Bible verses about "religion" | Moffatt

⁵⁰ the bread that comes down from heaven is such that one eats of it and never dies. ⁵¹ I am the living bread which has come down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and more, the bread I will give is my flesh, given for the life of the world." ⁵² The Jews then wrangled with one another, saying, "How can he give us his flesh to eat?" ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life within you. ⁵⁴ He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life (and I will raise him up on the last day), ⁵⁵ for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains within me, as I remain within him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live by the Father, so he who feeds on me will also live by me. ⁵⁸ Such is the bread which has come down from heaven: your ancestors ate their bread and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live for ever." ⁵⁹ This he said as he taught in the synagogue at Capharnahum. ⁶⁰ Now many of his disciples, on hearing it, said, "This is hard to take in! Who can listen to talk like this?" ⁶¹ Jesus, inwardly conscious that his disciples were murmuring at it, said to them, "So this upsets you? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending to where he formerly existed? ⁶³ What gives life is the Spirit: flesh is of no avail at all. The words I have uttered to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ And yet there are some of you who do not believe" (for Jesus knew from the very first who the unbelieving were, and who was to betray him; ⁶⁵ that was why he said 'I tell you that no one is able to come to me unless he is allowed by the Father'). ⁶⁶ After that, many of his disciples drew back and would not associate with him any longer. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go, too?" ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, who are we to go to? You have got words of eternal life, ⁶⁹ and we believe, we are certain, that you are the holy One of God." ⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil!" ⁷¹ (He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot; for Judas was to betray him — and he was one of the twelve.)

⁶ and he has further qualified me to be the minister of a new covenant — a covenant not of written law but of spirit; for the written law kills but the Spirit makes alive.

¹ Thus there is no doom now for those who are in Christ Jesus; ² the law of the Spirit brings the life which is in Christ Jesus, and that law has set me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the Law, weakened here by the flesh, could not do; by sending his own Son in the guise of sinful flesh, to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order to secure the fulfilment of the Law's requirements in our lives, as we live and move not by the flesh but by the Spirit. ⁵ For those who follow the flesh have their interests in the flesh, and those who follow the Spirit have their interests in the Spirit. ⁶ The interests of the flesh mean death, the interests of the Spirit mean life and peace. ⁷ For the interests of the flesh are hostile to God; they do not yield to the law of God (indeed they cannot). ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot satisfy God. ⁹ But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ On the other hand, if Christ is within you, though the body is a dead thing owing to Adam's sin, the spirit is living as the result of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies live by his indwelling Spirit in your lives. ¹² Well then, my brothers, we owe a duty — but it is not to the flesh! It is not to live by the flesh! ¹³ If you live by the flesh, you are on the road to death; but if by the Spirit you put the actions of the body to death, you will live. ¹⁴ For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God. ¹⁵ You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!", ¹⁶ it is this Spirit testifying along with our own spirit that we are children of God; ¹⁷ and if children, heirs as well, heirs of God, heirs along with Christ — for we share his sufferings in order to share his glory. ¹⁸ Present suffering, I hold, is a mere nothing compared to the glory that we are to have revealed.

⁶ For he will render to everyone according to what he has done, ⁷ eternal life to those who by patiently doing good aim at glory, honour, and immortality, ⁸ but anger and wrath to those who are wilful, who disobey the Truth and obey wickedness —

¹⁰ For whoever obeys the whole of the Law and only makes a single slip, is guilty of everything.

⁵ and he saved us, not for anything we had done but from his own pity for us, by the water that means regeneration and renewal under the holy Spirit

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift, ⁹ not the outcome of what you have done — lest anyone should pride himself on that;

¹ Take care not to practise your charity before men in order to be noticed; otherwise you get no reward from your Father in heaven. No, ² When you give alms, make no flourish of trumpets like the hypocrites in the synagogues and the streets, so as to win applause from men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ³ When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so as to keep your alms secret; then your Father who sees what is secret will reward you openly. ⁵ Also, when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they like to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street-corners, so as to be seen by men; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ⁶ When you pray, go into your room and shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ⁷ Do not pray by idle rote like pagans, for they suppose they will be heard the more they say; ⁸ you must not copy them; your Father knows your needs before you ask him. ⁹ Let this be how you pray: 'our Father in heaven, thy name be revered, ¹⁰ thy Reign begin, thy will be done on earth as in heaven! ¹¹ give us to-day our bread for the morrow, ¹² and forgive us our debts as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors, ¹³ and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.' ¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, then your heavenly Father will forgive you; ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive men, your Father will not forgive your trespasses either. ¹⁶ When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they look woebegone to let men see they are fasting; I tell you truly, they do get their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fast may be seen not by men but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you. ¹⁹ Store up no treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust corrode, where thieves break in and steal: ²⁰ store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrode, where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure lies, your heart will lie there too. ²² The eye is the lamp of the body: so, if your Eye is generous, the whole of your body will be illumined, ²³ but if your Eye is selfish, the whole of your body will be darkened. And if your very light turns dark, then — what a darkness it is! ²⁴ No one can serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other — you cannot serve both God and Mammon. ²⁵ Therefore I tell you, do not trouble about what you are to eat or drink in life, nor about what you are to put on your body; surely life means more than food, surely the body means more than clothes! ²⁶ Look at the wild birds; they sow not, they reap not, they gather nothing in granaries, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than birds? ²⁷ Which of you can add an ell to his height by troubling about it? ²⁸ And why should you trouble over clothing? Look how the lilies of the field grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ and yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his grandeur was never robed like one of them. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which blooms to-day and is thrown to-morrow into the furnace, will not he much more clothe you? O men, how little you trust him! ³¹ Do not be troubled, then, and cry, 'What are we to eat?' or 'what are we to drink?' or 'how are we to be clothed?' ³² (pagans make all that their aim in life) for your heavenly Father knows quite well you need all that. ³³ Seek God's Realm and his goodness, and all that will be yours over and above. ³⁴ So do not be troubled about to-morrow; to-morrow will take care of itself. The day's own trouble is quite enough for the day.

²⁶ Whoever considers he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his religion is futile. ²⁷ Pure, unsoiled religion in the judgment of God the Father means this: to care for orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself from the stain of the world.

¹⁵ And he said to them, "Go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature: ¹⁶ he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who will not believe shall be condemned.