Never, Never, Never Fear God. God is love, and the one who dwells in love dwells in God and God lives in him. 17. By this, love has been made complete among us, so that we would have fearless confidence in the Day of Judgment, because just as that One is, we ourselves are like Him in this world. 18. There is no fear in love but complete love casts fear outside, because fear has to do with punishment, and the one who fears has not been made complete in love. (1Jn 4:16-18)
Verse 18 tells us that fear has to do with punishment, that anyone who fears has not been made complete in love. While some translations have numerous passages saying “Fear God” and “Fear the Lord” the word Fear came from the Latin text which was the source of our early English translations. Even Hebrew-English dictionaries and lexicons have added fear to the meaning of the Hebrew word “Y’reh” so it is often translated Fear, but the Hebrew meaning is Revere. This is a night & day difference because we call the Lord our Heavenly Father, Whom we are to revere but we are not to be afraid of Him.
Today many children and adults have never known a loving earthly father, so they are not able to relate to our Loving Father in Heaven. There are a number of very strong ministries whose call is to teach Christians to relate to the God of Love, our Father. Those ministries are performing a very valuable service enabling those people to be able to relate to their Father. It is amazing to me how many people have grown up without a loving father. Most of those have a problem relating to our Loving God, being blessed by the ministries that have that mission.
Fear of the Lord is appropriate for idolaters and unbelievers, as in 2 Chronicles 17:10. And the fear of the LORD* fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were all around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.
A believer is never, never, never to fear God. A believer is to revere God, the most Loving Father ever.
I have two brothers in Christ who have left our ministry because our pastor teaches that GOD is not JESUS–HE is GOD the FATHER and JESUS is the SON of GOD WHO was sent to die for sinners. GOD is a SPIRIT and cannot be killed or die. JESUS is the expressed image of GOD the FATHER and their being one means that they are in agreement. Hence we get a clear view of the father/son relationship JESUS came to demonstrate to us–HE always said HE did what HIS FATHER sent HIM to do.
Is the their being one, GOD and JESUS, just another way of saying they are one in agreement? I’ve read Philippians 2:6 footnote and Deut 6:4 footnote and find that this is the clearest way to understand what the “oneness” means.
Thank you for your time and help
Hi Julie,
Thank you for writing. Yes, you can say they are One means they are in agreement, but it is an understatement to say it “just” means that. This is more than can be answered fully here. Read “Book Order” in Glossary, then read “God Incarnate” to put your question in perspective. In John 14:9 Y’shua says, “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
Blessings, Bill