The fear of God; this is one of those concepts in scripture that Christians like to work around. I used to be one of those who said, “Surely, it doesn’t mean ‘fear’ like fear.”

The interpretation I grew up with considered fear in this context to mean awe and reverence -reverential respect, wonder. This is probably the predominant perception. Another one which I saw in a blog a few years ago, and I really like this one, looked at the fear of God as our “being afraid to be separated from him”. Surely, we should be in awe of God as believers, and we certainly don’t want that separation, especially after experiencing what spiritual intimacy is like. But why can’t ‘fear’ just mean ‘fear’?

We know what ‘fear’ means. Even a kid knows what it means to be afraid. As a little boy, I had a nightmare one time, no thanks to Nollywood movies. In it, there was a huge hole right outside my room and a hand pulled me down into it when I passed by it. Luckily, I didn’t have to find out what happened afterwards cos I woke up. I spent the next couple of days jumping over that place every time I had to go in or out of my room. I was terrified! I recall another experience that happened in September 2001 in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. A large crowd of people with sharp knives and very blunt intentions were threatening to get into our neighbourhood to cause untold mayhem. That was very scary even for the adults. Now imagine what that did to me who was, at the time, only a little boy. I certainly know what fear is! You can probably think of times you were afraid. Maybe you still are. In dangerous situations, we feel fear, we are afraid.

Why do we feel the need to redefine fear only when we speak about Scripture? How does that switch happen from sheer terror to reverential respect when we read verses like “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”? Okay, let us assume there is nothing worth being afraid of in this verse, but what do we do with Luke 12: 4-5 where Jesus was saying this about himself: “I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” This part reminds me of boarding school (a concept I really hate by the way), where a junior student had to choose between obeying a senior student in SS2 or another in SS1. Either way, one person would drill him, but it was wisdom not to be drilled by the senior student in SS2!

Why is it really so hard to understand the concept of fear with regard to Him? “False Evidence Appearing Real” right? Well, the Bible is riddled with many terrifying stories, or have they become trite? At one time, only a handful of humans were safe in an ark while water covered the earth (Genesis 7:1-24). Fire did come down and consume a whole city (Genesis 19:23-25). The people of God were given direct commands to enter a city and wipe out every living thing, including animals (Joshua 6, 8:1, 1Samuel 15:1-3).

We often get this question, “How does a good God send people to hell?” Often time, the responses are desperate attempts, in all shades and colours, to convince people that God does not do this. “How could he?” Luke 12:4 -5 does tell us that He alone has the authority to send people there. “Jesus died to save you from the Devil.” But scripture doesn’t say this. What do we make of passages like Isaiah 66:15-16 where God basically said, He was coming with His fire and sword to execute judgement? I have heard this statement before: “It doesn’t matter where I am, even hell, as long as I am with my Saviour”. Lol. While I may marvel at that ‘devotion’, I think it grossly uninformed. Have you been there before? With the non-life threatening challenges on this sphere of life, we still manage to turn away from him, and you somehow think things will be different in hell.

For many people, the image they have in their heads is: meek and lowly Jesus who can’t hurt a fly, sharing the Last Supper with His disciples, or Jesus walking with a lamb on his neck. Well, have a look at Rev 19: 11-21. That passage tells of a bloody battle where Jesus defeats the enemy of God’s people (the beast). Terror grips my mind as “He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty” (vs.15b). I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of that battle.

In summary, I am saying that fear is what it is. Don’t read around it. No need to try so hard to explain it away. It is what it is. You should be afraid. When you try to gloss over those many parts of scripture that talk about some fearful things, ignore them, and focus only on the part of God’s nature that suits you, you have just made an idol for yourself. He is looking for true worshipers, those that worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23-24). What to do with that fear is subject for another discourse. But do the research about fear yourself, especially since this is where wisdom starts from –“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

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Edited by: Editors at Large; Kenechukwu Nlem (editorsatlarge20@gmail.com)