Dr. Stuart & Andrea Pattico

Dr. Stuart Pattico

© 2011 Stuart Pattico. All rights reserved. All scriptures taken from the New King James Version.

One of the major problems in society today is a lack of the fear of God. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of the fear of God in the church too.

The Fear of the Lord in the New Testament

Some consider the fear of God to be an Old Testament concept, no longer relevant now that we understand God’s love and are under grace. However, this is simply not true. The apostle Paul, writing in the New Testament, said the following in 2 Corinthians 7:1:

2Co 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, taught us that we are to perfect holiness in the fear of God. Again, in Ephesians 5:21, Paul instructed believers to be “submitting to one another in the fear of God”. The apostle Peter also instructed believers to “fear God” in 1 Peter 2:17:

1Pe 2:17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

In fact, walking in the fear of God was something that characterized the church in the book of Acts:

Act 9:31 Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

In fact, the book of Revelation describes the fear of God as part of the “everlasting gospel”:

Rev 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—
Rev 14:7 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."

The fear of God is so important, that the phrase ‘fear of the Lord’ appears 27 times in the Bible (NKJV), ‘fear of God’ appears 8 times, ‘fear Him’ (with reference to God) appears 23 times, ‘fear the Lord’ appears 33 times, ‘fear God’ appears 17 times, 'feared God' appears 5 times, and 'feared the Lord' appears 10 times. So that’s at least 123 references to fearing God in the Bible, with 17 of those appearing in the New Testament.

Jesus and the fear of the Lord

Our Lord Jesus Himself also taught that we must fear God:

Mat 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell

This saying of Jesus reveals two important things. Firstly, we are not to fear man. Secondly, we are to fear God. Jesus reveals that the fear of God is rooted in knowing His ability to punish us, and in knowing the severity of that punishment – “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. We should walk with a healthy “fear”, knowing that we will one day appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Therefore, we ought to adopt the attitude that Paul commended to the Philippians:

Php 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

We are to be aware that God is at work in our lives, and should respond to what He is doing in our lives with holy reverence and even “trembling”. We dare not disobey what He tells us to do, or do what He has told us not to do.

What is the fear of the Lord?

Rather than try and give a precise definition, I will simply say that the fear of God is what you have when you receive a revelation of how awesome and powerful God is. On one occasion in Israel’s history, after they came out of Egypt. God came to them and visited them on Mount Sinai. Exodus 19:18 describes the scene as follows:

Exo 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

The mountain itself was shaking because of God’s presence. God gave Israel a glimpse of His power and glory. When on the mountain, God began to speak in audible voice to the Israelites, giving them what became known as the Ten Commandments. After God reached number ten, the Israelites were very afraid, and thought they were going to die. So they asked Moses to speak to God and to receive the rest of the Law from God, and that Moses would speak the rest of the Law to them instead of God (Exodus 20:18-19). Moses then said the following to them. What he said gives us great insight into what the fear of God is:

Exo 20:20 And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin."

Notice that Moses mentions two types of fear in this verse. He first says “Do not fear”, but then he speaks of “His (God’s) fear”. Let’s have a look at this:

The first thing that Moses said was “Do not fear”. In other words, do not be afraid – God has not come to destroy you. It is so important to realize that the fear of the Lord is not about being afraid that God is about to strike you dead. That is not the true fear of the Lord. Also, the true fear of God is not when you are so afraid of God that you dare not even approach Him. It is essential that we realize that the fear of God is not about that. That is the wrong kind of fear. Indeed, our Lord Jesus shed His blood so that we can “draw near” to God and have a relationship with Him (John 3:16; 17:3).

Moses then said something very interesting. He said, “…God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin”. We must not have the wrong kind of fear. But we must the correct kind of fear - “His (God’s) fear”. In other words, Moses was saying: “God hasn’t come to kill you. He doesn’t want you to be afraid that He is going to do that. But He has come so that you may see how awesome and powerful He is, so that you may always have a healthy fear of Him so that you won’t dare sin against Him”. The true fear of God is knowing how awesome and powerful God is, and consequently not daring to be so unwise as to sin against Him. No wonder Proverbs 9:10 says that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…”. You probably wouldn’t mess with someone armed with a machine gun, so why mess with God? We need to recapture a correct view of God. He is more powerful and awesome than we can imagine (compare Psalm 33:8 ).

In closing, let me share the following with you. Our universe has billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars. When we look at the sky at night, we only see a portion of the galaxy in which we live, called the Milky Way. Within our galaxy, the nearest star to the earth is the sun. If we were to fly to the sun by airplane, it would take about 21 years to get there. If we were to travel by airplane to the next nearest star in our galaxy, it would take about 51 billion years … and that is within our galaxy. When we consider that there are billions of other galaxies, each having billions of stars, we begin to understand how huge our universe is. But here is the amazing thing; our God is much bigger than the entire universe! That is what Solomon meant when He said:

1Ki 8:27 "…Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You…”

The first reference to “heaven” in this verse is not a reference to where God lives, but to the realm that we see in the night sky (i.e. outer space, the rest of the universe).

However, not only is God bigger than the entire universe, He measured it all with the span of His hand! In Isaiah 40:12, God is described as having “measured heaven [i.e. outer space] with the span [of His hand]”. Our God is an awesome God, and it is only right that we fear Him!

So, in summary, to fear God is walking in the awareness of how awesome and powerful God is, and not daring to sin against Him (Exodus 20:20). This includes awareness of His ability to punish us (Matthew 10:28 ).

In our next blog post, we will look at the characteristics of those who fear God.  Please click here to read it.


If you are reading this article, and would like to have a peaceful and loving relationship with this awesome God, know that He loves you and wants a relationship with you too. The problem is that all of us have sinned against Him and deserve to be separated from Him forever. But God loves us so much that He sent His Son (Jesus) to show us what He is like, and to die for us on the cross. Jesus received the punishment that we deserved. He then rose from dead and is now sitting at the right hand of God. The good news is that God forgives all our sins when we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, and God comes to live inside of us, and we can have an exciting relationship with God. If you would like to begin this exciting journey, just say the following prayer to God:

“Dear God. Sorry for all the sins (wrong things) I have done. Thank you that you love me, and sent Your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Thank that Jesus rose again from the dead. I receive Your forgiveness now. In Jesus name, I ask you to come and live in my heart, and help me to live for You from this day forward. Amen.”

If you have just said this prayer, please be sure to let us by pressing the contact button to the right or by clicking here. Join a good church, pray to God, and discover more about Him by reading His Word (the Bible).

Shalom (peace, wholeness, and well-being),

Dr Stuart Pattico