Many times when I am researching what people are looking for about the Bible, I come across some strange things. One of the more common of those things is people searching for things that are not in the Bible.
So I comprised a list of the top 10 sayings that people search for that are not in the Bible. Hopefully, this will clear the air about some of the quotes attributed to the Bible that are not the Bible.
Verse #10 “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”
This verse might be a very loose paraphrase of Proverbs 13:24 but spare the rod and spoil the child is not in the Bible. It was a 17th-century British poet who coined the phrase “spare the rod, spoil the child.”
Verse #9 “Money is the root of all evil.”
This is actually a misquote of 1 Timothy 6:10 where it says the love of money is the root of all evil. It is not money, which is an inanimate object, that is the root of all evil, but a person’s love for money that causes the problem. There is a huge difference between the two.
Verse #8 “This too shall pass.”
This one surprised me. Not because it is not in the Bible but because people think it is. It seems to come from the Sufis, a group of Muslim mystics. Although we know that there is a time and season for everything and that seasons change, this quote attributed to the Bible is just not in there.
Verse #7 “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
I remember hearing my grandmother quote this time and time again. I guess I was a messy kid. However, it is not found in the Bible. The first close usage of the phrase seems to come from Francis Bacon in 1605 and was later repeated by John Wesley as a colloquialism in 1791.
Verse #6 “Money cometh to me now.”
Prosperity preacher Dr. Leroy Thompson coined this phrase in his “Money cometh to me now” seminars. It has also been used by Kenneth Copeland. This verse is nowhere to be seen in the Bible.
Verse #5 “I Am blessed and highly favored.”
Once again we have a verse that is not actually in the Bible. It may be a conglomeration of how Paul would start his letters to the Romans and Corinthians and was used by the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary but “I am blessed and highly favored” is not an actual Bible verse.
Verse #4 “God moves in mysterious ways.”
This is something Christians across the world say to each other however it is not in the Bible. The phrase God moves in mysterious ways was first penned by William Cowper who was a British poet and hymnist. It may be a loose paraphrase of Isaiah 55:8 where God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, but it is not in the Bible. God does move in mysterious ways but only to the ignorant or uninformed.
Verse #3 “All things work together for good.”
This is one where context is king. People who use this saying are referring to Romans 8:28 but cut off the rest of the verse. It says that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. A person needs to love God and needs to be called by Him for His purposes. It is not a blanket statement that all things work together for good.
Verse #2 “Pride comes before a fall.”
This verse is a paraphrase and shortening of Proverbs 16:18 where Solomon is talking about the results of having pride in your life. So maybe I am a little nitpicky, but with there being so many misunderstood or misquoted Bible verses out there I decided to include it in this list.
Verse #1 “God helps those that help themselves”
This is not in the Bible. In fact, it is in the exact opposite spirit the Bible was written. This quote came from Algernon Sydney and was later repeated by Benjamin Franklin. It may sound spiritual and good but it is neither. It comes from a spirit of self-dependency and self-sufficiency. If we have helped ourselves then it is not a gift of grace and thus does not come from God. God helps the helpless.
