Trinity Journal of Apologetics and Theology

An Editorial By Richard Gagnon

Many of you have already heard the expression “The fear of the Lord”. In fact, this expression is so used in the Bible that most of the time it is taken out of its proper context. Doing so, it may imply a wrong definition of what it really means. Let us look at some of them used in the Bible.

We will look at 3 instances. In them, the main purpose is to understand not only what it really means, but to see if it changes anything in us once we understand what it could mean.

Of all the expressions commonly used in the Bible, I think that the “fear of the Lord” is one of the most misunderstood. Let us see how and why together.

1. A respect that we owe to God alone (Heb. 11.7). The author of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Noah was inhabited by that kind of fear:

“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”

In this passage, the fact that Noah feared God is obvious. It is out of it that he obeyed God in the construction of the ark which would become the instrument of protection to him, his near family (a total of 8 persons – see 2 Peter 2.5) and the rest of the animals that God commanded him to call and to make enter inside of it. But the text is very clear on one thing: “By this, he condemned the world…” To whom the “he” referred in this first part of the verse? It is clear that it is to Noah since the rest of the sentence says that “he” became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. God could not be the “he” since the Lord cannot became the heir of anything. He is the Giver, but not the receiver of the inheritance. We have a first definition of what the fear of the Lord may mean. It refers, sometimes, to the fact that a man has to be reverent or respectful toward God.

2. The beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9.10). Here, the author of the proverb teaches us what the fear of the Lord brings with it:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

The moment a person begins to fear the Lord he begins to be wise, he begins to be able to show deep insight. It is obvious that the wisdom which is referred to in this passage is not the wisdom that we see in the world. It is even not the wisdom that someone could get after asking counsel to anybody who does not know God. Even though the advice might be good in and of itself, it does not entail the fact that it is “according to God”. So, wisdom is not always Widsom. The one described in the Proverb is the wisdom of the Lord; a wisdom that is holy as the Lord is Holy. We have then a second definition of what the fear of the Lord is. It produces holy wisdom in the heart of the one who obeys God and takes heed of what He is: Holy.

3. A holy restraint (Isa. 11.3). Here, the prophet Isaiah is talking about the fact that restraining ourselves in some situations is a mark of the fear of the Lord:

“And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,”

Many times men are tempted to judge “on the spot”, when they see or hear something. Often, they do not even know the context of the situation on which they are pronouncing themselves, but they think they have enough insight to analyse the situation up to the point of making a judgment quite quickly. For example, what about a divorced man who is again in the ministry of the Word after this sad episode? Many would say: “He can no longer be in the pastoral ministry because of his divorce.” If you read well the judgment, it is because of the divorce. Now, let me ask you a question. Suppose you have three potential candidates to be called in the ministry for your church. The first one, a very gifted man in the Word became an alcoholic because of a lot of troubles in his life for which he was not able to find a real solution. He ruined his life and ministry. After a successful desintoxication process he wants to be back in the ministry since he is sober for the past 10 years. What would you say about him? Would he be qualified to be back to serve the Lord in that task again? The second is a man who was caught by the police because he stole money of the church where he was the pastor. We saw him on the local newspaper. After repentance before the whole church, with much sincerity, he remains faithful to the Lord serving Him in many other ways and one day is called to be in the ministry again in another church. What would you say about him? Would he be qualified to be back to serve the Lord in that task again? The third one is a man who left his wife because he desired another woman. He repented of his sin and took again the right path in the ways of God. He is now out of the ministry for many years, after having been living alone for 5 years. One day, he met another woman, a devoted Christian, who is very dedicated to the Lord. After about 10 years outside the pulpit, this man is called by a church to become their minister. He takes time to explain to them that he is a divorcee. He shows a very humble heart to everyone admitting his past wrongdoings with sincerity. The church calls him anyway, because they believed that God showed them this man and after a long time of struggle in his heart, asking God to see if it was possible again to enter the ministry in another city far from his first one, he cried out to God: “Lord, I fear you, but in the bottom of my heart you alone can see how desperate I was in my divorce situation and how I fear you to enter in this call. I am not sure if this call is from you. I know you forgave me and I know that you still love me, because of Christ. But, because of men and their tendencies of being quick in their judgments, especially about the sin of divorce, I am not sure if I should go to this church. Please, show me your will God. I want to obey you and in the bottom of my heart you know that I would love so much to serve you in the ministry again, because I know that you equipped me with many gifts and I would be happy again to fill the greatest task that a man can be called to. I know that you forgave David and that you kept him as King and the shepherd of Israel in spite of all he did. I do not know what you want of me, but I trust you that you will show me down the road.” What would you say about him? Would he be qualified to be back to serve the Lord in that task?

Now the question is this. If one of these men (or all of them) had a very deep sincere heart toward God, as King David had (in spite of his double sin – adultery with Bathsheba and commanding the murder of her husband Uriah ), what would you say about these candidates? Would you disqualify them all forever just because gross sins crossed their paths? Let me tell you something dear friends. If a man like David were available today to pastor your church with the same sins to his credit, but with the same heart, I am not sure that you would make the right choice to reject him altogether just on the basis of one particular sin in his life. Listen to this carefully: A man should be judged or evaluated on the basis of a longer period of his life to see his real character. What he does with his sins and how he reacts is very important to God and should be to you too. But if you judge him on the basis of one sin (even a terrible one), you have not the fear of the Lord as Isa. 11.3 teaches us. Granted, the man described in this text is one who does not approve sin , but who is nevertheless able to look at all the elements of a situation before to pronounce a quick judgment. Furthermore, the man of this same passage fears God enough to see in the heart rather than to look only at what is seeable through human eyes. In fact, this text is a prophecy of our Lord Jesus. This restraint is a mark of the fear of the Lord.