FEAR OF GOD

When a person surrenders to Christ, and thus begins a personal relationship with God, he usually realizes the greatness of the Lord and his own smallness. Then, it is easy for you to think that you must be afraid of God, because if a believer is a person who has been recognized as unworthy of the mercy of a holy and just God, is it not natural to fear that the Lord will find in us a sufficiently serious defect? as for Him to make us have a bad time? In fact, the image that some believers have of God, is that of an authoritarian father who governs his children with a rod of iron and who wants to instill fear in their hearts so that they obey him unconditionally. These believers look at some passages in the Old Testament where it is said that the Lord acted harshly against people who belonged to the people of Israel, His chosen people, but who did things that caused His wrath. They come to the conclusion that God can, at any time, act in the same way against His adopted children in His universal family, that is, the Church.

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There are concrete fears related to what we think God can do to us if we do not live up to what He expects from us. For example, some people are afraid that God will stop loving them, even though the Bible tells us that He is love and therefore he can not stop loving those he has saved. Then there are those who are afraid of God because of the possibility that He will cause them to suffer a serious illness or accident as punishment for some sin committed. Although it is true that certain misfortunes of these two types result from the act of sinning, it can not be stated outright that God sends them as a way to punish His rebellious children, much less can they be justified by the argument that God wants us to be afraid of the.

There is another fear that some believers have in their hearts, and it is a serious matter from the doctrinal point of view: the fear of losing salvation. These people believe that the Christian has salvation while doing the will of God in his daily life, but that God can take it away if he stops doing his will and returns to the currents of the world. According to his way of thinking, to occupy ourselves in our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians, chap. 2, vs. 12) means that we have to do, for the Lord, works worthy of our salvation, but with the fear that our nature human can at any time make us stray from the ways of God, so that He can take away the salvation He has given us. In addition to being a misinterpretation of the expression "with fear and trembling" (since its author, the apostle Paul, intended to make his readers understand the importance of taking their salvation seriously), this argument ignores the unquestionable fidelity of God in relation to His promises. Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul wrote the following words about God: "If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful; He can not deny Himself "(2 Timothy, chapter 2, vs 13). Here we find the reason why believers can be sure of our eternal salvation: the Lord does not change His mind about whether we should continue to be saved, since He is always faithful in all His promises. Far from wanting us to be afraid of Him, God has placed within our reach the possibility that we enjoy joyfully His presence in our daily life.

So, what do the biblical authors mean when they talk about the need for believers to fear God? The problem lies in the fact that the two words that are most used in the original manuscripts ("yare" in the Old Testament, and "phobeo" in the New Testament), translated as the verb "fear" in the Spanish language, In some places they have the meaning of "being afraid" and in others the "reverence". To give an example, we can see in Jesus' words exposed in Matthew, chap. 10, vs.28, that this verb appears twice, and what He is saying is the following: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but the soul can not kill; instead, revere Him who can destroy the soul and body in hell. " It is clear that our attitude toward God must be one of reverence, because of who he is: the King of kings, and the Lord of lords.

What shall we say, then, of those believers who are afraid of God? I think the answer to this question is quite simple: You know little. If we look at some verses that are found in chapter 4 of the first letter of the apostle John, we will realize the relationship that exists between the growth of our knowledge of the Lord and the elimination of any trace of fear that may be in our hearts. The key verse is the 18th, where it is taught that "in love there is no fear, but perfect love casts out fear." This perfect love can only be that which comes from God, so if we want to get rid of fear, we need to deepen our personal relationship with Him. On the other hand, John establishes a close link between the experience of knowing God, and the fact to allow his love to work in us, as can be understood in what he says in verses 7, 8 and 16: "Everyone who loves, is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love, has not known God; because God is love. "" And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. "The more we know God, the easier it is to love Him, and the more His love is perfected in us, casting out fear, and so on. we realize that he has saved us so that we obey Him and revere Him, but not so that we are afraid of Him.

There is one more thing that teaches us that our relationship with the Lord must be free from fear. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote the following: "You have not received the spirit of bondage to be in fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry: Abba, Father!" ( Chapter 8, vs. 15). If God had wanted fear to be a feature of our personal relationship with Him, He would not have granted us the privilege of calling Him "Abba" (literally meaning "Dad"). And as His beloved children, we have nothing to fear in regard to His purposes for us, because, in words that the Lord gave to the prophet Jeremiah: "I know the thoughts that I have about you: thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you the end that you hope for "(Jeremiah, chapter 29, vs.11).