Page 927 … God: to “Fear” & not to fear
“We are to be obedient to God. He blesses obedience.”
No, my dear Friend. At least as far as Jesus Christ is concerned, this is absolutely not the case at all … Obedience is always fear-based, Dan – or a form of “respect” that has at the very least been tainted by fear. And as the Bible makes it oh so clear – there is no fear whatsoever in Jesus’ heavenly Father (see Matthew 5:48 + 1 John 4:18) and as such He wants nothing to do with our fear whatsoever! As such, whenever you make statements like this one, you are actually thinking of a very different god – a far lesser “god” – namely, the not-so-moral celestial tyrant that Paul chose to worship and about which the author of Revelation chose to write.
And yet there is Good News here as well. For in many places in the Old Testament (as well as more than a few in the New) the word translated as “fear” in the phrase “fear God” (most often yare in the Old Testament Hebrew – Strong’s #3373; and most often phobeo in the New Testament Greek – Strong’s #5399) is often a term that does not denote terror or fright (or anxiety, or angst, or nervousness, or even worry) at all. Instead, more often than not – at least when speaking of how we are to treat God, it is a word that encourages respectful honor, awe-filled wonderment &/or full-fledged reverence … As such, the verses using these terms would be far more accurate if they were to be translated as follows:
“If you will honor the Lord and serve Him, and heed His voice and not rebel against His commandment, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, all will be well.” ~ 1 Samuel 12:14
“There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. He was blameless and upright, a man who revered God and turned away from evil.” ~ Job 1:1
“You who honor the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him and stand in awe of Him.” ~ Psalm 22:23
“Reverence for the Lord is the beginning of all knowledge.” ~ Proverbs 1:7
“Do not be wise in your own eyes. Honor the Lord, and turn away from evil.” ~ Proverbs 3:7
“Revere God and keep His commandments; for that is the sum of every person’s duty.” ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13
“But in every nation anyone who honors [God] and does what is right is acceptable to Him.” ~ Acts 10:35
“Honor everyone … Revere God.” ~ 1 Peter 2:17
P.S. There are, of course, quite a few verses in the Bible where “fear” actually meant fear as we know it today, for example Jesus’ “Fear not” verses (Luke 5:10, Luke 8:50, Luke 12:7, Luke 12:32, John 12:15 et al), as well as the brilliance of 1 John 4:18, which reminds us that, “Perfect LOVE casts out fear.”
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