The preachers quoted here describe the fear of the Lord as reverence that comes from seeing God's majesty, holiness and presence. It shows itself in hatred of sin, it is treasured by God, and Scripture calls it the way to his favour and the beginning of wisdom.
The usual Old Testament word is yirah, which Strong defines as fear and, in its moral sense, reverence.1 It gives the wisdom books their motto: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10; compare Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 111:10 and Job 28:28).
It is not the terror that makes a person run from God. At Sinai Moses says both things in a single verse: "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not" (Exodus 20:20). There is a fear that is to be put away and a fear that is to remain. John says of the first that "perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment" (1 John 4:18).
Older writers therefore distinguished two fears. John Bunyan's treatise on the subject separates an "ungodly fear", which drives people from God, from the godly, childlike fear that grace produces in those who know him as Father.2
Scripture describes this fear chiefly by what it does. "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13). "By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). It is "a fountain of life" (Proverbs 14:27). Strikingly, it is produced by mercy: "there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared" (Psalm 130:4).
The New Testament does not leave it behind. The churches after Pentecost were "walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 9:31). Believers are to be "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1) and to serve God "with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28). Isaiah says of the Messiah himself that the Spirit of the fear of the LORD rests on him (Isaiah 11:2).
The fear of the Lord, then, is the settled reverence of someone who has seen who God is: awe at his majesty, trust in his mercy, and a resulting dread of grieving him. It is the beginning of wisdom because it puts God in his right place and everything else in relation to him.
- Strong's Hebrew 3374, yirʼâh: "fear (also used as infinitive); morally, reverence".
- John Bunyan, A Treatise on the Fear of God, "Of several sorts of fear of god in the heart of the children of men".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
The fear of God is that "astonished reverence" of which the saintly Faber wrote.
A.W. Tozer
in Astonished Reverence
Read in context
The fear of the Lord is connected directly with a gripping awareness of the majesty of God and the holiness of God and the presence of God.
Al Whittinghill
in Knowing the Fear of the Lord
Listen at 4:47
The fear of the Lord is to hate sin, because you see, there are four different levels that we can be on in relation to our attitude towards sin.
Joy Dawson
in The Fear of the Lord
Listen at 4:54
The fear of the Lord is the sure way to the enjoyment of God's favour and protection.
Andrew Murray
in The Fear of the Lord
Read in context
The fear of God is greatly treasured in heaven.
K.P. Yohannan
in Precious in the Sight of God
Read in context
The fear of God is what is meant to separate us and sanctify us and call us out and identify us all throughout the word of God, all throughout the word of God, consistently from Genesis to Revelation.
Kevin Bruce
in Where Is the Fear of God
Listen at 20:00
What Scripture says
- Proverbs 9:10 the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom
- Proverbs 8:13 the fear of the LORD is to hate evil
- Psalm 130:4 forgiveness with God, that he may be feared
- Exodus 20:20 fear not, and yet his fear before your faces, that you sin not
- Acts 9:31 the churches walking in the fear of the Lord
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