My flesh trembleth for fear of thee;
And I am afraid of thy judgments (Psa 119.120).
“No fear” was a popular t-shirt slogan of the last decade, praising the courage of extreme sports competitors who risked severe and even fatal injury.1 We crave fearlessness because fear feels bad and it paralyzes us in the attempt of great things. Or at least, so it seems.
Is there any proper place for fear in the Christian life? When believers get to heaven, will we then finally be done with fear? The Bible’s doctrine of fear is finely nuanced, requiring much study, reflection, and divine illumination to grasp accurately, intellectually, and devotionally. Some verses speak positively about fear, and others condemn it. The ungodly have no fear of God (Rom 3.18), yet they are finally sentenced to the lake of fire for their cowardice (Rev 21.8). The blessed fear always (Prov 28.14), and at the same time they are bold as lions (Prov 28.1). Our text is an important part of the whole witness of God’s Word on this important topic.
THE RIGHTNESS OF GODLY FEAR
Even in everyday life, though fear can be uncomfortable, it may serve a very useful purpose—to warn us of impending danger that we may avoid it and the greater misery it brings. One with absolutely no fear of speeding vehicles would not be able to cross the road many times before being killed.
According to the Bible, we face far greater dangers than physical death. Our souls are real, too, and they must enjoy bliss or suffer torment forever. The fear of hell is eminently useful in helping us escape it. John Newton’s classic hymn, “Amazing Grace,” says aptly, “T’was grace that taught my heart to fear.”
The first thing we notice from this psalm text is that the godly writer, full of the Holy Spirit, still experienced fear in his life, and fear not so much of physical harm, but with regard to matters of the spiritual realm. Do not fail to appreciate the real fear behind his words of testimony: “My flesh trembleth for fear” and “I am afraid.”
Some have tried to minimize this reality by saying that it only means a healthy respect for God and his authority. Surely that much is included, but consider the graphic language here, brethren. The first line describes the physical, outward effect, and the second, the inward feeling which causes it. Have you ever been so afraid that you literally shuddered and shivered with fear, it was so intense? Clearly, the psalmist had in mind specifically that kind of palpable fear as he wrote these words. This was more than a “healthy respect;” it was more like a soul-gripping phobia. The Hebrew verb for trembleth is found only elsewhere in Job 4.14-15, in the phrase translated “hair . . . stood up”:
Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
Later in Psalm 119, David testified that horror had taken hold upon him (verse 53). This is the kind of fear that causes one to stop everything else and fast and pray and take stock of his life in the light of eternity. There is such a thing as godly fear, and it is completely right and reasonable. It is a choice portion from the Lord for his favorites, and it is a harbinger of salvation. Newton was right. Grace first teaches our hearts to fear.
THE OBJECT OF GODLY FEAR
This body-shaking fear of the psalmist was produced by the thought of God. David prayed, “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee,” that is, the Lord God just praised as the One who spurns all who go astray from his statutes (verse 118) and discards like dross all the wicked of the earth (verse 119).
“Should we really be afraid of God?” you might ask. “There is nothing and no one we should fear more than God!” I reply.
God alone is the uncreated Eternal and all else is the work of his hands. He sustains his entire creation by a constant exercise of his will to maintain its continued being, without which it would all collapse into nothingness. God alone is holy in and of himself, and we are by nature unholy. God is the supreme King and Lawgiver, and we are transgressors at heart and by choice, while we remain his helpless subjects to do with as he pleases. We cannot do or say anything at all to save ourselves. God has power to raise his scepter allowing us to come into his presence without being destroyed, or to banish us from his kingdom forever to suffer the eternal torments of body and soul that we deserve. “Should we be afraid of God?!” Only fools who do not know God can talk that way! As Calvin noted,
Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God. When we see those who previously stood firm and secure so quaking with terror, that the fear of death takes hold of them, nay, they are, in a manner, swallowed up and annihilated, the inference to be drawn is that men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God. Frequent examples of this consternation occur both in the Book of Judges and the Prophetical Writings (Judg 13.22; Isa 6.5; Ezek 1.28; 3.14; Job 9.4; Gen 18.27; 1 Kgs 19.18); so much so, that it was a common expression among the people of God, “We shall die, for we have seen the Lord.”2
I pray you really do have this proper fear of God, for it testifies that you are not suffering complete spiritual blindness.
THE OCCASION OF GODLY FEAR
David said to the Lord, “I am afraid of thy judgments.” One modern paraphrase gets it wrong: “I fear your punishments.”3 No, in this context, the original Hebrew word “mishpat” has the sense of written divine ordinances (cf. Exod 21.1), that is, Holy Scripture, the constant theme of Psalm 119.
Fear of God (theophobia) and fear of Scripture (bibliophobia) are linked in the experience of true believers, precisely because we know that the words of Scripture proceed from the One whom we fear. If we truly fear God, we will necessarily tremble when he speaks. This believing, emotional response to the biblical message is characteristic of the righteous. “They pay a reverential regard to every word of God.”4 The Lord says, “To this man will I look [upon favorably], even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isa 66.2). Charles Simeon commented,
[Men whom God favors] dare not say like the idolatrous Jews, “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee” (Jer 44.16). They rather resemble the man after God’s own heart, who said, “My heart standeth in awe of thy word” (Psa 119.161). If the word be preached, they “receive it as the word, not of man, but of God.” They hear the threatenings like the meek Josiah (2 Chron 34.19, 27). They attend to the promises with an eager desire to embrace them. To every precept they listen with an obedient ear, like Cornelius (Acts 10.33), and Paul (Acts 22.10), yes, the angels in heaven (Psa 103.20).
If the number of people who were counted as God-fearing were tallied by their actual regard for Holy Scripture, surely the number would be much smaller than is commonly supposed. How can anyone flatter himself to be a worshiper of the true and living God while chronically neglecting to read, hear, study, and ponder Scripture, along with expositions of this same holy book in the church? Let no one fancy himself a Christian while he continues to remain emotionally and practically unchanged in his contact with Scripture!
THE PERMANENCE OF GODLY FEAR
The particular aspect of godly fear we have stressed is that which necessarily arises in believers from God’s greatness and the absolute authority of His Word, and since these things never change, so, even in heaven, this fear will continue forever. It is an indispensable component of the worship which moral creatures render to the great God of all, and it prompts perfect saints and angels to comply perfectly with his commands.
One text which seems at first to suggest otherwise is 1 John 4.18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” Augustine distinguished two kinds of fear.
Mark! It is one thing to fear God lest he cast thee into hell with the devil, and another thing to fear God lest he forsake thee. The [first fear] is not yet chaste; for it comes not from the love of God, but from the fear of punishment: but when thou fearest God lest his presence forsake thee, thou embracest him, thou longest to enjoy God himself.5
Westcott agreed, writing,
The fear of which St. John speaks is, of course, not the reverence of the son (Heb 5.7 ff.), but the dread of the criminal or of the slave (Rom. 8:15).
Christ himself feared God and his Word, but he had no fear of ultimately losing God’s loving favor.
John is writing about the love within believers that grows toward perfect boldness in the day of judgment (4.17) because of God’s prior love for us (4.19). John Newton continued his celebration of amazing grace this way: “T’was grace that taught my heart to fear / And grace my fears relieved.”
Thus perfect love for God perfectly coexists with the fear of God in the highest sense. May he be pleased to grant us both in full measure. Amen.
Notes:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fear#cite_note-0
2. Institutes, Book I, Chapter 1, paragraph 3.
3. The Living Bible.
4. Charles Simeon on Isa 66.2.
5. From “Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John: Homily IX,” Section 5, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. VII.