Overview
The Bible addresses backsliding across 20 verses, drawn from both the Old and New Testaments. These passages cluster most in Isaiah, Matthew and Jeremiah. Closely related themes include Denial of Christ, Jesus, The Christ, Peter and Prisoners. Figures whose stories touch this theme include Jesus, Peter and Paul.
Key Bible verses about backsliding
Old Testament
Isaiah
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Jeremiah
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. we: Heb. thy name is called upon us
New Testament
Matthew
But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
And again he denied with an oath I do not know the man.
And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Then began he to curse and to swear, saying,3754 I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Galatians
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Colossians
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in: or, by your mind in
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
People in the Bible and backsliding
Biblical figures whose stories intersect with this theme.
In the Bible dictionary
Studying backsliding for yourself
- Begin with Isaiah 59:9, then read the passages below in canonical order.
- Compare how Isaiah, Matthew and Jeremiah each treat the theme.
- Consider the lives of Jesus, Peter and Paul and how their stories intersect with it.
- Widen the study to related themes: Denial of Christ, Jesus, The Christ, Peter and Prisoners.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about backsliding?
The Bible addresses backsliding across 20 verses, drawn from both the Old and New Testaments. These passages cluster most in Isaiah, Matthew and Jeremiah. Closely related themes include Denial of Christ, Jesus, The Christ, Peter and Prisoners. Figures whose stories touch this theme include Jesus, Peter and Paul.
How many Bible verses are about backsliding?
The Bible references backsliding in 20 verses (King James Version).
Where does the Bible first mention backsliding?
In canonical order, the first of these passages is Isaiah 59:9: “Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.”
Which people in the Bible are associated with backsliding?
Jesus, Peter and Paul.
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