Bible verses about "backsliding" | Williams

⁶² Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow, and then continues to look back, is fitted for service in the kingdom of God."

²⁰ For if, after men have escaped the corrupting ways of the world through a full knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are conquered by them, then their last condition is worse than their former one. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of uprightness than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command committed to their trust. ²² In them is verified the truth of the proverb, "A dog turns back to what he has vomited"; and of that other proverb, "A sow that has washed herself goes back to wallow in the mire."

⁸ For it is by His unmerited favor through faith that you have been saved; it is not by anything that you have done, it is the gift of God. ⁹ It is not the result of what anyone can do, so that no one can boast of it.

¹ "To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: 'The One who is holding the seven stars in His right hand and is walking among the golden lampstands speaks as follows: ² "I know what you have done; your hard work and patient endurance; that you cannot tolerate wicked persons; that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles although they were not, and have found them to be imposters, ³ You are showing patient endurance, and you have borne it for my sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴ But I hold it against you that you do not love me as you did at first. ⁵ So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent and do as you did at first, or else I will surely come and move your lampstand from its place -- if you do not repent. ⁶ But you have it to your credit that you hate what the Nicolaitans are doing, as I do too. ⁷ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give to him who conquers the privilege of eating the fruit of the tree of life that stands in the paradise of God."'" ⁸ "To the messenger of the church in Smyrna write: "'The First and the Last, who once was dead but came to life again, speaks as follows: ⁹ "I know your pressing trouble and poverty, but still you are rich; I know how you are abused by those who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are only a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be so afraid of what you are to suffer. See! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison to be tested there and for ten days to suffer pressing troubles. Each one of you must prove to be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be hurt at all by the second death."'" ¹² "To the messenger of the church in Pergamum write: 'The One who is wielding the sharp, double-edged sword speaks as follows: ¹³ "I know where you live, where Satan has his throne. Yet you are clinging to my name and have never renounced your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful martyred witness, who was put to death among you, right where Satan lives, ¹⁴ Yet I hold it somewhat against you that you have among you some who are clinging to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the children of Israel, to entice them to eat the meat that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit immoral practices. ¹⁵ And you also have among you some who are clinging to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ So repent, or else I will quickly come and make war upon them with the sword that comes from my mouth. ¹⁷ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give to him who conquers some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it which no one knows except the man who receives it."'" ¹⁸ "To the messenger of the church in Thyatira write: 'The Son of God, whose eyes are like coals of fire, and whose feet are like bronze refined to white heat, speaks as follows: ¹⁹ "I know what you are doing, I know your love and faithfulness, your service and patient endurance, and I know that you are now working harder than you did at first. ²⁰ But I hold it against you that you are tolerating that Jezebel of a woman who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching is misleading my slaves to practice immorality and to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her immorality. ²² See! I am going to lay her on a bed of sickness, and bring down to great and pressing sorrow those who practice immorality with her, unless they repent of their practices; ²³ and I will surely strike her children dead. So all the churches will know that I am He who searches men's inmost hearts, and that I will repay each of you for exactly what you have done. ²⁴ But to the rest of you at Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching and have not learned the 'deep things' of Satan -- as they speak of them -- to you I say, I have no extra burden to lay on you, ²⁵ but keep your hold on what you have until I come. ²⁶ To him who conquers and continues to the very end to do the works that please me, I will give authority over the heathen; ²⁷ he will govern them with a scepter of iron and shatter them like earthen jars -- just such authority as I have received from my Father -- ²⁸ and I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."'"

¹ "To the messenger of the church at Sardis write: 'The One who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars speaks as follows: "I know what you are doing; you have the reputation of being alive, but in reality you are dead. ² Wake up, and strengthen what is left, although it is on the very point of dying, for I have not found a thing that you have done complete in the sight of God. ³ So remember what you have received and heard, and continue to obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know the hour when I come upon you. ⁴ Yet you have in Sardis a few who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white, for they deserve to do so. ⁵ Whoever conquers will be clothed this way -- in white clothes -- and I will never blot his name out of the book of life, but I will own him as mine in the presence of my Father and His angels. ⁶ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."'" ⁷ "To the messenger of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The Holy and True One, who carries the keys of David, who opens and no one can shut, who shuts and no one can open, speaks as follows: ⁸ "I know what you are doing. See! I have put before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have but little strength, and yet you have obeyed my message and you have not disowned my name. ⁹ I will make some, who claim to be Jews although they are not, but are lying -- I will make them come and fall at your feet and find out that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you have kept my message with the patient endurance that I give you, I also will keep you from the time of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test the inhabitants of the earth. ¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one may take away your crown. ¹² I will make him who conquers a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall never again go out of it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. ¹³ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."'" ¹⁴ "To the messenger of the church in Laodicea write: 'The Amen, the true and faithful witness, the origin of God's creation, speaks as follows: ¹⁵ "I know what you are doing, and that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ As it is, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ Because you say, 'I am rich, I have already become rich, I need nothing,' and you do not know that you are the very one that is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked; ¹⁸ I advise you to buy of me gold that has been refined in the fire, so that you may become rich, and white clothes to put on, to hide your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, to make you see. ¹⁹ The people whom I dearly love, I always reprove and discipline. So keep on being earnest and once for all repent. ²⁰ I am now standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will be his guest and feast with him, and he with me. ²¹ I will give to him who conquers the privilege of taking his seat with me on my throne, just as I have conquered and taken my seat with my Father on His throne. ²² Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."'"

¹ After this I had another vision: A door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice, like a trumpet, that I had heard speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place." ² Immediately I was under the Spirit's power, and I saw a throne in heaven with One seated on it. ³ The One who was seated on it looked like jasper or sardius, and around the throne there was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne there were twenty-four thrones, with twenty-four elders seated on them, clothed in white and with crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ Out from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, while in front of it seven flaming lamps were burning; they were the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was something like a sea of glass as clear as crystal. Around the throne, at the middle of each side were four living creatures dotted with eyes in front and behind, ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man's, and the fourth was like an eagle flying. ⁸ And the four living creatures have each of them six wings, and they are dotted with eyes all around and beneath the wings. And day and night they never cease saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come." ⁹ And whenever the living creatures offer glory, honor, and thanksgiving to Him who is seated on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and they throw their crowns in front of the throne, and say: ¹¹ "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to have ascribed to you the glory, honor, and power; for you created everything, And since you willed it so, they came into existence and were created."

⁵ You yourselves must continue testing yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. You must continue standing the test. Do you not know by a growing experience that Jesus Christ is in you? -- provided you stand the test.

⁹ If we confess our sins, He is to be depended on, since He is just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every wrong.

⁴ For it is impossible for those who have once for all been enlightened and have experienced the gift from heaven, who have been made sharers of the Holy Spirit ⁵ and have experienced how good God's message is and the mighty powers of the age to come, ⁶ and then have fallen by the wayside -- it is impossible, I say, to keep on restoring them to their first repentance, since they continue to crucify the Son of God to their detriment and hold Him up to contempt.