What does the Bible say about backsliders?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible warns that turning from God is spiritually dangerous, yet it warmly calls those who wander to repent and return to the Lord, who is merciful and restores His people. Jesus urges His church to remember, repent, and do the works it did at first in Revelation 2:4-5, while Luke 9:62 and 2 Peter 2:21 soberly warn against looking back after professing faith. Proverbs 14:14 teaches that the backslider bears the fruit of his own ways, and Hebrews 10:26-29 cautions against willful persistence in sin. Still, Jeremiah 3:22 promises healing for backsliding, and Galatians 6:1 calls believers to restore the fallen gently, humbly, and prayerfully.

Top passages, ranked by readers

Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • Revelation 2:5

    Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

  • Luke 9:62

    But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."

  • 2 Peter 2:21

    For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

  • Proverbs 14:14

    The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; Likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.

  • Hebrews 10:26-29

    [26] For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, [27] but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. [28] A man who disregards Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. [29] How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

  • Revelation 2:4

    But I have this against you, that you left your first love.

  • Galatians 6:1

    Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren't tempted.

  • James 4:8

    Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

  • Jeremiah 3:22

    Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.

  • Galatians 4:9

    But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elements, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?

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