The Fear of God
On the other band, the fear of God also denotes the love and humble gratitude of the person who, conscious of his own sinfulness and exposure to divine wrath, has experienced the grace and mercy of God in the forgiveness of his sins. This centripetal aspect of the fear of God is beautifully expressed in Psalm 130:3–4: “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”
Here we see that it is not the fear of divine wrath, but rather the gratefulness for divine forgiveness that elicits from the psalmist the response which he calls, the fear of God. These two aspects of the fear of God—the centrifugal which hold sinful human beings at a reverent distance from a holy God and the centripetal which draws forgiven sinners toward Him—are like two sides of a coin. You can’t have one without the other. Both are necessary for a proper expression of the fear of God in the believer’s life.
Some people believe that the fear of God is mostly an Old Testament concept—a response to a God of wrath and judgment as portrayed in God’s earlier revelation of Himself. They think that since God has now revealed Himself as the God of mercy and grace through Christ, we should no longer fear Him. These people seem to think the fear of God means only fear in the sense of terror or dread that we usually associate with the word fear.
The Bible, however, does not allow us to think in such a one-sided way—either to focus only on the judgment of God or the grace of God. Both the Old and New Testaments reveal God to be both a God of judgment and a God of grace. We have already seen how God’s forgiveness drew the psalmist to fear Him (Ps. 130:3–4). We see this again in Psalm 147:11 where we read, “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.” Note that those who fear Him are those who hope in His mercy. Once again, we see that it is His mercy, not His wrath or judgment, that caused the psalmist to fear God.
Turning to the New Testament, we read in 1 Peter 1:17, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear.…” Here it seems obvious that the fear Peter refers to is the fear of the Lord which results from an awareness of God’s impartial judgment—clearly the centrifugal aspect of the fear of God.
Most believers today need to grow in an awareness of the majesty, sovereignty and holiness of God. We need to see God, high and exalted, seated upon His throne, as Isaiah saw Him (Isa. 6:1). We need to remember that God is still a God of wrath toward unbelievers because of their sin (see Col. 3:6). And though we as believers will never experience God’s wrath, we should realize that we may well experience His discipline as some of the Corinthian Christians did because of their sin (1 Cor. 11:30).
The God of mercy and grace is also the God of discipline toward His children. He will not tolerate sin; therefore, even as believers we need to cultivate the centrifugal aspect of the fear of God. We need to grow in our awareness of His infinite holiness, and we need to understand that the holiness of God in its ethical dimension refers not only to His spotless purity but also to His inflexible determination to judge sin wherever He finds it.
At the same time, we need to grow in our understanding of the grace of God. Believers, by definition, believe that we are saved by the grace of God, but we need to understand more and more that we live by His grace every day of our lives. Grace presupposes sin and guilt, and the fact is every day we sin and do those things that of themselves deserve the wrath of God. It is for this reason that we daily need the grace of God.
We need to lay aside our Christian self-righteousness and see ourselves as sinners continually in need of grace. At the same time, we need to realize that God’s grace does indeed come to us every day. God always relates to us on the basis of His grace, not our performance. Every blessing we receive from Him is a gift of His grace. By His grace we receive forgiveness from all our sins, and by His grace we are accepted by Him as His sons and daughters. Even the parental discipline He administers comes from His heart of love (Heb. 12:6).
This, then, is the healthy tension which should always exist in our hearts as we consider both the awesome power and the boundless grace of God. The centrifugal force of awe and reverence with which we should behold a holy God and the centripetal force of His love, mercy, and grace which draws us to Him should combine together in a humble worship and adoration of the infinitely holy God who loves us and gave His Son to die for us.
Bridges, J. (1996). Fear and Love Together? (R. C. Sproul Jr., Ed.)Tabletalk Magazine, October 1996: Fearing God, 14–53.
