Fear of the Lord

Many believers I have talked to are, at least at times, afraid of God. The very idea of appearing before God's judgment someday is terrifying to them. The phrase "the fear of the Lord" or "the fear of God" or similar phrases occur many times in the Bible, which seems to give ground for this attitude.

But should believers be afraid of God? The answer to that is a clear "No." So, what does the Bible mean by "the fear of the Lord"? I'll try to explain this as best as I can below.

Fear of God and Sinfulness

The main reason many are afraid of God has to do with their awareness of their own sinfulness. They know how sinful they are and how holy and just God is. Many Bible passages warn of judgment that comes from God against sinners. Passages like this one:

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." (Heb 10:26–27)

Although this passage (in context) refers to those who have heard the Gospel, but have walked away from it (that is, they are now unbelievers), many who are trying to be faithful to the Gospel message, read this and assume it applies to them whenever they stumble. I've even heard of people who (based on this and similar verses) believed they lost their salvation because, for a time, they turned away from God to worldly pleasures.

We so easily forget: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1John 1:9). Contrary to what some claim, the Scriptures don't expect believers to never sin. If it did, a passage like this would only make sense for unbelievers. But it is written for believers who sin, as is clear in the context (see 1John 2:1-2).

Now, if God forgives something there are two things we should remember: 1) it is completely forgiven, 2) it is permanently forgiven. I other words, God doesn't do "take backs" on forgiveness, and He doesn't forgive partially.

Doesn't God Still Punish Us for Our Sins?

I suppose it's because people think more out of experience than logic, but some still assume that even though God forgives them, He will still punish them for their sins. I don't know how that logic works, but I've seen it too many times not to address it.

The idea that God would forgive, but still punish must assume that forgiveness is something that we do not actually or fully receive unless we are punished first. Let's be clear that the Bible doesn't teach this. It's an assumption people make, probably because that's how they were treated by others when they sinned against them. For example, a child misbehaves and so, is punished by a parent, after which the child is told "I forgive you." Such an example is fully understandable and even seems to synchronize with our understanding of how justice works.

Here's the really big problem: if we must be punished for our sins, then Jesus' did not take all our punishment on the cross. Think about that. If it still doesn't quite make sense, let's use financial terms: If we still have to pay a part of the debt we have incurred, then Jesus didn't pay all our debt for us on the cross. Did He, or didn't He? Yes or no?

What about God's Discipline?

"...because the Lord disciplines the one he loves..." (Hebrews 12:6a)  

One of the problems we have in our culture is that we equate discipline with punishment. However, discipline, as the Bible talks about it, is something else. The Greek word for discipline in the verse above (paideuo - παιδεύω), means literally to train a child to live as an adult. Such training might involve hardship, and facing the direct consequences of one's actions, but it's not the same as punishment, is it. We get our technical term for teaching - pedagogy - from this word. In our day in particular, the last thing we expect a teacher to do is to spend the day punishing our child!

In the context of our whole lives God is training us. The context of the verse in Hebrews is actually not discipline for sinning, but God's discipline as we endure the sinful behavior of people against us! Even in the context of persecution, God is preparing us for life in the Kingdom--even more so in persecution, since it removes every pretense that this world has something valuable for us hold on to. The author of Hebrews is referring to God's discipline as a way to encourage them in their suffering (Hebrews 12:5), not scare them into obedience in order to avoid punishment.

No Fear in Love

The clearest teaching in Scripture on how and why believers should never be afraid of God is here: 

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first lived us. (1 Jn 4:16–19)

God loves us. This is the starting point for our relationship with God. Our love is a response to His. In other words, God's love initiated our relationship with Him. So we can "know and rely on the love God has for us." We can depend on His love; stake our lives on it. Our relationship with Him is (or at least should be) governed by this basic truth: God loves me, like the song says "...for the Bible tells me so."

...fear hast to do with punishment. I mentioned this above. Some are afraid of God because they are afraid He is going to punish them. This verse implies that God's love for us means there is no punishment awaiting us. We can further know this because, as John tells us, Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1John 2:2; see also 1John 4:10; Romans 3:25). As Isaiah says the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5b). I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

If Jesus took all our punishment on the cross, there is no punishment left for us. No punishment means exactly what it seems to mean. That may seems to good to be true, but it's the Gospel.

We shouldn't see this is a license to sin. Paul sums up why in Romans 6, among other places. I won't repeat all his arguments here. I'll only say this: in 1John the motive for living well is rooted in our response to God's love for us. When we love Him in return we will always try to do what pleases Him--that's what love always looks like.

So What is "The Fear of the Lord?"

I've spent quite a bit of time looking at Bible passages and reflecting on this question. My quick Bible search on "fear of the Lord," "fear of God," and a few similar phrases, turned up results in 101 verses (exact results would depend on your Bible version and the other search terms used). That's a lot! 

One thing I've often heard is that we should read "fear of the Lord" not as being afraid, but as a kind of awe or reverence for God. I went looking to see if that fit how the idea was used in Scripture. What I found made me think that wasn't the best way to put it. I would think of awe and reverence being used in the context of worship, but this idea is very rarely used in the context of worship.

What we do find much more consistently is how this idea is used in the context of obedience. In fact, let's look at this intriguing verse:

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning” (Exodus 20:20) .

In this verse we have the same word (in Hebrew) used in two very different ways (technically one is the verb form and the other the noun form of the word). Moses first tells the people "Do not fear," because, he says, the preceding events happened to put the fear of God in them. Huh? What's going on here?

It's clear that "fear of God" is a figure of speech in this passage, because it is clearly not the same as being afraid of God, which Moses tells them not to do. I trust we'd all agree on that. So what is it? Look again. With what is "the fear of God" associated with in the last part of that verse: "to keep you from sinning."

In fact, we could look at dozens of other passages that make the same connection. If you'd like, look at the following (in context, always, of course!): Genesis 22:12; Deuteronomy 6:2; Isaiah 50:10. What we see again and again is how the phrase "fear of the Lord" (and variants), are associated with obedience to the Lord--not every time, but consistently, and more consistently than anything else.

Whatever "the fear the Lord" means, those who have it, are known to have it by their obedience to the Lord. In other words, to "fear the Lord" means to acknowledge Him as King, as Lord, as Master in an absolute sense. We don't fear the Lord because we are afraid of Him, but because He is God our King.

(The connection to "fear" in this figure of speech can only be guessed at, since languages develop their own figures of speech in sometimes surprising ways. But it's not difficult to see how some kings were obeyed primarily because others were afraid of them. Perhaps we could see this in reverse: that even 'fear' in the sense of being afraid, only comes into play when there is something we perceive to be more powerful than us in the mix. But we don't really know.)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 9:10), because only one who is submitted to the Creator of life, has the least bit of hope in understanding how it works!

Interestingly, the concept of "fear of the Lord" doesn't appear much in the New Testament. It does, but not as a significant theme. Possibly, the figure of speech was so Jewish, it didn't translate well to other cultures and languages. Maybe, the message John captures in 1John 4:16-19 shows that believers pushed the concept of love as a motive for obedience higher than that of God's power and eminence. I don't know the answer because it's not a question the New Testament either asks nor answers.

Fearless before God 

One more passage as I bring this to a close:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16)  

Jesus understands us. He knows what it's like down here in the mud. He gets us. So let's go to Him confidently, boldly (as some translations put it). In other words, let's go to Him fearlessly. What awaits us at His throne is "mercy and grace to help us in our time of need." 

I once heard Richard Rohr say "I can't wait to be judged by God, because He knows me. He knows why I did all those things" (not sure that's an exact quote, it was a long time ago!). He then went on to say that God understands us; He knows our brokenness. He "gets us" like no one else. I found that to be a fascinating perspective--one I've pondered many times.

If Jesus has done it all, if there's no punishment left for us, if God's discipline is always about training us for life in the Kingdom, if His love has driven away all fear of punishment, then let's live fearlessly before Him, trusting in the complete forgiveness for all our sins, and yielding our lives as acts of love to our Creator and Redeemer.