Deuteronomy 6.13, 10.20, 13.4.
| 6.13 את יהוה אלהיך | To Yahweh your God, |
|---|---|
| תירא | fear— |
| ואתו תעבד | and work for Him, |
| ובשמו תשבע׃ | and vow by His name. |
| 10.20 את יהוה אלהיך | To Yahweh your God, |
| תירא | fear— |
| אתו תעבד | work for Him, |
| ובו תדבק | and cling to Him, |
| ובשמו תשבע׃ | and vow by His name. |
| 13.4 אחרי יהוה אלהיכם תלכו | Walk behind Yahweh yourα God, |
| ואתו תיראו | and fear Him— |
| ואת מצותיו תשמרו | and guard His commands |
| ובקלו תשמעו | and obey His voice |
| ואתו תעבדו | and serve Him |
| ובו תדבקון׃ | and cling to Him. |
I found this quote in one of my quote books: “Fear God, but don’t be afraid of Him.” I don’t remember who said it. It’s a more profound statement than I think the author realized.
Just as with Paul’s definition of love (1Co 13.4-7) indicates that love is to be understood as an action rather than an emotion, so fear is likewise to be understood as an action rather than an emotion. There is a valid emotion of fear; but it doesn’t come from God. (cf 2Ti 1.7) God encourages and strengthens us to overcome fear. He has overcome everything there is for us to be afraid of—leaving only Him; but we’re His children, so we need not be afraid of him.
However, this is not that. Most of the explanations of “the fear of God” usually describe it in terms of awe or reverence for God—again, emotions generated by God’s awesomeness. And I really don’t think God is commanding us to feel an emotion. Artificial awe is not the same as real awe. Even worse, artificial awe is hypocrisy, and nothing pisses Jesus off more than hypocrisy; so we can hardly expect that God is commanding us to be hypocrites.
There are a lot of problems with understanding God in this way. Fear is not what draws us to God; it’s His kindness that led us to repent. (Ro 2.4) True, there are many people who follow God because they fear eternal torment; but read this sentence again: They fear eternal torment, not God. They look upon God as the Almighty Smiter, not as Father; and of course that’s going to get in the way of having love for Him and for one another. They don’t follow God’s commands out of love; they follow them because they feel the threat of a punishment... that we’re not gonna get when we’re truly saved. In other words, they follow Him based on a false belief. That’s not Christianity; that’s the belief-system of a cult. Cults encourage conformity through scare tactics. God doesn’t.
So how can we describe the verbal sense of fearing God? Probably the best way I’ve heard it described is, “Be afraid of displeasing God.” In our thinking and actions, we should never do anything that He would not want us to do. Not because He’ll smite us; but because we love Him and want to at least attempt to be worthy of that love.
I think that idea is well-demonstrated in these verses. Notice how the idea of fear is connected to the actions of working for God, clinging to God, guarding His commands, obeying His voice, and swearing by His name. If we can recognize these verses as poetic—and therefore parallel (or synonymous) ideas—then “fear” is a synonym for acknowledging, through our actions, that God is greater than anyone or anything, and we can only put our faith in Him. We work for God—and no one else. We cling to God—and no one else. We guard His commands—we don’t follow contradictory commands that others have created. We obey His voice—which means we should be listening for His voice, but that’s another rant. We swear by His name—because there’s really no one else to swear by, since no one else can hold us absolutely accountable for anything we swear to.
If you’ve always felt it was difficult to get close to God because you felt it was necessary to fear Him, you seriously need to adjust your way of thinking. Love God. Try to live up to His expectations. Recognize that He’s forgiven you already for your failures. Just do what He wants. That’s what holy fear means. That’s all.
α. In the previous verses Moses is speaking as if to one person. In this verse he’s speaking to the whole group.
