What Does The Bible Say About Abstinence? (35 Bible Verses)

Abstinence, especially in the context of sexual purity, is a significant topic in the Bible. The Scriptures provide clear principles and reasons for practicing abstinence. Whether you’re considering this for personal or spiritual reasons, let’s explore what the Bible teaches about abstinence and the benefits it offers.

What Does The Bible Say About Abstinence

1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee from Sexual Immorality

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

1 Corinthians 7:2 – Each Man Should Have His Own Wife

“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”

1 Corinthians 10:8 – We Must Not Indulge in Sexual Immorality

“We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.”

1 Corinthians 6:13 – The Body is Not Meant for Sexual Immorality

“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

Galatians 5:16 – Walk by the Spirit

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 – God’s Will: Your Sanctification

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”

Proverbs 5:3-5 – Avoid the Forbidden Woman

“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol.”

Proverbs 6:25-27 – Do Not Lust After Her Beauty

“Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?”

Proverbs 7:25-27 – Do Not Let Your Heart Turn Aside

“Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.”

Matthew 5:27-28 – Lust is Adultery

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

1 Timothy 2:9-10 – Modesty and Self-Control

“Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”

Titus 2:11-12 – The Grace of God Teaches Us

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”

2 Timothy 2:22 – Flee from Youthful Passions

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

Romans 13:14 – Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

Matthew 5:29-30 – Cut Off What Causes You to Sin

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

Ephesians 5:3-4 – Let There Be No Filthiness

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

Colossians 3:5 – Put to Death Sexual Immorality

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Galatians 5:19 – Sexual Immorality is a Work of the Flesh

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality.”

Hebrews 13:4 – Let Marriage Be Honorable

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

Matthew 19:9 – Sexual Immorality Leads to Adultery

“And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

1 Peter 2:11 – Abstain from Fleshly Passions

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

1 Corinthians 7:9 – It is Better to Marry than to Burn With Passion

“But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

2 Corinthians 6:14 – Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Proverbs 5:18-19 – Be Satisfied With Your Spouse

“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”

1 Peter 4:3-4 – Live for God’s Will, Not the Lusts of Men

“For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.”

Hebrews 13:18 – Live with a Clear Conscience

“Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.”

Proverbs 6:32 – He Who Commits Adultery Lacks Sense

“He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.”

Ephesians 4:17-19 – Walk No Longer as the Gentiles Do

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

Proverbs 5:15-17 – Drink Water from Your Own Cistern

“Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.”

Psalm 119:9-11 – How Can a Young Man Keep His Way Pure

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Proverbs 23:26 – My Son, Give Me Your Heart

“My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.”

Psalm 101:3 – I Will Set No Wicked Thing Before My Eyes

“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.”

Romans 13:13 – Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.”

1 Timothy 4:12 – Set an Example in Purity

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

Proverbs 6:26 – An Adulteress Hunts for the Precious Life

“For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.”

Hebrews 12:14 – Strive for Holiness

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Proverbs 5:21-23 – The Lord Sees Man’s Ways

“For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.”

1 Corinthians 7:36-37 – But If Any Man Thinks…

“But if any man thinks that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age and need so require, let him do what he will, he sin not: let them marry. Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.”

1 Corinthians 7:8-9 – The Unmarried and Widows

“Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 – Cleanse Us from Every Defilement

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

1 Kings 11:4-6 – Solomon’s Heart Was Not Fully Devoted

“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Your Body is a Temple

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Hebrews 13:4 – Marriage is Honorable