's sufferings, in order that we may also be sharers in His glory. ¹⁸ Why, what we now suffer I count as nothing in comparison with the glory which is soon to be manifested in us. ¹⁹ For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the Creation fell into subjection to failure and unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it). ²¹ Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation itself would also be set free from the thraldom of decay so as to enjoy the liberty that will attend the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning together in the pains of childbirth until this hour. ²³ And more than that, we ourselves, though we possess the Spirit as a foretaste and pledge of the glorious future, yet we ourselves inwardly sigh, as we wait and long for open recognition as sons through the deliverance of our bodies. ²⁴ It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it? ²⁵ But if we hope for something which we do not see, then we eagerly and patiently wait for it. ²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words, ²⁷ and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because His intercessions for God's people are in harmony with God's will. ²⁸ Now we know that for those who love God all things are working together for good--for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called. ²⁹ For those whom He has known beforehand He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers; ³⁰ and those whom He has pre-destined He also has called; and those whom He has called He has also declared free from guilt; and those whom He has declared free from guilt He has also crowned with glory. ³¹ What then shall we say to this? If God is on our side, who is there to appear against us? ³² He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall impeach those whom God has chosen? God declares them free from guilt. ³⁴ Who is there to condemn them? Christ Jesus died, or rather has risen to life again. He is also at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from Christ's love? Shall affliction or distress, persecution or hunger, nakedness or danger or the sword? ³⁶ As it stands written in the Scripture, "FOR THY SAKE THEY ARE, ALL DAY LONG, TRYING TO KILL US. WE HAVE BEEN LOOKED UPON AS SHEEP DESTINED FOR SLAUGHTER." ³⁷ Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who has loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the lower ranks of evil angels nor the higher, neither things present nor things future, nor the forces of nature, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which rests upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹⁶ Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give your mind to high things, but let humble ways content you. DO NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN CONCEITS.

³ For a time is coming when they will not tolerate wholesome instruction, but, wanting to have their ears tickled, they will find a multitude of teachers to satisfy their own fancies;

¹ Then Jesus addressed the crowds and His disciples. ² "The Scribes," He said, "and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses. ³ Therefore do and observe everything that they command you; but do not imitate their lives, for though they tell others what to do, they do not do it themselves. ⁴ Heavy and cumbrous burdens they bind together and load men's shoulders with them, while as for themselves, not with one finger do they choose to lift them. ⁵ And everything they do they do with a view to being observed by men; for they widen their phylacteries and make the tassels large, ⁶ and love the best seats at a dinner party or in the synagogues, ⁷ and like to be bowed to in places of public resort, and to be addressed by men as 'Rabbi.' ⁸ "As for you, do not accept the title of 'Rabbi,' for one alone is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no one on earth your Father, for One alone is your Father--the Heavenly Father. ¹⁰ And do not accept the name of 'leader,' for your Leader is one alone--the Christ. ¹¹ He who is the greatest among you shall be your servant; ¹² and one who exalts himself shall be abased, while one who abases himself shall be exalted. ¹³ "But alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you lock the door of the Kingdom of the Heavens against men; you yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow those to enter who are seeking to do so. ¹⁴ OMITTED TEXT ¹⁵ "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you scour sea and land in order to win one convert--and when he is gained, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves. ¹⁶ "Alas for you, you blind guides, who say, "'Whoever swears by the Sanctuary it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Sanctuary, is bound by the oath.' ¹⁷ "Blind fools! Why, which is greater? --the gold, or the Sanctuary which has made the gold holy? ¹⁸ And you say, "'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering lying on it is bound by the oath.' ¹⁹ "You are blind! Why, which is greater? --the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy? ²⁰ He who swears by the altar swears both by it and by everything on it; ²¹ he who swears by the Sanctuary swears both by it and by Him who dwells in it; ²² and he who swears by Heaven swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. ²³ "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay the tithe on mint, dill, and cumin, while you have neglected the weightier requirements of the Law--just judgement, mercy, and faithful dealing. These things you ought to have done, and yet you ought not to have left the others undone. ²⁴ You blind guides, straining out the gnat while you gulp down the camel! ²⁵ "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you wash clean the outside of the cup or dish, while within they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first wash clean the inside of the cup or dish, and then the outside will be clean also. ²⁷ "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are just like whitewashed sepulchres, the outside of which pleases the eye, though inside they are full of dead men's bones and of all that is unclean. ²⁸ The same is true of you: outwardly you seem to the human eye to be good and honest men, but, within, you are full of insincerity and disregard of God's Law. ²⁹ "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you repair the sepulchres of the Prophets and keep in order the tombs of the righteous, ³⁰ and your boast is, "'If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.' ³¹ "So that you bear witness against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the Prophets. ³² Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt. ³³ O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you to escape condemnation to Gehenna? ³⁴ "For this reason I am sending to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will put to death--nay, crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and chase from town to town; ³⁵ that all the innocent blood shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ I tell you in solemn truth that all these things will come upon the present generation. ³⁷ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee! how often have I desired to gather thy children to me, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not come! ³⁸ See, your house will now be left to you desolate! ³⁹ For I tell you that you will never see me again until you say, 'BLESSED BE HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.'"

¹ My brethren, you must not make distinctions between one man and another while you are striving to maintain faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our glory. ² For suppose a man comes into one of your meetings wearing gold rings and fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man wearing shabby clothes, ³ and you pay court to the one who wears the fine clothes, and say, "Sit here; this is a good place;" while to the poor man you say, "Stand there, or sit on the floor at my feet;" ⁴ is it not plain that in your hearts you have little faith, seeing that you have become judges full of wrong thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my dearly-loved brethren. Has not God chosen those whom the world regards as poor to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to those that love Him? ⁶ But *you* have put dishonour upon the poor man. Yet is it not the rich who grind you down? Are not they the very people who drag you into the Law courts? -- ⁷ and the very people who speak evil of the noble Name by which you are called? ⁸ If, however, you are keeping the Law as supreme, in obedience to the Commandment which says "YOU ARE TO LOVE YOUR FELLOW MAN JUST AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF," you are acting rightly. ⁹ But if you are making distinctions between one man and another, you are guilty of sin, and are convicted by the Law as offenders. ¹⁰ A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has failed to keep some one command, has become guilty of violating all. ¹¹ For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER," and if you are a murderer, although not an adulterer, you have become an offender against the Law. ¹² Speak and act as those should who are expecting to be judged by the Law of freedom. ¹³ For he who shows no mercy will have judgement given against him without mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgement.

¹⁰ Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.