25
May

lies that will kill you: only one flavor of fear

   Posted by: Brendt   in theological rants, theological raves

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This post is Marc’s fault. In a recent post, I decried fear-based obedience. Marc asked:

What part does fear play Brendt? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom? or fear not for I am with you. Maybe the subject of another post?

Here’s that other post.

Just to start with, here are the two verses that Marc is quoting (well, maybe not the exact two verses, as several verses say similar things):

Psalm 111:10 — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

Isaiah 41:10 — Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

So, at first blush there seems to be a contradiction. The first verse implies that fear is good, but the second verse (and my earlier post) say that fear is bad. But I believe there are two issues that address this seeming contradiction.

The first is in the meaning of the word. I have always understood the word “fear” as used in that Psalms verse to be interpreted as “honor” or “reverence”, rather than something akin to terror. I’m having trouble finding references/explanations either way to confirm or deny this idea. If there’s a Hebrew scholar in the house, please pipe up.

The other issue, though, works even if the only interpretation of “fear” is akin to terror. The object of the fear is what is at stake. The first verse refers to the “fear of the Lord” while the second verse is refering to fear of other things (the world, tribulation, enemies, etc).

But what is most striking to me is that the fear-based obedience that I referenced before is a fear of God’s wrath. But Jesus bore the full weight of God’s wrath on the cross. So if we claim to be Christians, and yet obey on the basis of fear, we are really saying that Christ’s work was insufficient. And ultimately, if Christ’s work was insufficient, then it was absolutely pointless.

I’m guessing that’s not how you want to live.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 11:18 pm and is filed under theological rants, theological raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 comments so far

Jeremy Pierce
 1 

I think fear of God is more than just honor and reverence, but that doesn’t mean it’s terror in the sense that we fear bad things. Isn’t there room for something in between?

The sense I have in mind is the sense in which we can recognize the power and holiness of God in a way that goes beyond fear. There’s a sense in which we should have a holy terror of God in recognizing our sin and what we deserve for our sin, but I wouldn’t call that terror in the usual sense.

May 28th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
Brendt
 2 

Quite possible. The answer probably lies somewhere between my two responses. Recognizing what we are without Jesus and what we deserve are certainly correct. But if we *live* as though Christ’s work was incomplete — and fearing God’s wrath does just that — then we have missed the boat.

May 28th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Dave
 3 

It’s hard to stand at the top of a skyscraper, look down, and not feel fear. It’s hard to truly apprehend the glory and awesome power of the LORD and not feel fear.

Even if you’re perfectly safe from death.

May 29th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Brendt
 4 

Feel, yes. And I think that’s perfectly natural and proper.

But if we *act* solely on that feeling — if fear is our motivation for obedience — then we are wrong.

May 29th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Chong
 5 

Hi Brendt,

I actually love the “fear of the Lord” concept and have given the subject a lot of thought. Here are a few of the things that I’ve been thinking about:

(1) It’s definitely more reverence and less terror. And, for believers in the OT and NT, it has little to do with judgment or wrath. I think you’re right when you said, it?s the object of the fear that?s at stake. The sheer magnitude of who He is causes us to fall down and worship. And because we love Him, we don?t want to do anything to displease Him or grieve the Spirit. To be reminded of the fear of the Lord is to be reminded that we live constantly in His presence?which inspires us to live in obedience to His word.

(2) I?ve also thought about the possibility that the ?fear of the Lord? is another term for ?faith? in the Old Testament. The term ?faith? or its synonyms do not appear in the OT as frequently as in the NT. And, likewise, the term ?fear of the Lord? does not appear in the NT nearly as many times as in the OT. (This may have something to do with the transition from the Mosaic law to the new covenant and an overt system of grace?where we focus not on our obedience (by fear), but on what Christ has done (by faith).) I define faith as belief and trust in a holy God that inspires obedience. I think the ?fear of the Lord? can be defined in the same way, but with an emphasis on the final clause, inspiring obedience.

(3) The concept also appears in the NT. For example, ?work out your salvation with fear and trembling? (Phil 2:12) and ?perfecting holiness in the fear of God? (2 Cor. 7:1). So the emphasis on fear (and obedience) applies more to our sanctification?if we are ever-mindful that we are in the presence of God, how then shall we live?

June 1st, 2006 at 9:25 pm
Brendt
 6 

Chong, very well put. If your blog posts are half as well thought-out as your comments, I’m gonna be doing more blog reading. ;-)

June 1st, 2006 at 9:53 pm

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