A Healthy Fear of God

God tells us in the Bible that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 12:2) and that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). In fact, 1 John 4:18 says that those who fear are not made perfect in love. Further, Luke 1:67-75 says that Christ came so that we would be able to serve God without fear.

Nevertheless, there is a lot of confusion in the church over what a healthy fear of God looks like in light of the cross. Thus, what does a healthy fear of God look like? What does it look like when all threat of condemnation has been taken away? What does it look like when one of God’s directly stated purposes in Christ has been to do away with fear? What’s left?

The New Testament does discuss the fear of God and show numerous examples. Let’s look a a couple of them.

In Luke 8:25, Jesus commands the winds and the waves to stop so that their boat wouldn’t topple over. It says that they had fear and amazement because Jesus had told the winds and the waves to obey.

In Luke 1:12, John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, sees an angel. He is gripped with fear.

In Luke 8:37, it says that the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave because they were afraid of Him. He had delivered a man from an evil demon, the man came into a right mind, and Jesus drove a herd of pigs over a cliff without even saying a word to them much-less physically scattering them.

What kind of fear do we see in these three verses? Jesus controls nature. Zechariah sees an angel. I propose this is a fear based upon power, not based upon judgement.

Thus, I argue that the only healthy form of a fear of God in light of the cross is due to the power of God, not due to any threat of condemnation or even of any turning away of his face from us. It just doesn’t go with the gospel.

Something that helps me to relate to this type of fear is to go back into my childhood and think of times when I was afraid of things that wouldn’t hurt me. For example, I remember watching hot air balloons being filled up and getting ready to take off into the air. I was very young. The noise from the fire being used for the hot air and the enormous size were very powerful and I distinctly remember being afraid. Yet, at the same time, I remember being drawn to them as well.

I also think of the times I’ve watched the Space Shuttle lift off to go into outer space. In particular, if the volume and speakers on the TV have enough bass, I have had this distinct awareness that if I were in person that it would be a fearful event due to the immense power of the vehicle.

Another time, I remember being tested for my green belt in Karate. The founder of my system called American Kenpo, came to test me and another student. His name was Ed Parker and he had rubbed elbows with Bruce Lee and taught famous people such as Elvis Presley. I was 14 years old and Ed Parker felt enormously powerful to me. He felt so powerful and so commanding that I feared him.

These are three times (among others) that I can remember when I had a fear that was based upon the immensity of power of the object, event, or person. The hot air balloon wasn’t going to harm me. The space shuttle wasn’t going to harm me. Ed Parker wasn’t going to harm me. In fact, he was there to help me. Nevertheless, I feared him and the other situations as well. There was so much power.

Finally, a feeling that is associated with the fear of power is exhilaration. I feared Ed Parker due to the immense power surrounding his presence. However, due to his goodness, I also experienced a feeling of exhilaration. I was blown away by the fact that I was in his presence. It was (to this day) one of the most amazing experiences of my life. (This might sound a little over-the-top, but you have to look at it from the perspective of a 14 year-old).

In short, a healthy fear of God, biblically speaking has nothing to do with condemnation and everything to do with power and exhilaration.