What is the Fear of the Lord?

If I were to simply ask, “What is fear?” most of us would not have an issue answering that question. Fear is that emotion I feel when I’m scared of danger, or a problem bearing down on me. It could be a real danger: perhaps a snake has slithered across my foot; or it could be a perceived danger: perhaps the snake is a harmless black racer and is very unlikely to even bite me. So, a swamp filled with mosquitoes biting me is a fear of real danger. A sign telling me there are a lot of mosquitoes who may bite me is a perceived danger (thanks Congaree National Forest for the warning!).

Further, if I were to ask who is the Lord, few Christians would stumble to find the answer. The Lord is God, the One and Only. The Lord is the Almighty Creator, the incarnate Savior, the Comforting Spirit: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in One Godhead. He is the Lord.

But, if we put both fear and the Lord into a phrase and ask its definition, many do stumble. What is the fear of the Lord? As I have briefly researched, the modern consensus seems to be a brief or prolonged journey that arrives at similar conclusions. Fear of the Lord is not fear, but something like awe, respect, worship, and love. Now, because of Jesus, praise the Lord, I do think we worship God with reverence and awe, and I do think we love God because He first loved us in Jesus Christ. But, if “the fear of the Lord” should be translated “the awe of the Lord” or “the love of the Lord,” then Bible translators have done a consistently lousy job translating the words into fear.

On the basis of linguistics, biblical theology, and logic, I’m going to argue that the fear of the Lord means fearing the Lord as in a settled emotional trembling at His Person and Presence. This fear, because of Jesus, need not remain the only emotion we habitually experience. Instead, when we come to God by faith in Jesus, and are adopted into God’s family, we combine fear and love. We fear-love God. It’s what Augustine will call a filial fear. We do not graduate from or leave fear behind, discarding any fear we experience in God’s holy presence, but we couple that fear with hope and love in Jesus. The by-product of this fear-love is habitual right-walking with God, right-worship of God, and enduring happiness.

Fear of the LORD

 Fear of the LORD, a Study on Fear from Genesis 42

There are many things that scare us. Human beings have all varieties of fears. Some are quite silly.

As a kid, I watched Arachnophobia, the movie about the fear of spiders. Still makes me jump thinking about them sneaking onto me when I am sleeping or dropping onto my hand when I turn out the light.

Maybe you have acrophobia, the fear of heights. Someone might say they don’t mind the heights, it’s the falling and hitting the ground that scares them.

Others it’s aerophobia, aquaphobia, or astraphobia, but flying, water, and storms don’t sum up everyone’s fears.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WERE AFRAID OF AS A KID?

In Genesis 42, we dive into the middle of the epic of Joseph. So far, Joseph has been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and his father Jacob believes him dead because his sons deceived him. While Judah shipwrecked his life, Joseph was purchased by a wealthy Egyptian, the captain of the guards. He endured slavery and then wrongful accusation and imprisonment. Then, Joseph was brought out of prison into the very presence of Pharaoh, where he interpreted dreams and planned how to save Egypt from disaster. Pharaoh promoted Joseph to second-in-command, and Joseph helped Egypt prepare for the famine by storing up grain during the years of great harvests. Now, the famine has come, and today the brothers will come to Joseph. We will see the family’s many fears.