When the Bible tells us to fear God, what does that mean?

Some people picture being terrified of God, as though He were waiting for an opportunity to punish them. Others go so far in the opposite direction that the fear of God becomes little more than polite respect.

Scripture gives us a fuller picture.

To fear God is to recognize who He is. He is holy. He is Creator. He is Judge. He has authority over us, and we are accountable to Him. The fear of God includes reverence and awe, but it also means taking God seriously enough that what He says affects how we live.

Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Biblical wisdom begins when we stop treating ourselves as the highest authority and recognize that God is.

That changes everything.

If I fear God, I cannot casually decide that His commands matter only when I agree with them. I cannot call something harmless when God calls it sin. I cannot place the approval of people above obedience to Him.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 brings the matter into focus: “Fear God and keep His commandments.” Those two things belong together. A person who truly fears God will care about obeying Him.

This does not mean obedience saves us. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But a person who has come to know God should not become more casual about sin. He should become more aware of God’s holiness.

Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil.”

That is an important part of the definition.

The fear of God is not merely standing in awe during worship. It affects what we tolerate in our lives. If we fear God, we begin to hate what dishonors Him because we understand something of who He is.

Jesus also spoke about fearing God in words that should not be watered down.

In Matthew 10:28, He told His disciples not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, He told them to fear the One who has authority over both soul and body.

Jesus was reminding them that human power has limits. God’s authority does not.

That kind of fear gives courage.

When we fear people more than God, we become controlled by what people think, what they might say, or what they might do to us. But when God becomes greater in our eyes, the power of human approval and human threats begins to shrink.

The fear of God does not make us run away from Him. Properly understood, it draws us toward Him with humility.

There is also an important question Christians sometimes ask: If we love God, why should we fear Him?

First John 4:18 says that “perfect love casts out fear,” and then explains that this kind of fear involves punishment.

The believer does not have to live terrified that God may suddenly condemn him. Christ bore the believer’s condemnation. Romans 8:1 says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

But that does not mean reverence disappears.

A child may deeply love a good father and still respect his authority. In an even greater way, a believer can know the love of God while standing in awe of His holiness.

In fact, grace should deepen our reverence.

The more we understand what our sin deserved and what Christ did to save us, the less casually we should treat God.

The fear of God also brings humility. We remember that He is God and we are not. We do not demand that He explain every decision. We do not rewrite His Word to fit our preferences. We come before Him recognizing His wisdom, His authority, and our dependence upon Him.

Psalm 33:8 says, “Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”

That is not a picture of people casually acknowledging God. It is a picture of people recognizing His greatness.

Perhaps one reason the fear of God is often misunderstood today is that we have worked very hard to make God seem comfortable. We want God near enough to help us, forgive us, encourage us, and bless us, but sometimes we do not want Him to have authority over us.

The Bible never separates those things.

The God who loves us is also holy.

The God who forgives is also Judge.

The God who calls us His children is still Almighty God.

To fear God is not to spend our lives hiding from Him. It is to know Him well enough that we do not treat Him lightly.

We love Him.

We trust Him.

We obey Him.

We stand in awe of Him.

And because we fear God, we learn that we do not have to fear everything else.