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What does the Bible say about serving two masters?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible teaches that no one can faithfully serve two masters, for wholehearted devotion belongs to God alone. Jesus states this plainly in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13, warning that love for wealth competes with love for God. Believers are therefore called to reject fellowship with sin and idolatry, as 1 Corinthians 10:21 and 2 Corinthians 6:14 teach. God commands his people to love him with all their heart in Deuteronomy 6:5 and to choose whom they will serve in Joshua 24:15. Through Christ and the renewing work of the Spirit, Christians are enabled to resist conformity to the world and offer themselves to God in grateful obedience.

Top passages, ranked by readers

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

  • Matthew 6:24

    "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.

  • Luke 16:13

    No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You aren't able to serve God and mammon."

  • 1 Corinthians 10:21

    You can't both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.

  • Psalms 45:7

    You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

  • 2 Corinthians 6:14

    Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?

  • Deuteronomy 6:5

    and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

  • Joshua 24:15

    If it seem evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.

  • Romans 12:2

    Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

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