Article February 21, 1931 Issue

"The fear of the Lord"

[Original article in German]

MARTHA E. A. SOOST

In a Bible concordance the word "fear" is to be found under the general heading "Fear" and also under "Fear of God" and "Fear of the Lord." This classification indicates that in the Bible the word "fear" has two meanings.

We learn in Christian Science that, as John says, "God is love;" but the words in Ecclesiastes, "Fear God, and keep his commandments," seem to contradict this statement. For how can one love God and at the same time fear Him? To keep the commandments because we fear punishment would surely not manifest the love which God demands. Again, the Psalmist says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This "fear" which is "the beginning of wisdom" cannot be that which is usually understood by the word "fear."

A closer analysis reveals the fact that fear can exist only when we believe we are confronted by something greater and more powerful than ourselves. If we believe in God, good, whose omnipotence and omnipresence our Master, Christ Jesus, so clearly realized that sickness, sin, and death lost their seeming power, our "fear" of God becomes reverence for, or acknowledgment of, His supremacy; and our only fear is that by transgressing His commandments we may in belief separate ourselves from His love.

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