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What does the Bible say about your past?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible teaches that your past does not have the final word when you are forgiven and made new in Christ. Through faith, God pardons sin completely and calls believers to live from their new identity rather than their former failures. Second Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 2:20 proclaim new life in union with Christ, while 1 John 1:9 assures us that God faithfully forgives those who confess. Philippians 3:13-14 encourages pressing forward toward Christ’s call, and Isaiah 43:18-19 warns against being trapped by what lies behind. God may use even painful history for good according to Romans 8:28, yet our hope rests not in rewriting the past, but in God’s sovereign grace and promised future.

Top passages, ranked by readers

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

  • 2 Corinthians 5:17

    Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

  • Philippians 3:13-14

    [13] Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

  • Matthew 6:15

    But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

  • 1 John 1:9

    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

  • Isaiah 43:25

    I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

  • Galatians 2:20

    I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

  • Jeremiah 29:11

    For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.

  • 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."

  • Romans 8:28

    We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

  • Isaiah 43:18

    Don't remember the former things, neither consider the things of old.

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