The Fear of God Is a Gift That Scripture Gives Us

Love for God and Sorrow for Sin

When we think about the fear of God, what are we talking about? We’re talking about a love for God as Father and as our friend, but we’re also talking about a sorrow for sin. There is a sort of loving, reverent posture.

Scripture provides us with warnings that evoke fear in us. Scripture provides promises, and when God keeps these promises, it prompts us to lovingly revere God. But Scripture is also the means through which God makes us into new creations—people who will love God from the bottom of their hearts and will be sorrowful for sin.

There’s a writer who was involved in the framing of the Heidelberg Catechism. He talks about how the fear of God is birthed in those who are regenerate in this life. The Word is God’s instrument to make us born again, have a new birth, to be regenerate. And when we’re regenerate through the Word, we actually will grow in our love and fear for God. The fear of God is a gift in that it is a gateway to God’s other gifts.

The fear of God is the means through which we gain wisdom and understanding, according to Proverbs. The fear of God leads to life. The fear of God leads to blessedness. So, the fear of God is a gift in and of itself. The fear of God is a gift also in the fact that it’s not something that we can engender on our own. And so because God is the only one who can bring about the new birth that creates a love for him and sorrow for sin, in that sense, the fear of God can only be seen as primarily a gift from God himself.

Uche Anizor is the author of The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture: 20 Meditations.

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