The Bible talks about giving one’s life for another many times. The most important thing is to keep your faith in Jesus Christ and love others unconditionally. This means that we should commit ourselves to a life of service to help others, as well as helping people who are less fortunate than us.
Whether you’re laying down your own life or are not sure if it’s the right thing to do, there are some Bible verses that will help you make the decision. I’ve sorted through all sixty-six books of the Bible and narrowed down 38 of them for this list.
Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said to the Lord, “I will lay down my life for Your sake,” and he meant it (John 13:37).
Open your Bible and read the following verses. On each verse, reflect on what it means to you personally and how you can apply it to your life today.
Bible Verses About Laying Down Your Life
Laying down your life is a gift of gratitude, a sign of devotion to God and others. It’s not something that happens on its own.
Laying down your life is a lot easier if you know what it really means to place your all on the line for something that’s bigger than yourself. These inspiring Bible verses about laying down your life will help you understand what Christ did for us and why we should be willing to do the same.
When you feel like giving up, these Bible verses about laying down your life can bring you peace and encouragement. Jesus said that the only way to live is to die to self. As you’re faced with difficult decisions through life, these scriptures will help you remember what it means to be willing to lay down everything for Christ
Lay Down Your Life Meaning
1 Peter 4:15—But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Even if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but under that name let him glorify God.
Matthew 10:38-39
“Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
John 15:13
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Matthew 16:25)
“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26)
Matthew 16:24-26 (NIV)
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 10:38-39 (NIV)
And if anyone gives you a cup of water because you belong to Christ, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. But he who plays the rebel against me by not accepting my words has already been judged.” Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “If anyone wants to come with me, they must forget themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it… If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
-Matthew 16:24 — Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Lay Down Your Life For A Friend
Hebrews 4:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Ephesians 4:1-32 ESV / 3 helpful votes
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, …
Galatians 2:1-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. …
2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
1 Corinthians 3:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
Romans 12:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Romans 10:13-15 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 8:2-4 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 5:7-8 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 15:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
John 13:1-38 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. …
John 10:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Matthew 28:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Psalm 31:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
Revelation 21:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
1 Timothy 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes
He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,
1 Timothy 1:1-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. …
Colossians 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:19-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
Galatians 6:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes
For each will have to bear his own load.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV / 2 helpful votes
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. …
1 Corinthians 1:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— …
Romans 13:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. …
Acts 4:34-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
John 15:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes
These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
John 15:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
John 15:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 14:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
John 13:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
Luke 24:49 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Laying Down Your Life For Others Bible Verse
“And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.” Luke 12:15 (NASB)
Bible Verse About Lying On Others
“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” Ephesians 4:25-27 (NASB)
“And everyone who hears these words of mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain poured down, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11)
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.” (Isaiah 10:1-3)
“Do not lie to each other,” says Peter. “You have taken off your old self with its practices
“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” (Colossians 3:9-10)
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
“He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish like foliage.” (Proverbs 11:28)
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
“You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11)
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:9-11)
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive and disobedient to their parents. They will be ungrateful and unholy. They will be without love for others and without self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.”
I Lay Down My Life For You Bible Verse
John 15:13 ESV / 144 helpful votes
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
1 John 3:16 ESV / 61 helpful votes
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
Luke 9:24 ESV / 39 helpful votes
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
Romans 5:8 ESV / 36 helpful votes
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 3:16-18 ESV / 32 helpful votes
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
John 10:11 ESV / 26 helpful votes
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 3:16 ESV / 20 helpful votes
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 15:13-14 ESV / 19 helpful votes
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
1 John 3:14 ESV / 16 helpful votes
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
2 Corinthians 5:15 ESV / 16 helpful votes
And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
John 15:12 ESV / 14 helpful votes
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Ephesians 5:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
John 13:34 ESV / 11 helpful votes
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Romans 5:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
John 15:12-13 ESV / 8 helpful votes
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:1-27 ESV / 8 helpful votes
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. …
Romans 5:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
John 14:6 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 3:16-17 ESV / 7 helpful votes
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
1 John 1:9 ESV / 6 helpful votes
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Galatians 6:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Acts 20:28 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Acts 2:1-47 ESV / 6 helpful votes
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. …
Proverbs 18:24 ESV / 5 helpful votes
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
1 John 4:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Romans 5:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
John 15:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Mark 10:1-52 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. …
Matthew 27:51 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
Matthew 7:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
Psalm 138:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.
Psalm 55:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
1 John 4:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes
We love because he first loved us.
Hebrews 13:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.