The stubborn and sinful refusal to accept God's word and his messengers. Since the coming of Jesus Christ it is frequently expressed in the rejection of his person and teaching. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God. They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments.
But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, "Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness, where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways." So I swore on oath in My anger, "They shall never enter My rest."
All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations,
Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first. As it has been said: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion." For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.
Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"
For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.
Coming to His hometown, He taught the people in their synagogue, and they were astonished. "Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't His mother's name Mary, and aren't His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren't all His sisters with us as well? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own household is a prophet without honor." And He did not do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.
Jesus went on from there and came to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. "Where did this man get these ideas?" they asked. "What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles? Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren't His sisters here with us as well?" And they took offense at Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor." So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them. And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about Him spread throughout the surrounding region. He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by everyone. Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him, and He began by saying, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see. The crowds were astounded and asked, "Could this be the Son of David?" But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons."
And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul, " and, "By the prince of the demons He drives out demons."
One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed, but some of them said, "It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons." And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.
"If You are the Christ, tell us." Jesus answered, "If I tell you, you will not believe.
And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word abide in you, because you do not believe the One He sent.
However, there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)
So the Jews gathered around Him and demanded, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." "I already told you," Jesus replied, "but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father's name testify on My behalf. But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe.
To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,"
Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?"
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." Jesus replied, "A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
As the crowds were increasing, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.
A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Then He left them and went away.
Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit and said, "Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation."
But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD's compassion for them.
Then Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'"
But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," replied Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it."
So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!"
For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.
But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.
And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not everyone holds to the faith.
I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments. They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.
And the LORD said, "If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground."
In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.
The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they summoned his parents
At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him. But Jesus responded, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?" "We are not stoning You for any good work," said the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, declare Yourself to be God."
Although Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still did not believe in Him.
If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me. But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father."
How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all,
Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives