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What Does the Bible Say About Peer Pressure?

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No One Is Immune — Even Peter Gave In

Peter was influenced by peer pressure. Peter knew the truth. He knew that Gentiles and Jews were both saved by the grace of God. Peter had a vision in which God showed him that “I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:28) Peter also said the vision taught him that God “does not show favoritism” (Acts 10:34). Finally, Peter baptized Gentiles after they too received the Spirit. In addition, Peter was at the Council of Jerusalem when he and James agreed with Paul that the Gentiles need not follow the law to be saved. He knew the truth of all these things.

And yet, for a time, he was still unwilling to associate with the Gentiles by eating with them. Why?

It’s simple. Peter was influenced by peer pressure. A group of people had gone to Antioch from Jerusalem. Maybe James had sent them, or maybe they were just pretending that James had sent them. But they did not follow the principles that James had agreed to in Acts 15. Instead, they adhered to the traditional Jewish belief that Jews should not eat with Gentiles.

They pressured Peter, and he gave in to them. In this case, he chose to please people rather than please God. From this, we learn several lessons:

No one is immune to peer pressure — Peter was not the type of person who typically cared a lot about what others thought of him. He was the boldest of his “class.” When Jesus asked a question, he was normally the first to answer. He didn’t mind the spotlight. He spoke his mind even when others disagreed. Peter’s failure reminds us that we are not immune, either. Everyone has a natural desire to be liked by others. We want to fit in and be popular. We want to be accepted by others. We tend to want to please people. But we must remember that it is more important to please God than to please man.

Past success is not a guarantee of future success — In Acts 10, Peter was victorious. Through God’s grace, he rose above his culture and traditions. He obeyed God by going to the Galatians even though it was against everything he had been taught and against all his natural inclinations. It would seem that in Acts 10, Peter won a final victory against his temptation to show prejudice. But it wasn’t a final victory. None of our achievements are absolute until we finally go to meet the Lord. Before that, we may at any time face a repeat temptation. We must remain humble and depend on God’s grace each and every moment, no matter how many times we face the same temptations.

Satan uses other people to tempt us — Sometimes they merely whisper to us, “It’s okay. No one will see you. No one will know. It will be fun.” Other times they may gang up on us so that a whole crowd is trying to convince us to do something. Have you faced peer pressure? What types of things may people around you pressure you to do? How should you respond when you face peer pressure from others? Will you ever face peer pressure from believers?

Even professing believers may pressure us — It is possible that churchgoers (professing believers) may also pressure us in certain areas. Many times, it is because those believers are shallow in their faith and influenced by worldly ideas themselves.

— From our Bible study on Galatians 2:11-21

When Crowds and Leaders Cave to Pressure

Mark 14:62 — “And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.'”

Exodus 23:2 — “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice.”

The high priest believed that this statement was worthy of death. Of course, he ignored all of the evidence that proved Jesus is who He said. They all condemned Him.

Reflect — Why did no one speak out against this? In a group this size, did everyone want to kill Jesus? Why was there no dissenting voice?

Unfortunately, there was no dissenting voice. Public opinion and peer pressure can be like a wave. It often starts with a few very outspoken people. Soon, others agree with them because it is the popular thing to do. Then even those who disagree are afraid to say something because disagreeing is so unpopular.

Application — We should remember the verse in Exodus 23:2 and avoid following a crowd to do evil, no matter how much pressure they put on you to do so.

— From our Bible study on Mark 14:53-72

Herod made a rash promise that he would have John the Baptist beheaded. He didn’t want to follow through, but he had promised in front of a large group of important people. To not follow through would open himself up to their ridicule and also cause some to doubt his word. What should he have done at this point? After he had already made the promise there was no good way out. Either he sins by killing John or he sins by lying. This is the way of sin. Sin twists situations so much there is sometimes no good way out.

Even so, Herod should have done the lesser of the two wrongs. He could have said something like, “I realize I made a promise. This was a mistake on my part as I made it in haste and didn’t think it through well. I hate to break a promise, but it would be worse to kill an innocent man. Please forgive me and you can make another request.” This time it was peer pressure which pushed Herod to kill John. He didn’t want to look bad in front of his friends and these powerful people.

— From our Bible study on Matthew 14:1-12

How Peer Pressure Spreads Like Leaven

Proverbs 13:20 — “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Ephraim was the most powerful tribe in the Northern Kingdom. Joseph was given a double portion of Jacob’s blessing. Joseph chose Ephraim to receive the rights of Joseph’s first born, although Manasseh was older. When Ephraim spoke up, people listened. He had a high position of influence.

But. This is a very important word in the Bible. But Ephraim did not use his influence to encourage his brethren to follow God. Instead verse one says “he incurred guilt through Baal” and sinned “more and more.” There is an expectation in this verse that Ephraim should use his influence for good, but he didn’t. Instead, he was a snare to God’s people and a corrupting influence.

This saying is similar to, “One bad apple spoils the whole crate.” Peer pressure is strong. Ephraim and its leaders had a choice. They could use their influence for good or for evil. They chose to do evil, affecting the entire nation.

Application — Peer pressure is strong. Ephraim had a negative influence on the whole nation. You should be careful who you spend time with. This verse is clear. The companion of fools will suffer harm.

— From our Bible study on Hosea 13

1 Corinthians 5:6-7 — “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.”

Moses warned the nation of Israel about the unseen threat of a lone person who rebelled against God in his heart. Even a single person who wasn’t committed on the inside, though everything looked fine from the outside, would spread and infect the whole. That is why such strict punishments were detailed for individuals who even mentioned idol worship.

Jesus said that a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit (Matthew 7:17). You could also say that a good root brings forth a good tree which bears good fruit and a bad root brings forth a bad tree which bears bad fruit. If you want to have good fruit, the root must be healthy. A person can try to fake it for a while. You could try tying nice-looking fruit onto a dead tree with a fishing line. But without life flowing through the root, up the tree, into the branches and finally the fruit, that fruit will decay and turn into an eyesore.

So from this, we learn two key lessons. Negative peer pressure is infectious. Sin that is not dealt with in an individual can spread to the whole group. This is true in a family, a church, or even a nation. That idea is shown in the saying, “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” Paul taught the same thing.

— From our Bible study on Deuteronomy 29

Sin often happens incrementally and in situations where there is a lack of good oversight and a lot of bad peer pressure. It is unlikely that most or any of the Israelites had planned on the end result of doing such abominable sins. But it happened and almost the entire camp was involved. It started step by step and surely with heavy peer pressure the whole time. It started before idol worship, but the first step we see here is idol worship. Next came laziness and feasting and partying, which don’t appear so bad on their own except that it was a degenerative situation with a complete lack of self-control. It culminated with a wild, camp-wide immoral sexual orgy. What a sad thing. But it started long before then when they took the first step towards sin and towards the edge of the line of what was acceptable.

— From our Bible study on 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

They turned to idols because they had failed to obey God’s command and the culture/peer pressure was too strong. They didn’t have a strong relationship to God of their own so when their godly leaders died they fell away from the Lord. This is a reminder to us to stay far away from temptations and to surround ourselves with godly people instead of bad peer pressure.

— From our Bible study on Judges 2

Don’t Be Conformed to This World

Romans 12:2 — “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We are not to be conformed to this world. We have discussed this concept many times before. Part of the problem is that we just don’t recognize how evil and contrary to God’s ways that the world really is. The world system is controlled by Satan, God’s arch-enemy. He uses the education system, government, peer pressure, cultural influences, friends, family, and relatives to brainwash unbelievers and believers alike. Many believers have parents and teachers telling them to stop pursuing God and start pursuing money, or telling them to stop waiting for a Christian spouse and get married quickly, or not to discipline their kids because it is child abuse.

In what way are you tempted to be conformed to the world? When you make plans for your life, such as going to college, getting a Masters, moving to another city to take a better job, buying a house, finding a spouse, etc. do you just follow the same path as your friends in the world or do you stop to think if God has a better or different way of doing things? If you just follow the world without thinking twice because “that is how it is done,” then you may find you are on the broad path that leads to destruction.

— From our Bible study on Romans 12

Who You Spend Time With Shapes You

We should strive to know as much as possible about God and his word. This will be a positive influence and shape our behavior for good as it acts upon our mind and thoughts. However, we should desire to know as little as possible about the darkness, the deep ways of evil. What is the practical application of this? Stay away from evil both in action and in mind! If people tell us bad jokes, share bad stories, or try to tell us of their deep sins in most cases it is better not to listen or hear the details. Peer pressure is powerful. We often become like those whom we hang around. It is easier to pull down than to pull up. So we should make an effort to spend our time productively away from things that will be a bad influence on us.

— From our Bible study on Romans 16

1 Corinthians 15:33 — “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.'”

It is clear from the Bible that who we spend our time with will have an influence on who we are. We need to all make the effort to form godly relationships and avoid worldly ones. Notice also that this bad company was in the Corinthian church. They were bad because they doubted the word of the Lord and because they were spreading false doctrine, people’s actions were also being influenced. Bad company doesn’t only include drunkards and murders, but it can even include people in the church who can have a negative influence on us. Does this mean we need to leave the world? How can we balance our desire to win the world for Christ to the need to avoid bad company? Practice deep fellowship only with other true believers who will strengthen our spiritual walk. That means we form our closest relationships with other believers. Have witnessing relationships to those who are not believers.

— From our Bible study on 1 Corinthians 15:29-58

We shouldn’t give in to peer pressure. This is pressure trying to conform us to what they think we should be doing, normally based on culture norms. Since in the end we are answerable only to God for our actions we don’t need to try to impress people or fit in.

— From our Bible study on 1 Corinthians 4

Positive Peer Pressure

Matthew 9:2 — “And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.'”

It is interesting that he forgave his sin, and doesn’t mention that of those who carried him. That would lead me to believe that it was this man who convinced and persuaded his friends to keep trying. Therefore we should use positive peer pressure to encourage others to go to Jesus and do what is right, even if we need to insist on it.

— From our Bible study on Matthew 9:1-13

Jesus did what He knew was right, not just what people expected of Him. He did not give in to peer pressure of any kind. We should not either.

— From our Bible study on Matthew 16:1-20

Family and Social Pressure to Follow Christ

John 7:5 — “For not even his brothers believed in him.”

As believers we should learn to expect that many of the people closest to us will not only not respect our belief/work in Christ, but will mock us for it and think we are fools. This is one of Satan’s ways to pressure us to go with flow/crowd and not follow God. Peer pressure and family pressure are extremely powerful. As kids we grow up obeying and following our parents. We want to be approved of and supported. We like to make the people around us happy. It is difficult when they are unhappy with the direction of our lives because we are following Christ.

If we want to be true disciples of God we must realize that we have to “hate” even our own family (Luke 14:26). If our family is unbelievers, following Christ will likely be difficult. If you make a hard decision to serve God instead of money do not expect applause. Instead expect criticism. If you decide to give up a good position because it will make you too busy do not expect respect. Expect criticism.

If you decide not to marry the unbelieving girlfriend your family introduces to you, don’t expect them to be happy about your principles. Expect them to be upset. This is what Jesus meant when He said that He didn’t come to bring peace but a sword.

In addition, if you do ministry do not expect support or encouragement from the people close to you. Likely you will get the opposite. Jesus didn’t do ministry for the respect He could get from others. He was criticized, made fun of, mocked, beaten, and killed. Be ready and be willing to face the same thing.

— From our Bible study on John 7:1-29

Standing Firm Against Aggressive Pressure

The other nations around Gibeon wanted everyone to conform to their own ways and ideas. It angered them when someone did something differently. We might face similar “aggressive peer pressure” at times too. A teacher may try to make an example of a student who doesn’t follow the liberal theory of the university. A boss may try to make an example of an employee who is not willing to cheat or lie for the company. We have to be ready and alert from any type of opposition.

— From our Bible study on Joshua 10

1 Peter 4:5 — “but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

If you do not go back to these temptations, your old friends, drinking buddies, and partners in sin will be surprised. They will try to pressure you to give in. In doing so, they will vilify you and make fun of you. Perhaps they will use sarcastic titles like “know it all,” “goody two shoes,” “Mr. Perfect,” “stick in the mud,” “party pooper,” etc. They want to portray someone who resists these temptations as narrow-minded, judgmental, and boring, prudish, dull.

In verse 5, Peter reminds his readers that every person will have to give an account for his actions. God sees the evil he is doing, and will require him to answer to God for that. In the same vein, God will also see if you join in with them and you will have to answer for that. Each of us is responsible for our actions. Your parents’ faith will not vindicate you when you face God, but neither will your family members’ sins condemn you.

Thus, we have only two choices. We can please the people around us, becoming miserable and guilty as we join in with them, before facing God’s judgment and punishment. Or we can please God.

— From our Bible study on 1 Peter 4:1-11

Exodus 34:16 — “and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.”

Today, an upright Christian might face similar kinds of peer pressure. “Everybody is doing it. Who will find out? Come on. Don’t be weird. What kind of a Jesus freak are you? Your own God is forgiving, right? He will forgive you.” But it doesn’t matter what they say or what the reason is, we must not compromise. This was one thing that made those Jews who obeyed so reprehensible to non-Jews. But don’t worry, greater is He who is in us than those who are in the world. We don’t need to fear them.

— From our Bible study on Exodus 34

This is the second time that Jesus cleansed the temple, the first taking place early in His ministry and being shown in John 2:15-16. If something is important enough to do once, it is likely important enough to do twice!

The first cleansing of the temple did not result in real life change. Though they had grudgingly followed along when Jesus stopped them the first time, they went right back at it when Jesus left. They acted one way in front of Jesus and another way when He was not around. Guilt, shame, or peer pressure was guiding their actions rather than a pure love of God. Maybe they struggled with their consciences for a while. Finally greed won out and they went right back at it after Jesus left town.

Application — Is there anything that you would give up or change in your own house and way of life if Jesus were to visit you? Do you think you may start it again when Jesus left? Sometimes we act one way in front of other believers and another way when we are by ourselves. We are allowing peer pressure to guide our actions rather than a genuine love of Christ. If you find yourselves acting one way on Sunday and another way at work during the week, you need to confess that to the Lord and live your life in a consistent way no matter who is watching.

— From our Bible study on Matthew 21:12-17

We hope you enjoyed this Bible study on peer pressure. May God use His Word to speak into your life and give you strength to follow it. Please take some time to reflect on the questions below and consider leaving a comment with your key takeaway or insight.

Reflection Questions

• Why is peer pressure such a powerful influence?
• Why is “fitting in” attractive to many people?
• What are some common ways people or culture attempt to influence you?
• How does even social media play a role in peer pressure?
• Since there is temptation and peer pressure all around us, what is the solution so that we won’t be conformed to the world?
• How should we respond if people make fun of us for resisting temptation?
• What are some key ways to protect yourself against peer pressure?
• How is Christian fellowship important in helping us stand firm in doing the right thing?