52 Bible Verses about Holiness

God is holy. He is perfect and without sin. God created us in his image, to share in his holiness and perfection. These Bible verses about holiness command us to be holy because God is holy. 

God has sanctified us, setting us apart from the world to serve him through the gift of his son Jesus Christ. Jesus forgives us of our sin, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to live holy lives that honor God. 

Several times throughout the Bible, Christian leaders pray for the holiness of the church.

If you want to be faithful to the scriptures, pray for holiness. Ask God to help you to be holy. Confess your sin to God and ask Him to forgive you. Then ask Him to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, and submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

God loves us and wants the very best for our lives. He doesn’t want us to be trapped in spiritual bondage. He desires for us to share in the freedom that comes from holiness.

God is Holy

Exodus 15:11

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2

There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

Isaiah 6:3

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Isaiah 57:15

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Ezekiel 38:23

So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Revelation 15:4

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

The Bible’s Imperative to Be Holy

Leviticus 11:45

For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 19:2

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Leviticus 20:26

You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

Matthew 5:48

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

2 Corinthians 7:1

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.

Ephesians 1:4

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.

1 Thessalonians 4:7

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

Hebrews 12:14 

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

1 Peter 1:15-16

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We are Made Holy by God

Ezekiel 36:23

And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Romans 6:22

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

2 Corinthians 5:21 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Colossians 1:22

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

2 Timothy 1:9

Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Hebrews 12:10

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

2 Peter 1:4

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Saints Pursue Holiness by Fleeing from Sin

Amos 5:14

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.

Romans 6:19

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Ephesians 5:3

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

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.

1 Timothy 6:8-11

But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

2 Timothy 2:21

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

1 Peter 1:14-16

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

James 1:21

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

1 John 3:6-10

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

3 John 1:11

Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

Worship the Lord in Holiness

1 Chronicles 16:29

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Psalm 29:2

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Psalm 96:9

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!

The Way of Holiness

Leviticus 11:44

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.

Psalm 119:9

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Isaiah 35:8

And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Ephesians 4:20-24

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Philippians 2:14-16

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

1 John 1:9

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

Prayers for Holiness

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

John 17:17

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.