The best Bible verses for self control for young adults include passages about God's love, strength, and guidance. This page features 15+ carefully curated Scripture passages for self control for young adults, each selected for its relevance and depth. Read, save, and share the perfect verse for your situation.
"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices"Colossians 3:9
"and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."Colossians 3:10
"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth."James 3:14
"For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."James 3:16
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"Luke 9:25
"“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."Matthew 23:25
"The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains."Philippians 1:17
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."Philippians 2:3
"But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger."Romans 2:8
"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—"Romans 6:6
"But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion."1 Corinthians 7:9
"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."1 John 5:19
Scripture does not change for its audience, but which passages land does. The 15 verses below were chosen because they are accessible to self control for young adults without being condescending — plain in their language, concrete in their imagery, and short enough to hold in mind.
The point is not a simplified Bible. It is picking the passages that already speak clearly, so the reader meets the text itself rather than a paraphrase of it.
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The most-cited Bible verses for self control for young adults are Colossians 3:9, Colossians 3:10, James 3:14. This page collects 15 of them, each with its full passage, context and the text in six translations.
Read the verse in its surrounding passage before you use it — a verse that fits in isolation sometimes says something different in context. Compare two translations where the wording is unclear, and pick for the person who will read it rather than for the theme.
Scripture returns to self control for young adults across both testaments rather than settling it in one passage, which is why the verses on this page do not all say the same thing. Read together they give a fuller answer than any single verse does.
There is no single best translation. The NIV and NLT read most naturally and communicate well to someone outside the church; the ESV and NASB stay closer to the original wording; the KJV carries the phrasing most people recognise. Every verse here links to a page showing all six side by side.
More than any page can list. This one carries the 15 that are most often turned to for self control for young adults, chosen so each stands on its own and links through to the full chapter it belongs to.