The Fear of God

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:7)

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)

The "fear of God" and "fear of the Lord" are used many times in the Bible. What exactly is meant by "fear" in this context? How are we to fear God? Should we literally be afraid of Him? The best way to understand a biblical concept is to look at every passage in the Bible where that concept is found. There are dozens of places in the Bible that refer to the fear of God, so I won't list them all. But let's quickly look at a few of them so we can get an idea of what this means.

"Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 10:12)

"You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name." (Deuteronomy 10:20)

"In Jerusalem also Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord and to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then he charged them saying, “Thus you shall do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly." (2 Chronicles 19:8-9)

"Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?" (Nehemiah 5:9)

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God." (Nehemiah 5:15)

"For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty." (Job 6:14)

"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether." (Psalm 19:9)

"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." (Psalm 34:11)

"Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord." (Proverbs 1:29)

"They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me." (Jeremiah 32:38-40)

The concept of the fear of God is used repeatedly throughout the Bible, and the fear of God is always a very good thing. Not having the fear of God is a bad thing. In fact the biggest problem humans have is that they do not fear God. When we get a glimpse at how holy God is and how sinful we are, it produces the fear of God in us. Logically, anyone who really believes the God of the Bible exists should have a fear of Him because He's literally God Almighty.

A major problem we face today is the mischaracterization of God, even among Christians, as being a God of love and nothing but love. The majority of people would assign God's love as His primary attribute. This creates many theological difficulties. One cannot speak of God's loving damnation without having to do a lot of smooth talking to try and explain away the problem. God's loving wrath against His enemies? That makes no sense. This problem is resolved easily when you realize that God is primarily holy. We can easily speak of God's holy love, holy grace, holy jealousy, holy wrath, holy judgment, holy damnation, holy salvation, all without contradiction. God is primarily holy. That is man's biggest problem. He's holy and we're enemy rebels.

Reading the Bible, believing what it says about God, and coming to understand Him, should produce the fear of God in anyone. Just read the book of Exodus and see how afraid the Israelites were of God. This God of the Bible is not nearly as popular, even among so-called Christians. The imaginary god who is all love and nothing but love, and never wants anything unpleasant to happen to anyone, is much more popular. Contrary to this imaginary god, the God of the Bible is to be feared. He would come down on Israel as a huge cloud of fire and smoke and His voice would boom like thunder. This is the same God who they'd seen wipe out the army of Egypt after having His way with their nation. This God killed every human being on the planet except for 8 people when he flooded earth. He destroys entire nations whenever He wishes. He judges entire people-groups. He chooses which nations will prosper and which ones will die. He's the source of everything that exists. He's the Holy Judge who either throws people into hell or allows them to come into His kingdom. Should humans fear God? Absolutely! Jesus said "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

On a fundamental level, God is to be feared by all humans because He is The Almighty. But what about those who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ? Do we fear being thrown into hell? Do we fear God's anger and wrath? No, there is no fear of God's wrath for those who are in Christ because Christ already took our share of wrath on the cross. We've been promised that there is no condemnation for anyone who believes in Jesus for their salvation. (John 3:16, Romans 8:1)

So we don't fear God in the same way an unbeliever should fear Him. We don't fear Him like we would fear someone who is going to destroy us. There are different kinds of fear. In Exodus 20, Moses does us a favor by describing two different types of fear within the same sentence. This helps us understand.

"Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:20)

Moses tells them not to be afraid because God has come in order that the fear of God would keep them from sinning. Don't be afraid but have fear? This would sound like a contradiction, but the point is there are different kinds of fear.

Why are humans afraid of something like a large bear or a lion? It's because you know it's more powerful than you and it can destroy you. We naturally fear anything more powerful than us. If a lion attacks you, you're probably going to die, so you should fear lions. But that same scary lion will protect and nurture its own children. It will die for its children. Its children come to it for protection, food, and warmth. Their existence depends on that same lion who will rip your face off when it sees you.

Humans are wicked and evil but we are capable of love too. We build terrible weapons and use them on each other. We gather men together and go kill each other in wars. Warriors throughout the ages have hugged their wives and children for the last time, and gone to meet their enemies on the battlefield, and killed other men, and even died, all to protect their loved ones. The same men who love their families and would die for them, also kill as many enemies as they can kill. The children of the warrior see him as a loving protector, to be admired, obeyed, honored, and loved. But his enemies see him much differently. The warrior destroys his enemies, but he protects and provides for his own. His love and his wrath are not contradictory because the object of his love is not the same as the object of his wrath. He doesn't treat his kids the way he treats his enemies.

In the ideal household, the father is the one who provides everything. He goes to work, pays the bills, provides all of the necessities, and all of the luxuries. Everyone in the house knows to honor and respect him. When junior misbehaves, he gets whipped by daddy's belt. Every kid knows this fear of daddy. We all learn at a young age what it's like to get punished, and we learn to avoid it by doing what's expected of us. His discipline has a purpose. We learn a healthy kind of fear. There is a respectful awe of daddy that every kid learns. This is a healthy fear that parents intentionally instil in children. Its intention is for their ultimate good. But this fear is not the same kind of fear that the burglar feels when daddy puts a shotgun in his face. Daddy is not going to blow junior's head off when he messes up. But if a burglar breaks into the house, the same loving father who is gentle with his kids, and provides everything for them, the same nice and kind person is going to use a weapon in the most extreme way, in order to do what's right. It would be wrong of him to allow his enemies to harm his kids. A loving father will blow a man's head off to protect his kids. But his kids would never be afraid of him doing that to them. There's a world of difference between daddy's kids and the burglar, or an enemy on the battlefield. They all fear him, but in very different ways. And there is no contradiction whatsoever in these actions coming from the same man.

Everyone can understand this when we're talking about human fathers. But when we say God is like this, that He makes a distinction between His children and His enemies, then God gets accused of hypocrisy, or not being loving, or not being fair. The Bible does not say every human being is a child of God. It says the exact opposite. Humans are naturally God's enemies. He saves some of us by grace and adopts us into the family through faith in Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ's atonement on the cross, Christians will not receive the wrath that we deserve. Christ paid for the sins of everyone who believes in Him so that we will never have to worry about God's wrath. But for those who don't believe, God's wrath is abiding on them.

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12)

"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." (Romans 5:10-11)

"In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will" (Ephesians 1:5)

"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God" (Galatians 4:4-7)

"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:14-17)

"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:3-9)

Those verses are saying that Christians are the children of God, not just every human but only believers in Christ. If you're a Christian, you have the Spirit of God in you and you're a child of God. You've been adopted by God. He took you out of the family of destruction and wrath, and He has placed you into His family, making you a joint-heir with Christ.

"you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir" (Galatians 4:7)

"we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:16-17)

This is a special relationship that we believers have, which unbelievers do not have. They are not God's children. They are the objects of His wrath. Their relationship with God can be compared to the enemy on the battlefield, while we are like the children at home safely tucked into a warm bed. We have nothing to fear but they should be terrified. They should fear God because He is going to demonstrate His power and His justice by punishing them in hell forever. They should fear Him but their ignorance and pride keep them blinded to this reality. But that punishment will never touch His children. Jesus took care of that for us, so we never have to worry about it. Instead of fearing God's wrath, Christians should fear God with a child's healthy fear of daddy. We honor Him, and obey Him, and we're in awe of Him. We love Him, respect Him, and submit to His authority. We don't want to disappoint Him. We want to hear Him say "Well done". We want to be pleasing to Him. But we have no fear of Him destroying us the way He will destroy His enemies.

Every breath you take comes from God, and when He decides you're done, you'll die. But until then, every day, every meal, every glass of water, your clothes, your job, your friends, everything you have, you have it because He provided it. He gives and He also takes away. Healthy loving discipline also comes from Him. He disciplines His children because He's a loving Father.

"You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;

For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,

And He scourges every son whom He receives.'

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." (Hebrews 12:5-11)

Biblically, we know that God does discipline His children. He "scourges" them, which means He whips them. Of course He does not literally whip us with a whip, this is meant to figuratively convey the idea that God does discipline His children the way any good father does with his child. It's not because He's mean and likes hurting His kids. He does it because He is wiser than we are and He knows how to guide us to maturity, to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). So God does allow things to happen to us that we sometimes don't understand, but it's always for our good, just like when our parents would discipline us, it was always out of love, and always for our own good. While the kid is being spanked he doesn't see it as loving and good. But when he grows up, he looks back on his life and he's thankful that his parents loved him enough to discipline him. God causes everything in a Christian's life to be beneficial for them.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

God does not harm His children. Christians have no reason to fear that from Him. Instead, we learn to trust Him, just like a kid grows up to trust and respect his parents. The relationship grows over time. Through the trials of life, we learn to depend on God. He knows exactly what each of us need, and without failure He always provides. Christians never have to feel the fear of God's anger coming against us the way it will come against His enemies. When we sin, we have Jesus as our advocate (1 John 2:1). When we mess up, we can go to our Father and get guidance and comfort, and even discipline. We eventually learn that discipline is a good thing. We have the healthy kind of fear of Him, like a child's relationship to his human father. But we're not afraid of Him the way an enemy is afraid. We can confidently go to Him without being afraid of His anger.

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Christian, don't be afraid of God, but always fear God.

Thanks for reading. God bless.

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