22 Bible Verses About Pleasing God, Not Man

Galatians 1:10

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Reflection: Paul asks this straight after pronouncing a curse, twice, on anyone who preaches a gospel other than the one the Galatians received (Galatians 1:8-9). In the verses that follow he says the gospel he preached is “not of human origin” and came to him “by revelation from Jesus Christ” (1:11-12). The verb for please, areskō, is the one he uses for his own conduct in 1 Thessalonians 2:4.

1 Thessalonians 2:4

“On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”

Reflection: Paul, Silas and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 1:1) are recalling how they behaved among the Thessalonians. Having been “approved by God”, they spoke to please the God “who tests our hearts”, and the next verses deny flattery, greed and looking for “praise from people, not from you or anyone else” (2:5-6). The same passage compares their care for the church to a nursing mother’s and says they shared “not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (2:7-8).

1 Corinthians 4:3-4

“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”

Reflection: Paul has just described himself and his fellow workers as “servants of Christ” who must “prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). He sets aside the Corinthians’ verdict on him, and any human court’s, and does not rely on his own either, because a clear conscience does not prove him innocent. Verse 5 tells the church to wait until the Lord comes, who “will expose the motives of the heart”, and adds: “At that time each will receive their praise from God.”

2 Corinthians 10:18

“For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”

Reflection: Paul will not compare himself “with some who commend themselves”, and says that people who “compare themselves with themselves” are “not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12). He keeps his own boasting to “the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us” and does not claim “work done by others” (10:13-15). The verse before this one reads, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 5:9

“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”

Reflection: Home and away refer to the body. Paul says that while “at home in the body we are away from the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6), and that he would prefer to be “at home with the Lord” (5:8). In either state his goal is to please the Lord, and verse 10 gives the reason: “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”

John 5:44

“How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

Reflection: Jesus is answering the Jewish leaders who had begun to persecute him for what he did on the Sabbath (John 5:16). A few lines earlier he says of himself, “I do not accept glory from human beings” (5:41). His question links their unbelief to the glory they give and receive among themselves while they do not seek the glory that comes from God.

John 12:43

“for they loved human praise more than praise from God.”

Reflection: John is explaining why many of the leaders who believed in Jesus would not say so openly: they were afraid the Pharisees would have them “put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42). He grants that they believed, and gives the reason they kept quiet: they loved human praise more than praise from God.

Luke 6:26

“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

Reflection: This is the fourth of the woes in Luke 6:24-26, which answer the blessings Jesus speaks “looking at his disciples” (Luke 6:20). Verses 22-23 call people blessed when they are hated and excluded “because of the Son of Man”, “for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” Verse 26 turns that round: being spoken well of by everyone is how the false prophets were treated.

Matthew 6:1

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Reflection: The verse introduces Jesus’ teaching on giving and on prayer. Those who give “to be honored by others” and pray “to be seen by others” have “received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:2, 5), while the Father “who sees what is done in secret” rewards the giving and the prayer done privately (6:4, 6).

1 Samuel 16:7

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’”

Reflection: The LORD has sent Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as king (1 Samuel 16:1). On seeing Eliab, Samuel thinks, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here” (16:6), and this is the LORD’s reply. The son anointed is David, the youngest, who had been tending the sheep, and the chapter still notes that he “had a fine appearance” (16:11-13).

Acts 5:29

“Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’”

Reflection: The high priest has just reminded the apostles, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name” (Acts 5:28). Peter and John had answered an earlier order in similar words: “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!” (4:19). After this reply the apostles go on to speak of the God who raised Jesus from the dead (5:30-32).

Proverbs 29:25

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.”

Reflection: The fear of man is pictured as a snare, a trap for the one who walks into it, and the second line sets trust in the LORD against it. The next proverb makes a similar contrast about a ruler’s favour: “Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that one gets justice” (Proverbs 29:26).

Psalm 118:6

“The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Reflection: The psalmist has cried to the LORD “when hard pressed” and been brought “into a spacious place” (Psalm 118:5). Verse 7 repeats “The LORD is with me” and adds “he is my helper.” Hebrews 13:6 joins the two lines, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid”, after telling its readers to be content with what they have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Matthew 10:28

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Reflection: Jesus says this to the Twelve as he sends them out (Matthew 10:5). The verses before it tell them not to be afraid of their opponents and to proclaim from the roofs what he tells them in private (10:26-27). The verses after it speak of sparrows that do not fall “outside your Father’s care” and end, “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (10:29-31).

Ephesians 6:6-7

“Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,”

Reflection: Paul is addressing slaves. Where the NIV has “to win their favor”, the Greek has anthrōpareskoi, people-pleasers. The Lord rewards each one for the good they do, “whether they are slave or free” (Ephesians 6:8), and masters are told to treat their slaves “in the same way”, since their own Master is in heaven and “there is no favoritism with him” (6:9).

Colossians 3:23

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,”

Reflection: Colossians gives slaves the same instruction, with the same Greek word for people-pleasing in 3:22, where the NIV has “to curry their favor”. Verse 23 is still addressed to slaves and extends the instruction from obeying masters to “whatever you do”; verse 24 gives the reason: an inheritance from the Lord as a reward, for “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Hebrews 11:6

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Reflection: The verse explains the one before it, where Enoch “was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Anyone who comes to God must believe two things: that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Romans 8:8

“Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

Reflection: Paul describes those in “the realm of the flesh” as having their minds set on what the flesh desires, a mind that “does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:5-7). Verse 9 tells his readers that they are in the realm of the Spirit “if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.”

Romans 12:2

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Reflection: Verse 1 calls for bodies offered “as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). Verse 2 turns to the mind: renewed, and no longer conformed to “the pattern of this world”, it can test and approve God’s will, which Paul calls good, pleasing and perfect.

Hebrews 13:16

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

Reflection: The sacrifices here follow verse 15, which calls praise “a sacrifice” offered to God through Jesus. Verse 16 names two more, doing good and sharing with others, and says that God is pleased with them.

1 John 3:22

“and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”

Reflection: The sentence begins in verse 21: “if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God”. Verse 23 then states the command John has in mind: to believe in the name of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another.

Proverbs 16:7

“When the LORD takes pleasure in anyone’s way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them.”

Reflection: The pleasure in this proverb is the LORD’s. When he takes pleasure in a person’s way, the LORD is the one who causes their enemies to make peace with them.