What a startling phrase it is to many: “the fear of the Lord”. Yet, it is a very prominent theme throughout the scriptures, highlighted most in the wisdom literature of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job. Each exploring wisdom from a different angle, they all focus on the fear of Lord as wisdom:
Proverbs 1:7
Fearing the Lord is the beginning of discernment,
but fools have despised wisdom and moral instruction
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
because this is the whole duty of man
Job 28:28
And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.
This concept and phrase continues into the Gospel itself and is crucial for us to understand for easing our souls and building our faith. A case is to be made for fear’s meaning as a flexible term between two leanings of truth. There are those stress God’s authority and judgement to produce an urgency within people to stir up repentance and action. The other is defining fear as a general respect in application to God. In both, certain aspects are emphasized, yet I would like to explore a “fuller” expression of the term utilizing both in its explanation and practice.
It’s to be prefaced that despite expectation, this is not approached as a word study. Upon research, there appears to be no strides made of exegetical insight looking at both the Greek and Hebrew terms for “fear”. In this context, fear really does mean what we know it to mean today in its general use. It is not so different as how we would describe someone being “anxious”. Whether they are dreading or eagerly anticipating something depends entirely on the context in which it’s used.
Therefore, the biblical context and application of the term fear is what can be helpful to study, and so we consult other parts of the scriptures to understand God’s nature and our relation to Him to further understand what fear means for the modern Christian.
Fear as Discipline
In support of the fear of discipline, there are texts which prompt us to be on guard, so that by these we do have concern for the wellbeing of our souls and for others so as to avoid sin and its consequences. That is why Christ instructs us:
Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matt. 26:41)
Frequently, the relation between a child and parent, student and teacher, and employee and employer are used to portray the relationship between God and His people in the context of fear.
Hebrews 12:9-10 in particular draws the parallel between a father and our Father:
Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life? For they disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but he does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness.
And so many of us can know from experience the basic concept of a respect of our authorities, because we do not look forward to repercussions of anger, disappointment or even punishment. It is reasonable to say this can be healthy to a certain degree. Discipline produces strength, and discipline from those who hold us accountable must be exercised in ways that make us uncomfortable, applying the right amount of stress so as to avoid bad consequences and promote wellbeing. This can result from detentions in school, a stern word for a child’s safety, or in my case when I receive a work email from my boss following up on a task I should have completed yesterday, I’m scrambling and my heart rate’s up, but that fear takes care of my team and keeps me accountable.
St Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western monasticism and the Benedictine Rule, comments well on fear’s place that contributes to holiness.
The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love. Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation
Fry, Timothy. 1981. RB 1980 : The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with Notes. Liturgical Press.
Sadly, in the nature of human radicalism, many have inflamed the fear, weaponizing it as a cruel manipulation for selfish gain. A close friend of mine expressed her association of the term “fear” with the anger of her father growing up. The authority relation then is not always a simple comparison, as it has been distorted by sinful men. It is the case for her, as it is for many, that fear is synonymous with anger or punishment, especially in relation to the Father. The fear of the Lord simply means divine disappointment to many, and so it becomes their lens when they read of our discipline and His guidance.
Fear Within and Outside Faith
It is here that the distinction must be made for a fear of divine judgement on those far from God who mock Him, and warnings to those who are in Christ. The scriptures show that God extends His righteous anger towards the unjust, therefore linking His anger with an expected fear of His power in His warnings. The ungodly are described in Jude 12-13:
..they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
God is just, and so He does not leave injustice unanswered. This kind of language should promote a warning fear for the wellbeing of souls, but it’s important to remember that fear is never the primary motivator in bringing us to reconciliation to God. For it is also stated in Psalm 51:16-17:
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise
God’s anger kindles both for injustice, and for those made in His image that willfully reject Him, which He expresses often as heartache for the lost, such as when Christ weeps for Jerusalem (Lk. 19:41-44), and Peter teaches
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9)
For those in Christ then, the disciplinary fear discussed is far from God’s anger though it refines us. As we have already seen in Hebrews 12, He disciplines us “for our benefit, that we may share his holiness”. There are many who are in Christ who have had to wrestle with the understanding of the fear of the Lord as something not to cripple the Christian in fear. For those in Christ who feel crippled in fear, there is certainly hope.
Servile Fear and Filial Fear
Martin Luther wrestled with the idea of fear greatly, which eventually broke the tension of the use of fear in the Church towards the freedom found in the reformation. What Luther endured personally for many years is termed Servile Fear, feeling like a slave in fear of the Father’s anger and judgement. Many can relate to this.
“I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, ‘As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the Decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!’”
Martin Luther, Preface to Latin Works (1545).
What Luther then came to understand about the Lord in his further study of the gospel, especially in reading Romans, was the fear of God was rooted in love and grace through faith.
However, fulfilling the Law means to do its works with delight and from love, and to lead a godly and good life freely, without the Law’s constraint, just as if there were no Law and no punishment. Such a delight of unconstrained love, however, is instilled in the heart by the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says, chap. 5:5. But, as he says in his introductory remarks, the Spirit is not given except in, with, and by faith in Jesus Christ
Luther, Martin. 1995. Martin Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. New Creation Publications.
The fear of the Lord in Christ is grafted to love. This is what we call Filial Fear, literally the fear of a son or daughter in the context of love. It transitions the authority fear into something immersed in love both from and towards God. Fear-mongering that produces anxiety is isolated from hope and love. That’s not the gospel. The fear of the Lord is not simply avoidance of judgment, it is the pursuit of the love of God.
Hebrews 12:1 pictures it beautifully:
Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God
The discipline that our Lord endured was certainly not motivated by a fear of judgement, but love. It was love and His commitment to His law that caused Him to overcome an earthly fear, and endure the terrifying act of crucifixion. In the revelation of Christ, it is seen that the fear of the Lord is to encourage us, and like Christ lead us past worldly fears towards eternal rest.
It is crucial to remember that the Lord’s nature is rest, as found in the nature of the Sabbath itself from creation. Further, the Lord of the Sabbath Himself says:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28)
Filial fear is something that does not hand us to terror but quite the opposite.
It is clear then that for those in Christ fear is not to be associated with the anxiety of judgment or anger. Our filial fear within the Lord’s comfort and rest actually warns us to be fearful of complacency and passivity. The Christian is to be active in holiness and living the Christian life, otherwise they are not following Christ.
It is here that the fear of rejecting the Lord does play part in our sanctification whilst we rest secure in Him. Like a warning side at the side of the road, though we may be secure, the signs can deter us from potential wandering. That is why us Christians in fear of the Lord must feel a certain weight towards Christ’s warnings:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. (Matt. 7:21)
Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Heb. 2:1)
So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. (1 Cor. 10:12)
The Great Overcorrections
It is because of complacency that the culture of fearful preaching emerged in the last few centuries. In the 18th century, christian complacency was one of the primary issues before the events of the Great Awakening in the early US. The lack of drive for the great commission spurred figures such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Finney to not only preach to the masses but preach with an emphasis on the fear of the Lord, discussing His judgements1.
Arguably, (as with all neglected doctrines throughout Church history) the reminder to call Christians back on mission, and have accountability was necessary for the time. It could be argued (not in depth here) that the Second Great Awakening onwards popularized and overemphasized into what we now term “hellfire and damnation” preaching. It is this which has spurred such anxiety that is rampant in our culture that has led us to fear for the very security of our souls and the saving nature of God. The line was crossed from the fear of the Lord calling us to action in love and readiness, into a fear of judgement and absence of hope even if we may be called saved in Christ!
One is rooted in fear of the future, yet the filial fear of the Lord is rooted in a passionate avoidance of anything that is apart from God’s goodness in the present.
Today, a great shift has occurred, so as on one hand to rightly pivot away from the falsehood of servile fear, yet towards something that reduces the gospel’s meaning of filial fear. The idea of reverence or respect for an authority figure is indeed the closest concept that we do have. Some in response to the troubling theology of servile fear, seek to define the fear of the Lord without bubbling up trauma and emotions from hearers.
If the image is conjoined so much to a human image it can limit the object of our fear: God Himself.
A Helpful Image
God is holy (set apart) and His standard is perfection for good reason. He is not sat executing this judgment in extreme measures because of Christ, but we must remember that God Himself is life, therefore apart from Him is death. As darkness is the absence of light, and cold the absence of heat, death is the absence of God’s Spirit and works, hence “Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). Also, “in him was life, and the life was the light of mankind” (Jn. 1:4). The relation we have to God is distinct, therefore as is our fear. We do not have that relationship with our parents, educational or professional superiors.
There still is a holy seriousness to how we are to have reverence. He is both our friend and guide, yet our creator and Lord.
There is a very popular and classic illustration provided by C.S. Lewis that articulates this relation. In his description of Aslan, who functions as a Christ figure in his fictional world of Narnia, he is described:
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Lewis, C. S. 1950. Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. S.L.: Arcturus Publishing Ltd. (Orig. pub. 1950.).
Similarly, I understood this concept myself a couple years ago when I’ve looked out on the vastness of the sea at Canon Beach, Washington. The waves are both mesmerising, mysterious and terrifying at the grandeur and power they possess distanced from me. We are small and know our place as humans in comparison, and it would be unwise to engage with the sea without great guidance.
This brings us back around to the wisdom referenced at the beginning of our exploration. A sailor is wise to engage with the sea with a delight and a great fear, prepping him for something that can greatly overpower him. Similarly, we as humans, and especially Christians are to know our place in a reverent filial fear of God in His holiness who is the very creator of that sea.
Conclusion
To be wise in the modern world, we again start with the fear of the Lord. How it applies is a richer exploration.
For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth. (Ecc. 3:1)
Therefore we simultaneously and at distinct times run towards Christ with His Spirt within us fearfully avoiding the dullness and consequences of sin, and we also bow our heads to the floor in fearful reverence like the prophets of old and Peter before Christ (Lk. 5:8; Matt. 17:6). It is filial fear, yet there is a servile aspect so as to view God not as mere man, but our holy creator.
Therefore, our simple conclusion for now to move us into greater research, is that the fear of the Lord is rich in how it’s received and what it does in relation to God. It is filial in its humility, reverence, respect, a gentle yet also urgent concern for self and others, and it is greater at the grasping of the chasm between God’s existence and ours which humbles us to rely on Him wholeheartedly for our benefit. More particularly, we are to hold together in different times that the fear of Him moves in us to keep us sharp, disciplined, human, free and at rest in Him for now and into eternity.
- Shelley, Bruce L. 2013. Church History in Plain Language. 4th ed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. ↩︎
Leave a Reply