Apostasy

More passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Described

• Deuteronomy 13:13 that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),
• Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

Caused by persecution

• Matthew 24:9–10 Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another,
• Luke 8:13 The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

Caused by worldliness

• 2 Timothy 4:10 because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.

Guilt and punishment of

• Zephaniah 1:4–6 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who dwell in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the idolatrous and pagan priests — those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swea…
• Hebrews 10:25–31 Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, but only a fearful expectatio…
• Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
• 2 Peter 2:17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
• 2 Peter 2:20–22 If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than t…

Cautions against

• Hebrews 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
• 2 Peter 3:17 Therefore, beloved, since you already know these things, be on your guard so that you will not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure standing.

Shall abound in the latter days

• Matthew 24:12 Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
• 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness — the son of destruction — is revealed.
• 1 Timothy 4:1–3 Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God…

See Antichrist

Unclassified Scriptures Relating to

• Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
• 1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
• Isaiah 1:28 But rebels and sinners will together be shattered, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
• Isaiah 65:11–16 But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you for the sword, and you will all kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen; you did evil in…
• Jeremiah 17:5–6 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD. He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one liv…
• Ezekiel 3:20 Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.
• Ezekiel 18:24 But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.
• Ezekiel 18:26 If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, he will die for this. He will die because of the iniquity he has committed.
• Ezekiel 33:12–13 Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his r…
• Ezekiel 33:18 If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it.

Instances of

Israelites

• Exodus 32 Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!” So Aaron told them, “Take off the… (whole chapter)
• Numbers 14 Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bring… (whole chapter)

Saul

• 1 Samuel 15:26–29 “I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has give…
• 1 Samuel 18:12 So Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul.
• 1 Samuel 28:15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
• 1 Samuel 28:18 Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out His burning anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.

Amaziah

• 2 Chronicles 25:14 When Amaziah returned from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the Seirites, set them up as his own gods, bowed before them, and burned sacrifices to them.
• 2 Chronicles 25:27 From the time that Amaziah turned from following the LORD, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there.

Disciples

• John 6:66 From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.

Judas

• Matthew 26:14–16 Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver. So from then on Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.
• Matthew 27:3–5 When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.” So Judas thre…
• Mark 14:10–11 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this, and they promised to give him money. So Judas began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.
• Luke 22:3–6 Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. Judas consented, and began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus to them in th…
• Luke 22:47–48 While He was still speaking, a crowd arrived, led by the man called Judas, one of the Twelve. He approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
• Acts 1:16–18 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” (Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell…

Hymenaeus and Alexander

• 1 Timothy 1:19–20 holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and thereby shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

Phygellus and Hermogenes

• 2 Timothy 1:15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

See ISRAEL, BACKSLIDING OF