The Bible considers the fear of God as wisdom. Chapter 28 of the Book of Job ponders what wisdom is and where it can be found. Through numerous beautiful metaphors, the reader is led to the conclusion that humans cannot find wisdom. Verse 23 reveals: “God understands the way to it, and He alone knows where it dwells”.
Next, the author describes God’s exclusive right to wisdom. Finally, in the very last verse of the chapter, he conveys a message from God:
“And he said to the human race, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding’”.
The fear of the Lord in the original languages of the Bible
All in all, the phrase “fear of the Lord” or “fear of God” appears about twenty times in the Bible. The message is clear: God wants people to fear him. But why? God is good and merciful! Throughout the Bible, we read that God is love (1 John 4:8), the riches of his grace are incomparable (Ephesians 2:7), and how compassionate and gracious He is (Psalm 103:8). How can these two things be in harmony?
The concept of fear is based on the Old Testament word yirʾāh and its verb form yārēʾ. In the Bible, the word does not refer exclusively to fear as in terror, but also to deep respect and esteem:
“Each of you must respect [yārēʾ] your mother and father” (Lev. 19:3).
By fearing God, the Bible means something along the lines of “such great respect that it would never come to mind to despise Him.” In addition to fear, respect, and esteem, yirʾāh can also describe a person’s humility, obedience, and submissiveness before God’s holiness.
The original language of the New Testament is Greek, and its word for fear is phobon. In the New Testament, the word most often has the meaning of general fear, but once it also refers to the fear of the Lord. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others…” (2 Cor. 5:10-11).
Fear and love
The reformer Martin Luther used the phrase “fear and love” in each of his interpretations of the commandments. For example, his explanation of the first commandment reads: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things”. Luther’s view was that loving God and fear of the Lord belong together. According to him, it was essential that the fear of a person who loves God is “childlike fear”, not “slavish fear”.
Luther did not invent this idea. The Church Father Augustine (354-430) had already divided the fear described in the Bible into “slavish fear” and “pure fear,” which later came to be more aptly called “childlike fear.” From the beginning, the idea was that the fear of a child is associated with faith, while the fear of a slave is associated with unbelief. Luther’s colleague Philipp Melanchthon summed it up as follows: “Slavish fear is a lack of faith, a terror that in reality flees from God, but childlike fear is a terror associated with faith; faith that lifts and comforts the soul in the midst of terror, approaches God, asks for and receives forgiveness”.
In his debate with Johannes Eck, Luther stated that childlike fear, given by God’s mercy, is indeed the beginning of wisdom, but the slavish fear, which is only directed at punishment, is rather the beginning of foolishness. In his commentary on Galatians, Luther instructs: “Christians must overcome their fear by believing in the word of grace; they must turn their gaze away from the age of the law and toward Christ and faith, toward what lies ahead. Then even fear becomes sweet, mixed with nectar, so that even in fear, the Christian begins to love God. Otherwise, if faith is not taken into account and a person focuses solely on the law and sin, they cannot shake off their fear and will ultimately sink into despair.”
A believer does not experience the fear of a slave, because they have been freed from the punishment that comes from sin. John writes:
“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” (1 John 4:18).
On the other hand, even a believer should fear sin, because it takes him further away from God, whom he respects. Paul instructed Timothy:
“But those elders who are sinning, you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning” (1 Tim. 5:20).
Perhaps the two different kinds of fear are most clearly seen in the situation where God revealed his law to the Israelites:
“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die’. 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 20:18-20).
The Jealous God
The true fear of the Lord is therefore a childlike and respectful fear that abhors violating God’s will. Essential to this fear is also the nature of God, whose holiness and glory cannot be borne by humans, who have been separated from Him because of sin. Sensing this caused the Israelites of the Old Testament to repeatedly experience fear—and perhaps also fear of punishment.
God’s holiness is repeatedly described in the Bible with the word “jealous” or “zealous”. The Hebrew word qan·nāʾ used in the Old Testament is translated in many languages as “jealous” or, if not referring to God, also as “envious”. In the New Testament, however, the Greek word zēlós has a double meaning: it can be translated as either “jealous” or “zealous”, “ardent”, “enthusiastic”, and sometimes even “passionate”.
God therefore says that he is jealous and zealous. These adjectives seem somewhat inappropriate for God, as in most languages they are both very human and have negative connotations. However, when applied to God, zēlós primarily means that humans must serve only Him.
This is the core of the entire Bible, as the first commandment already rejects the worship of all other gods:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3).
Later on, in chapter 34, the connection is even clearer:
“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous [qan·nā], is a jealous [qan·nā] God” (Exodus 34:14).
In addition to referring to the prohibition against worshipping anyone other than the Lord, zeal also means “holy zeal”, the uncompromising way in which God defends His holiness (Ezek. 39:25). According to the Bible, humans can also “’zealously” defend God’s honor or their own interpretation of it (Numbers 25:11; Acts 22:3). During Jesus’ time in Israel, there were people who passionately defended obedience to God’s law. They were called Zealots, but the Bible does not indicate that they were acceptable to God on that basis.
Instead, Jesus acted with righteous zeal in defending God’s honor when he drove the merchants and money changers out of the temple. John recounts:
“So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’” (John 2:13-17).
The fear of the Lord leads towards salvation
We started with the question posed in the Book of Job: what is wisdom? God said to man: “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding”. God, who is perfectly good, condemns evil. Therefore, a wise person fears the Lord and hates evil (Proverbs 8:13). Evil is sin, and sin represents everything that is contrary to God’s will and threatens to take the wise person away from His presence.
During the time of the Bible, there were “God-fearing” people living in the vicinity of Israel. They did not belong to the tribes of Israel and had not converted to Judaism, but they wanted to honor and serve the God of Israel and follow His will. It is said of Job:
“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1).
Job’s fear was the fear of a child, for he was a believing man. In contrast, the Roman Cornelius’ fear was the fear of a slave, until he received forgiveness for his sins through Peter, and his unbelief turned into faith and his fear into the fear of a child (Acts 10).
In Luther’s words: the fear of a child is given by God’s grace. When a person realizes his or her hopeless sinfulness and begins to seek God’s grace, he or she can find it and receive forgiveness for his or her sins. This gives rise to a true childlike fear and a desire to avoid sin, as in the case of Job. The author of Psalm 130 describes it this way:
“But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared” (Ps. 130:4, ESV).
Also David’s Psalm 34 beautifully describes the fear of the Lord and the mercy received by a sinner, which live side by side in a believer:
“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it … The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit … Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned (Psalm 34:11-22).
Author: Kingdom of Peace