“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.” 1 John 4:18 King James Verson (KJV)

What does it mean to fear in the Bible? In one sense, fear is quite obvious. For most of scripture, we don’t need a word study on the word fear because of our own experience with being afraid, even from our birth (i.e., the startle reflex). To be afraid is to be human. We get it.

But what does it mean to “fear” God?

Before the second recitation of the Ten Commandments, God warned the newly forming nation of Israel against the cultural belief systems that surrounded them and charged the Israelites to fear Him only:

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, ‘Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And yet came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; . . . .” (Deut. 4:9-13).

This picture of God speaking to Israel from a burning mountain of fire amidst thick darkness to many seems staged for effect. To many, this makes God seem angry, judgmental, punitive, and unapproachable.

A power like that holds the key to whether I live or die; it is greater than human power. This God is greater than you and me. To see this, we can go back even further to man’s first encounter with God after Adam and Eve had sinned (Genesis 3).

God already has cast man outside of His holy presence once! We now live in a world of fear. This is not because that is what God wanted for us, though. Far from it! We are here because God so loved us that He didn’t want us to die! We are here on this earth as a trial ground to try our true allegiances. Because God didn’t want us to die eternally in our sin (disobedience to Him, our Creator), God promised a Deliverer (Gen. 3:15) would come and set all those who choose him over the enticements of this world (our “forbidden fruits”) free into eternal life with Him!

But we have this admonition: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge . . . ” (Proverbs 1:7)?

How do we worship that which we “fear”? What should be our concept of God?

How does fear control you and me? How can I be free of fear and yet fear God?

If these questions interest you, read on, for there is good news ahead!

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What is Phobos?

Starting with our passage in 1 John, the Greek word translated “fear” is phobos, from the primary root phebomai. We get our word phobia from this word, which literally means “to be put to flight.” From ancient times, it meant “withdrawal,” or fleeing “because feeling inadequate (without sufficient resources, Abbot-Smith).”¹

We have many phobias in life, starting from our first breath.

A baby’s startle reflex is a natural and healthy physical reaction to possible harm, whether by sudden loud sound or sudden movement or a feeling of pain. As we grow, our mind and heart begins to interpret these sources of danger and trauma, cutting deep grooves in our consciousness.

We begin to fear not only danger from others and self-doubt about our abilities to self-protect, but we fear accountability, hiding when we know we’ve done wrong, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden:

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).

Digging a Little Deeper

Think about the things that frighten most of us:

• poisonous snakes, gunshot, drowning, public speaking, terrorism, financial bankruptcy, homelessness, physical attack, isolation, starvation, old age, sudden noise or movement, certain aromas, injustice, disability, fire, icy roads, physical pain, spiders, nightmares, and
• ultimately, death, the underwriter of all our fears.

Now, consider things in life from which you subconsciously withdraw, procrastinate, avoid, run from, reject. We feel inadequate in dealing with

• potential personal attack, emotional pain or memories, the displeasure of a friend, public speaking, confrontation, deadlines, commitment, responsibility, worry over the welfare of a loved one, the “invisible” expectations of others, awkwardness in a social situation, feelings of inadequacy, unanswered prayer, guilt, shame, chronic physical or emotional or intellectual anxiety.

These are just some of our hidden anxieties that we are least likely to identify as “fear.”

To be “afraid” sounds weak and deficient. We are “stressed out,” “introverted,” “cautious,” We have a disorder. We will claim anything that does not characterize us as cowards:

“I’m not afraid! I just do not care for [fill in the blank]!”

Would you avoid those situations or people if you knew with confidence that you would be accepted with open arms and welcomed with a glad and happy welcome? Probably not.

To be afraid of God in that sense means to “withdraw” from His presence. We doubt His welcome so we distance ourselves from Him and anything that is related to Him.

Consider how we often neglect or run from the idea of praying to God, or of reading the Bible, or of attending a Church service, or even of thinking of God or talking of Him with friends and family. To even consider His presence means to acknowledge that He holds the keys to life and death.

We try to not think of Him, to say He doesn’t exist, or to say that He shares equal power with other belief systems. We resist God because to draw near to God is like being asked to go to the Principal’s office” to face Authority’s displeasure. I know that feeling!

General fear, and fear of God especially, is universal and controlling. Our natural human response is to withdraw.

To understand how God both resolves and advocates fear, though, we have to return to that Garden in Genesis.

The Origins of our Fear

Let’s begin with the Bible’s premise that God is the Creator of our universe, our world, and of all humanity (Genesis 1). I may lose some here, but if one wants to know what the Bible (or Christianity) offers, we must begin with its internally consistent narrative of explanation. Set aside any preconceptions for a moment. What does the Bible actually say?

Read Genesis 1-3. Created man sinned against Creator God and failed our first test of loyalty. This is the first introduction into the world of FEAR. Earning God’s displeasure, mankind experienced fear as the natural consequence of disobedience.

Immediately, our world changed. First, we felt naked and exposed and made fig leaves to cover the obvious product of sin . . . not our bodies, but the newfound feeling of shame over our exposure. Whereas man had walked and talked with God in the cool of the day, now we hid from Him. Hiding is a form of withdrawing or “fleeing.”

God did not create us with shameful or bad bodies; neither did God think of us as anything but His cherished creation. God is never surprised with our sin; but sin separates us in our own minds and hearts from God. This is why we feel shame or fear, and why we withdraw from God by nature.

God did not withdraw from us. Nowhere in this story of original sin do we see God withdrawing from us. He is never inadequate! It is we who withdrew from Him in shame. We own a keen sense of inadequacy before His holiness and perfection. Think about that for a minute: God is not withdrawing from you or I! Keep reading!

Respect is a proper response to our fear of God

Because of our sin, we understand from His prior warning that we deserve the death as the “wages” of our disboedience (Genesis 1:15,16; Romans 6:23).

When we come into the presence of one who can kill us or restore us, we come recognizing our inferior status; we bow in a posture of humility. We speak His name in holy tones. We pull back from our self-aggrandizement and pride.

This is a proper sense of reverent fear. We respect God in the same way we come to respect our parents or grandparents who love us enough to correct us and train us, protecting us from dangers we cannot see for ourselves. We recognize God as our Lord and Master.

But if God stands apart from us in holiness, and we are subject to Him, that still seems a cold answer to the problem of fear. Thankfully, God does not stand far off!

God moves toward us in our fear

God’s love orchestrated our salvation from fear.

• First, God approached Adam in the Garden and, though He cast Adam out of Eden, God did not cast Adam into eternal death, but preserved him and all mankind. God loved Adam and Even so much that He sought them out of their hiding places and confronted them. We shy from confrontation because we’re never quite sure of ourselves (which is most usually a right stance); but God is always secure in Himself. He moves toward us, sure in His own righteousness. God could have turned His back and cast us away as broken pottery, but He didn’t. He confronted.

• Second, God provided better clothing — of sturdy hides rather than flimsy leaves — to resolve our feelings of shame. In doing so, the first animal sacrifice, the first death, was enacted by God to temporarily cover our nature of sin, because God cannot look upon sin, and His desire was for us, not against us (Gen. 3:20-21). God stayed near and acted in love to cover our sin.

• Third, before mankind could eat also of the forbidden Tree of Life, an act which would have caused our eternal, spiritual death, God cast mankind out of the Garden where Perfection reigned (Gen. 3:22-24). What would paradise be, if sin and death exist in it? God is righteous and, thankfully, is not a God who changes. Our punishment was just and though our first parents grieved as they left God’s holy place and entered the world of their own choosing, they left with a Promise to hold on to of a future Reconciliation.

• Fourth, God’s promise provided a way for man’s eternal spirit to be preserved from this second death as well.

Though our bodies became subject to the first (bodily) death, God promised that He Himself would send a Deliverer from the seed of man and of God to make a way of reconciliation and return to fellowship with Himself (Genesis 3:15).

The Deliverer, or Messiah, would be the Perfect Sacrifice Lamb, innocent and holy, covering our whole nature of sin, not just our physical bodies and not just our individual particular sins. God Himself would pay the death price in the Person of the Messiah, so that we would not die for all eternity, but would have eternal life . . . not the old trial-ground of Edenic life, but a new life—a sinless, painless, deathless haven with Him in all His beauty and joys that will never end!

As only mortal man was guilty, that sacrifice had to be mortal. As only God can absolve the guilt of sin, that sacrifice had to be Divine.

Life Outside The Garden: Is God Still Near?

After man began new life outside the Garden, the effects of our sin began to be felt. Thorns and thistles poisoned the ground, work and productivity became labor. Ultimately, man’s sin drew him farther away from God. Man committed the first injustice against man with Adam’s son Cain murdering his brother Abel about of anger (Gen. 4).

Anger is inner fear turned outward toward others.

There is a corrolation there: our distance from God creates an increasingly angry distance between our fellowman as well. That distance allows a simmering inner anger to seethe against our selves, against own failure to recreate ourselves as anything better than we are. Anger, obviously, increases fear in others.

The rest of the Bible is testament to the fallout of our sinful natures against ourselves, against others and our created world, and against God. It reached such a peak that God judged the world with a global Flood after which weather became extreme and animals became dangerous (Genesis 6-8). We don’t look too far in this world to see that we’re not changed. We’re still sinful human beings and the anger is still seething.

God, however, has not left us in our fear and anger, depression and sickness, suffering, and death.

Remember, Adam and Even left Eden with a Promise: God would send a Savior, the only One who could save us from this second death. Physical death is our just punishment from sin. Humans and animals and plants die. But there is a second spiritual death, that of our eternal souls, that God has preserved depending on our choice to reconcile with Him or to continue in our rejection of Him.

The question about our sin is not whether God will reconcile with us or not. God has already programmed reconciliation into our fallen world! We know His heart toward us is good and merciful and always near. The question is rather whether we will reconcile with God.

The Good News !!

The Promised Messiah came in Jesus the Christ (Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Hebrew)! ²

• Fifth, God Keeps his promises! Our Deliverer, our Savior, the Anointed One, Jesus the Christ (Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Hebrew) came to earth just like He promised!The Promised Messiah came in Jesus the Christ (Yeshua Ha Mashiach in Hebrew)! ²

God, remaining Himself in heaven, and yet imparting Himself in mortal frame as fully man in Jesus, suffered all that we suffer, experiencing both fear and shame — though He had no sin of His own.

Jesus faced our giants, receiving on Himself the world’s scorn and abuse (John 1), dying a willing and excruciatingly humiliating death for our sake and was buried — sealed, unanointed—in a dank cave (John 18-19).

Our Creator initiated a Salvation plan that cost Himself in order that we may approach Him reverently, but without the fear of punishment and shame.

God’s coming into our world to be with us and suffer our pains and pay for our sins is very intimate, folks. God is not far off, but very, very near to you and I. Even now as you read these words, He is nearer to you than your very breath.

It is Done!

The good news, is that our Messiah conquered that death that binds us all! Up from the grave He arose and lives as our Intercessor (John 20-21; Romans 8:34; Hoytema)!

What would be the sense of it all if our Messiah remained in the tomb? God the Son is united in perfect unity with God the Father in joy and peace! He lives!

How does this help us understand how to fear God?

By His Resurrection, Jesus has conquered the power of the second death. By shedding His own blood instead of ours, He has paid the price for us to be reconciled to God, so we need not fear God’s wrath against us for our sin. We stand forgiven as humankind for the wages of sin has been paid by His Son, His very own heart.

Further, God through Jesus’ work of complete Redemption is ALIVE and actively at the Father’s throne in the heavens, interceding for us so that we, too, may choose Him and follow Him into eternal Life (Romans 8:34). He is literally preparing our forever home with Him in His heaven (John 14:1-2 NIV).

We don’t have to be afraid of God anymore! Though we are insufficient to save ourselves, Jesus has filled up our insufficiency in His perfect sacrifice.

We Are Welcomed with Open Arms!

There is yet one more comfort:

• Jesus is coming back in a terrible sweep of justice, gathering His own children who seek and follow Him to preserve them from the coming final purge of all evil from this earth in a renovation of fire (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 16-17; Hebrews 9:28; Rev. 20:11-15). There will be a new heaven and a new earth and all hurtful things will have passed away (Rev. 21).

God, however, respects our right to choose. We must choose this Life that He offers.

There is a distinct warning coming from the

• Old Testament (Isaiah 49:8),
• the New Testament (2 Cor. 6:2 Amplified Bible); and
• in our modern day through Billy Graham:

If we do not accept Jesus as our salvation,

— if we say we do not believe,

— if we do not read His Word and we refuse to pray to Him confessing and turning from our sin,

— if we do not follow Him only, as He has modeled God’s perfect ways for us to live,

then we reject God’s sacrificial gift of life. By default, we choose to remain under our sentence of both physical and spiritual death. There is no way back into reconciliation and restored relationship with God (or with man) but through God’s Son. That, my friends, is a life of FEAR.

But —

if we reverence our Creator, accept His Word and His Son as our Perfect Sacrifice Lamb, and follow Him in willing obedience, then we are not only absolved from our sin, we are welcomed with open arms every time we come to Him, through Jesus our Messiah, in prayer.

Every time we confess our sins, no matter how many times we have to do it, and turn toward Christ in obedience, we know we are forgiven and accepted into His grace. He has done His part. Now, He call us to accept His perfect love which has made an outcaste of fear (1 John 4:18)!

Every Day Application of God’s Remedy for Fear

Think for a moment. Great or small, secretly or openly, where are we withdrawing? It is okay to use the word: This is fear.

We can bring our fears to Jesus by faith in prayer. God has risked everything to draw you near in love. He has offered forgiveness for all sin. Further, He has given us Himself in the Holy Spirit to help and guide us through this life with eternal love, securing life with Him forever (John 14:16; Acts 2).

Because Jesus lives, we who accept Him as Lord and Savior will live. We need no longer fear our insufficiency or death, for He is our sufficiency (2 Cor. 3:4-6) and He is our Life (Gal. 2:20)!

Certainly, there is more to learn about applying God’s love to our fears, but this is the root, the beginning of God’s turning our fear into perfect love.

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Prayer:

Father God, Creator of the Universe and Sustainer of all LIfe, Thank you that You have given me through Your Son Jesus Christ, the right to come to You in prayer. I confess that I am afraid. Lord, you know my ongoing or daily fears, big or small, better than I know them. Teach me to name them honestly right now. I need your help. I lay down my sense of insufficiency; I cannot remedy it, nor can I give up on life as long as you are offering something better. In Your great love and deepest mercy, You have offered HOPE for my failures in Jesus Christ. I take hold again of that hope, my God. I confess my nature of sin and I accept Your forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Give me now the blessing that You have promised in the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit to do what I feel so inadequate to do. Give me the strength I need to follow You courageously and not with timidity and avoidance. I choose to trust You by faith — not against reason, but in light of it and beyond it. I will give you all the glory and the honor and the praise forever, for You have become my God. In Jesus’ Name, so let it be.

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WORSHIP – “Psalm 17 (The Lord is My Light)” – KeithandKrysten Getty⁴

RESOURCES FOR YOU

Scriptures for Living a No Fear Life

• “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 New International Version)

• “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 New King James Version)

• “7Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and onlyc Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 10And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrificed for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. 19We lovee because He first loved us. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.” – (1 John 4:7-21 Berean Standard Bible).

Recommended Reading:

Welch, Edward T. When I am Afraid: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Fear and Anxiety. New Growth Press, 2010.

Giglio, Louie. Don’t Give the Enemy A Seat At Your Table: It’s Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind . . . . Passion Publishing, 2021

FOOTNOTES

1. #5401. HELPS Word-studies, Strong’s Concordance, BibleHub.com. ↩︎
2. The Greek word Christos means “anointed one” as does the Romanized word Messiah (in Hebrew, Mashiach). Its usage denotes “the” Anointed One promised from Genesis 3:15, ordained by God for the salvation of His created world. ↩︎
3. The Greek word Christos means “anointed one” as does the Romanized word Messiah (in Hebrew, Mashiach). Its usage denotes “the” Anointed One promised from Genesis 3:15, ordained by God for the salvation of His created world. ↩︎
4. ↩︎

Work Cited

Hoytema, Peter. “Jesus Our Intercessor.” Today, 18 Sept. 2025, https://todaydevotional.com/devotions/jesus-our-intercessor.

KeithandKrysten Getty. “Psalm 27 (The Lord is My Light) – Jordan Kauflin and Lauren Story (Lyric Video),” YouTube, 31 Jan 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLfnDrK4eJs.

© 16 September 2024 by ReadPsalm119.com.