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[Good Ideas]

Why is fearing God a good thing?

[jimwalton]

"Fear" has five meanings in the Bible:

1. The emotion of fear. Dt. 5.5; 1 Sam. 7.7 etc.
2. The intellectual anticipation of evil without emphasis upon the emotional reaction (1 Sam. 21.13; Gen. 31.31)
3. Reverence or awe (Lev. 19.36.2; Ps. 112.1, etc.)
4. Righteous behavior or piety (Lev. 19.14; 25.17; 2 Ki. 17.34; Dt. 17.19)
5. Formal religious worship (2 Ki. 17.32-34)

Fearing God pertains to definitions 3 & 4. Abraham Kuruvilla says, " 'Fear of God' is the fundamental OT term for depicting the appropriate human response to God—the Hebrew equivalent to the Christian 'faith'. Fear of God entails obedience of the most demanding kind grounded in a deep trust in God."