We’re commanded in the scriptures to fear God. Why? What does this formulation mean, anyway?
I recall asking that question as a seminary student. The idea of fearing God seemed a little strange — aren’t we supposed to love God, and doesn’t love cast out fear? The statement in 1st John seems to strongly indicate that fear is a bad thing:
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.
The answer I received, as a seminary student, was along these lines: “When it says ‘fear God’ it just means ‘be reverent.'” That was enough of an answer for me then — at least, it shut me up — but recently I’ve been thinking about the issue and I’m not totally satisfied with that general response.
I should note that that seems to be the accepted answer. For example, we see “fear of God” verses listed under the Topical Guide entry for “Reverence.” (And if it’s in the TG, it must be official!). Similarly, the Guide to the Scriptures states “Fear can have two meanings: (1) to fear God is to feel reverence and awe for him and to obey his commandments; (2) to fear man, mortal dangers, pain, and evil is to be afraid of such things and to dread them.”
But this leaves a lot of questions. Let’s see:
1. If “fear” means “be reverent” then why not just say “be reverent”? Why not call a spade a spade? (“In the Bible, when it says ‘a penguin,’ that means ‘a spade.'”)
Is this an example of the Bible authors using a regular word in an odd way? (such as “know” for “have sex”). And if so, why? They had at their fingertips a panoply of terms to convey the idea of reverence — why did they use such a loaded term?
(Or did they? Is this a translation issue? Are the words really the same in 1st John versus elsewhere? Perhaps our resident translation experts can elaborate, if there’s anything relevant there.)
2. At least some verses contain admonitions both to be reverent, and to fear God (1, 2). If fearing God is just another way to say “be reverent,” why are these verses repeating themselves?
3. In many instances of scriptural usage, “fear” comes across as sounding more like, well, fear. For example, we read in Mosiah that the people “had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.” That doesn’t really sound like reverence to me.
Even more striking are the instances of “fear and trembling” in the scriptures — often used to discuss the fear of God. For example, we read:
“Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”
“My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.”
“Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence?”
“I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.”
“Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people.”
These verses reflect a consistent theme, and seems awfully like one of fear, in the conventional sense.
4. Have modern leaders de-emphasized the idea of a fear of God? I don’t recall hearing the phrase very often in conference. A quick search of some church articles suggested that it’s not a phrase that has gotten a lot of use in the last several years. Meanwhile, President Hinckley has consistently spoken about overcoming fear.
How should we understand this topic, as church members? Should we simply read “fear God” as “be reverent”? Should we fear God like we would fear a plague? Are we required to be Dei-o-phobic? (Is that even a word?) Will we outgrow (or have we already outgrown) the need to fear God? I wonder, sometimes, how to apply this precept in my own life.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. –Genesis 28:16-17
I tend to think “respect God” where the scriptures say to “fear God,” though I know that word alone is inadequate. Joseph Smith was told “you should not have feared man more than God.” (D&C 3:7) One possible meaning for us: let’s focus on what God thinks of us (and seek to please Him), not what our neighbor thinks of us. Hmmm… maybe that would cut down on some of our more lively disputes here… would we really want to do that? :)
Mormon (in Moroni 8:16) says ” *perfect* love castesth out all fear.” Until my love is perfect (which I don’t expect it will be in this life), I’m certain that I would still feel some degree of fear in God’s presence, until I feel His love more completely.
Confession: I don’t know the answer to your question (that’s probably obvious to most readers!), and don’t expect to for a long time. However, I’m full of hope that I eventually will if I seek the Lord’s will and strive to do it.
Re: translation issues, usually the verb “fear” in the context of fearing God is the HEB *yare’* (noun *yir’ah*) in the OT, and the GR *phobeO* (noun *phobos*) in the NT. As you can see, *phobos* does indeed mean fear (cf. Engl. derivatives such as “phobic”).
This is a great set of questions. As you have pointed out, these words have a broader range of meaning than is suggested to most people by the common translation “fear,” and they can have a positive connotation (to reverence, venerate, treat with deference, honor, respect). (BTW, the suggestion is not “to be reverent” but “to reverence God”.)
Sometimes “fear” can be a double entendre (the wicked should fear God one way, the righteous another).
I think you are right that we shouldn’t leap to cheap and easy rationalizations of these passages, however. Sometimes they may well mean “fear” in the conventional sense. We need to pay very close attention to context in each individual instance to try to grasp what was intended.
He’s not a tame lion, you know.
“If there’s one thing I can’t stand, its people groveling.”
“And don’t apologize. Every time I try to talk to someone its ‘Sorry this’ and ‘forgive me that’ and ‘I’m not worthy.'”
::grinning at TOTAL-N and Danithew::
I think the meaning of the word fear changes depending on the quality of one’s relationship with the Godhead. Deathbed confession is motivated by one kind of fear, lifelong service and worship by another.
Neat little object lesson here just now. My family left abruptly to get to the library before they close, and they did not clear the table. The cats saw their opportunity to check out the chicken bones on the plates. They adore me for some reason, try constantly to tempt me into snuggling and napping…but they knew they were doing something Not Allowed, and the moment I turned to see what that little noise behind me was, they were fleeing in panic. It’s fear of me. It’s not like I’ve ever beaten them or done anything worse than loudly thump on the table and say “GET DOWN!” They fear my displeasure in and of itself. They don’t know that chicken bones are dangerous to them–on the contrary, they think they are divine and wonderful. But they won’t risk my raising my voice their way.
Call this a copout, but given the proclivity to idolotry in the old testament, I like to think that the prophets during this time relied on terminology reflected in kholberg’s first stage of moral reasoning, namely fear. Don’t steal or you’re going to h*ll! Whereas, when Melchizedek and Abraham were having their priesthood meetings, I like to think that a higher standard was alluded to.
I think a fundamental aspect of the gospel is that God has lovingly and clearly told us that we must fear coming into is presence in our sinfulness. He cannot look on sin with the least degree of allowance. Both his righteousness and his love make this so. I take the scriptures to say that the contrast of who we are (what we have chosen to become) over against his presence (his righteousness and holiness) will cause inexpressible horror to the degree that we’d rather not exist than be in that condition. This seems to me something to fear. Of course, fear isn’t the end all of the gospel, but it plays a part in knowing why we need a Savior who can cleanse and sanctify us. It is the beginning of wisdom.
I think a lot of things in the bible are a crock. Like the story about Elisha (?could be a different guy) calling bears to kill children who make fun of his baldness.
I think it’s scripture, I “believe” it’s the word of God, but a lot of people put their two-cents worth in there. There’s a lot of fear in there, sort of reflective of “rule your children through guilt and fear.” I do not think God wants us to be afraid of Him. I think in this case, fear means honor, or listen to. LIke if I tell Maxwell, don’t go into the street, it’s not so I can beat him up if he does and he can be afraid of me, it’s so he won’t be smashed like a bug.
I’m more advanced than he is, I know what could happen, so God is way more advanced than us. To Him, we are toddlers, so we need to listen. But I hope He loves me as much as I love that little boy.
I reject a mean God. I had Him for far too long. I think He’s nicer than that.
What does onymous mean? I can’t find it anywhere. It’s bugging me.
Onymous would mean named, bearing a name, from GR onoma “name.” (So “onomasticon” is a list of the proper names in a text. The BoM pronunciation guide is a kind of onomasticon.)
In “anonymous,” the an- is a privative (like Engl. “un-“), so that word means “unnamed, not bearing a name.”
I call my God karate, because he kicks ass.
I used to think God agreed with people who were mad at me or didn’t like me, even when it wasn’t fair. Now I’m sort of like Arturo. I ask God to get them for me. Sometimes He does.
Annegb: That’s a weird twist on “Vengeance is mine” (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19; Mormon 8:20).
Alma chapter 33 appears to have contradictory ideas about the potential effect of prayer regarding enemies.
My experience has been that God does not let me know how He feels about my enemies(?) nor would He impact them one way or the other based on my requests. He is only interested in how I am doing, and sometimes, even that can be difficult to discern, because prayers aren’t always answered immediately or in the way I would like.
What interests me is that the scriptures clearly show prophets expressing gratitude to God for answering prayers regarding enemies (in one way or another). If a person feels he/she has adversaries or competitors or enemies, he/she can pray about the problems and individuals involved and receive some kind of help. Perhaps though it would be bad form to pray for the destruction of an enemy. One should simply pray for help, preservation or deliverance from the harm enemies can cause.
One thing the scriptures make very clear — one should go to great pains to avoid being the enemy of a widow or orphan:
Note this by Joseph Smith: “The Lord once told me that what I asked for I should have. I have been afraid to ask God to kill my enemies, lest some of them should, peradventure, repent.” (TPJS, p. 340)
I wonder how broadly the word “orphan” may be extended. If one is disowned by both of one’s parents, is one spiritually orphaned? Would any person who went far, far out of her way to offend and hurt me–knowing that I had been disowned–be in for the gross returns on the promises of Exodus 22:22-24? Does it matter if she repents a teeny-tiny bit–not to the extent of actually trying to make what she did to me right, but to the extent of privately expressing a slightly apologetic sentiment, though not in the presence of all involved? Is it enough that after a couple of months she left off her efforts to torment me and ruin my life? Or does it count as continued sin that she ruined my business and has made no effort to make that right–something that may affect the course of the rest of my life?
Does it matter if *I* forgive the person or not, or is allowance made because substance abuse is involved? Or does the fact that she did these horrible, vicious things to me, deliberately and unnecessarily, KNOWING the fullness of the gospel insofar as it is revealed to someone who has been to the temple and has been a RS President among other things–to an “orphan” in the sense of one whose parents have disowned her, doom her to those things–even if I pray for God to please, please hold it back from her?
If Jesus could say of His tormentors, “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do,” then I can’t justify in my mind doing less with respect to mine–but the God I fear in the first sense may well let her have it anyway. If we get what we deserve…
I don’t always wish mercy for her. But I’m trying very hard. I hope to face the God of Love, not the God of Fear. I think the toggle switch between one and the other is the ability to forgive. Many people forgive easily. To others it comes with more difficulty.
I must add and declare that if the human beings who lashed and jeered and robbed and nailed up and tortured our Savior didn’t know what they did…nobody really knows what they are doing when they do evil. Because I frankly don’t see how anybody in any time or place could do those things to anyone or any living thing, then go home and have a nice supper and tell the kiddos all about the day’s work, guilt-free. They knew something. Didn’t they? What did Jesus mean by “they know not”–just that they didn’t know who He was? or that they didn’t appreciate that they were torturing and killing a human being in a most brutal manner, state-sanctioned or otherwise?
Sorry, I seem to be stuck on something here.
Kevin Barney usurped my translational comments:)
I haven’t thought about this question for a while, but it seems to me that we should indeed fear God, and by extension, his justice. I would paraphrase that by saying we shoudl recognize the reality of eternal blessing or cursing (ie. the results of righteousness or non-righteousness) that naturally flow from God’s justice. I think this relates to the constant theme of remembrance in the Book of Mormon (invoked in several different contexts), such as 2 Nephi 9:39.
“Remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.”
Not fearing God is equivalent to “setting him at naught” thus disregarding his commandments. “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice ?” asks the Pharaoh in Exodus 5:2.
Note also the logical connection between recognizing the God’s power/superiority and obeying him in Mosiah 4: 9-10.
” 9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. 10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.”
Kaimi writes that in the BoM “the people “had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.” That doesn’t really sound like reverence to me.”
What’s interesting to me here, though it’s loose, is the connection between fear, reverence, and formal obeissance. (The connection between fear and reverence ha already been established.) In a few places in the OT such as 2Sa 9:6 “to reverence” is a translation of “to bow down.” Note that the OED’s definition of “to reverence” includes”To salute (a person) with deep respect; to show respect for (one) by bowing, kneeling, etc.; to make obeisance to. Obs(olete).” I assume that the people had, as King Benjamin wished, recognized the sovreignity of the one they had made covenants to, and were thus demonstrating the fear and respect owed to their Lord.
Sure, it’s not reverence in the sense of sitting quietly with one’s hands folded. But, I prefer to think of reverance as an attitude towards the sacred, not primarily as certain actions. Those things may flow from respect of the sacred, but can’t replace it.
The OED entry on “v. to fear” is quite interesting. A few plucked cherries-
“To deter from a course of conduct”
“To feel alarmed or uneasy lest (something should happen).”
“To regard with fear, be afraid of (a person or thing as a source of danger, an anticipated event or state of things as painful or evil)”
“To hesitate (to do something) through fear of the consequences”
“To regard with reverence and awe; to revere.”
“To have an uneasy sense of the probability of (some unwelcome occurrence in the future); to apprehend.”
Translation is an inexact science. To take one example, how would you translate the Relief Society’s “Charity never faileth”?
1. Charity is always successful?
2. Charity never goes out? (like a light which fails)
3. Charity never disappoints?
4. Charity is never insufficient?
5. Charity never stops working?
6. Charity never goes bankrupt?
7. Charity never abandons, or gives up?
Failing has all those connotations in English. But not necessarily in other languages.
So when translators are dealing with a word which they are rendering into English, they pick one which may not have all the connotations which are present in the original. Let alone the fact that the meaning of words evolves over time in English, so that what was rendered 400 years ago by the King James translators may have different connotations today.
By the way, in Spanish, “Charity never faileth” is translated as: “Charity never ceases to be”. “La caridad nunca deja de ser.”
So it is probably not really wise to get too worked up over what one word really means.
Nice comments on fear, everyone. I think that this is a more complex commandment than we sometimes give it credit for. And it’s interesting to wonder whether (and if so, how) fear has become a part of worship that we no longer emphasize.
I wonder if the idea of the “fear God” instruction is that a person should carry around a conviction that he/she is in the immediate presence of God. God sees all things and knows all our thoughts. But since we don’t see God its easy to forget him or act as if he is not cognizant of what we are doing. This is the kind of fear that makes a person cast off sin immediately. Isaiah seems to be describing the kind of fear that enters into the hearts of people when the glory and majesty of God appears:
On a different level … while in the MTC, one of the seventies spoke to all the missionaries and said that when he prays, he makes an effort to be dressed, to have his hair combed, his teeth brushed, etc. He said we should afford God every bit of respect in prayer — that on a certain level should imagine how we would act and dress in a personal interview with a bishop or stake president — and try to approach prayer with a similar level of seriousness and respect. Of course I can’t imagine putting on a suit and tie for every prayer I would have — but it makes a person think twice about praying in one’s underwear.
Okay, I heard this profound story once:
(I think it’s true)
There was this priest who had a monsignor who he hated and they fought all the time. Finally the monsignor kicked him out of the monastery in the middle of the night in a snowstorm. He made it to a hotel, and knelt to pray, “God” he says, “kill the SOB. And do it slow and hard. And let me watch.”
Then he finds a place to live and gradually his prayers change, “God, just kill him. I don’t need to watch.”
“God, just hurt him a little. Enough to let him know what it feels like.”
Finally, he kneels, and says, “God, forgive us both.”
I LOVE that story annegb, and it helps me with a situation I have right now. Maybe best to skip the intermediate steps.
I was answering email while the kids usurp the shower (church at 1) and wrote this for someone who asked me about ark steadying. I realized that in one respect I genuinely FEAR the Lord in the most common contemporary sense of the word. First some scripture:
D&C 85: 8
8 While that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth
forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of
death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning.
GS Ark of the Covenant
Moses made the ark at God’s command, Ex. 25. The children of Levi were
charged to take care of the ark, Num. 3: 15, 31. The ark of the
covenant went before them, Num. 10: 33. Take this book of the law, and
put it in the ark of the covenant, Deut. 31: 24-26. The waters of
Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant, Josh. 3: 13-17; 4:
1-7. Priests took the ark of the covenant in conquering Jericho, Josh.
6: 6-20. Philistines captured the ark of God, 1 Sam. 5. The Lord
blessed the house of Obed-edom because of the ark of God, 2 Sam. 6:
11-12. Uzza was slain by the Lord when he disobediently attempted to
steady the ark, 1 Chr. 13: 9-12 (D&C 85: 8).
I identify very strongly with Uzza, and his story gives me a great deal of Fear of the Lord in the most basic sense. Uzza was charged to help move the Ark of the Covenant. He saw it rocked, and thought it was going to fall, so he did the most natural thing in the world, probably completely without thinking–he put out his hand to steady it. He thought it was going to FALL. From babyhood on he had assimilated the natural laws of the world and knew that when valuable something teetered like that he ought to steady it. For that he was struck down, instantaneously, on the spot, and his family cursed. Is this like the prophet who sent bears to tear up children (a story I believe was not translated correctly–in fact I think Joseph Smith corrects it)–or is it a clear warning to all believers not to believe that we know better than the Church? I so often think the church should do this that way, the church should do that this way. I have a clear and direct revelation that such thoughts are ark-steadying.
What appears to be a toppling, a rocking, a misadventure is NOT if one fully believes that the Lord is in charge and has a reason for the limitations he places on us–women, non-bishops, whatever. I had a friend a few years back whom I loved, and one day when I told her about a May-December couple in our ward who were devoted temple attendees, and very good for each other, she responded with huge disgust. That an older woman should marry a much younger man, even if inspired, was hideous to, and they absolutely shouldn’t be allowed in the temple; furthermore, she went on, the temple shouldn’t be contaminated with mixed-race couples and she had often contemplated leaving the church over the fact that such people OR THEIR CHILDREN were given recommends. Now when she was going on about this the hair stood on the back of my neck. I was honestly expecting lightning. To judge all stake presidents, bishops, temple presidents, endowed mixed-race
couples, and mixed-race CHILDREN as being unworthy defilers of the temple cannot be anything less than ark-steadying. It scared me silly. More than the repugnance at the racism, the conscious decision she had made that her sensibilities ought to trump the Lord’s guildance of the Church drove me clean away from her. The parting was amicable. (Amazing, considering that I was rejecting a facet of her she felt essential and right. She was a good person!) I stated my case and why what she said had scared me so.
She said she was sorry, but she couldn’t change her view on it. Now one of my best friends (Mormon) is black, many of my very good neighbors are black, and I reject racism as completely as it is possible for me to do. Ageism likewise–as spirt children are we not all the same age really? But that really didn’t come into it. It was the ark-steadying that terrified me.
I know this is not an Old Testament time. No lightning flew at her. She was not stricken down. Many Uzzas walk around complacent and safe. I admit I don’t understand that at all. But I believe that there was a man named Uzza and that he was annhilated on the spot for reaching out to correct what he saw was a problem with something sacred. A risk to something sacred. I could contemplate this for eternity and not understand, but I do believe it and I believe there’s a reason it happened. This story greatly influences my relationship with the Church. I understand murmuring is a great deal more dangerous than we might think. That bishop who offends us is nevertheless called of God…if we dislike the man or resent what he does, we must be careful not to doubt he was called of God and must pray to find the fault in ourselves that has no compassion for the weaknesses of our leaders.
Not a single story on any news show ever struck me with more immediate sense of danger than when my friend ranted to me about the kind of people who can get a recommend nowadays.
David Rodgers (#23): Since “charity never faileth” is a quotation of scripture (1 Corinthians 13:8), the best thing to do if one wishes to translate the phrase is to go to the original language (in this case New Testament Greek) and translate that, which it appears has been done for the Spanish motto of the Relief Society.
So, per JIm’s suggestion, the Greek of 1 Cor. 13:8 reads *hE agapE oudepote piptei*, which means “love [lit. “the” love; IE love as a broad concept] never falls down.” The verb piptO, which means “to fall [down],” is used metaphorically here, for “become invalid, come to an end, fail.”
(Of course, agapE is better translated “love” than “charity,” notwithstanding how riled the RSV made J. Reuben Clark, Jr. in his _Why the King James Version?_ by using “love” in lieu of “charity.” At the very least, the word does not refer to “charity” in the common Engl. sense of almsgiving.)
As Kevin Barney has just discovered, Greek fonts won’t copy into WordPress, the machine that runs this vehicle.
Actually, I didn’t try to use GR fonts. When I write in ASCII on the web, I use capital letters to distinguish eta from epsilon and omega from omicron. I realize it looks a little funny, but it works for me.
Presumably, you missed the point, Jim F (#28).
Of course it’s a translation of scripture. But does that mean that what Paul said was rendered EXACTLY in English, with all the denotations and connotations? Of course not. I tried to make the point by showing how the Spanish only gave us one of the possible meanings in English.
Translation is an inexact science; more than that: exact translation, is essentially impossible, except in for those rare occasions when the words match exactly. The rest of the time we get reasonable approximations…which is good enough. Because we sometimes have trouble understanding something which is said to us in English.