Most people agree that being mean is wrong, but they have different ideas about what it means to be mean or to practice spite. You probably have some personal examples of times when you made decisions out of spite, and then felt guilty afterward. This blog post will help you think about whether your actions were appropriate. It will also help you learn more about the Bible, God’s Word, and what He thinks about spite.
Look around you. Have you seen that it is always the leaders, the achievers, and the people who follow Jesus Christ that get hurt? Why does God allow this to happen? Nothing happens without the Lord’s approval, according to the Bible (i.e., “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” – Proverbs 16:33). The question is, why would God allow bad things to happen to good people? We’ll look at what the Bible says about spite so you can learn more about it and why it occurs.
Bible Verses About Spite
1 Peter 2:1-5 ESV / 18 helpful
votes
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Matthew 5:21-22 ESV / 16 helpful votes
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
James 2:14-17 ESV / 15 helpful votes
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Luke 6:22-23 ESV / 14 helpful votes
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 13 helpful votes
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
1 John 4:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
John 8:44 ESV / 10 helpful votes
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
1 John 4:1-21 ESV / 9 helpful votes
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. …
2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV / 9 helpful votes
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Luke 21:1-4 ESV / 9 helpful votes
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Isaiah 1:18 ESV / 8 helpful votes
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
John 1:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Psalm 91:1-16 ESV / 6 helpful votes
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, …
Scriptures about spite
Acts 7:54
Verse Concepts
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
Psalm 140:3
Verse Concepts
They sharpen their tongues as a serpent;
Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah.
Genesis 27:41
Verse Concepts
So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Genesis 37:4
Verse Concepts
His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.
Acts 23:12-15
When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who formed this plot. They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.read more.
Ephesians 4:31
Verse Concepts
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
1 Corinthians 5:8
Verse Concepts
Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Colossians 3:8
Verse Concepts
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
1 Peter 2:1
Verse Concepts
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
Leviticus 19:18
Verse Concepts
You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
Proverbs 20:22
Verse Concepts
Do not say, “I will repay evil”;
Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.
Proverbs 24:29
Verse Concepts
Do not say, “Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me;
I will render to the man according to his work.”
Matthew 5:38-40
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.
Romans 12:17
Verse Concepts
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
1 Thessalonians 5:15
Verse Concepts
See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.
1 Peter 2:21-23
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
1 Peter 3:9
Verse Concepts
not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing