Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear

I John 4:17-18 reads “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” So “perfect love” cast out fear, but does that mean there should be no element of fear of God in our lives?

When I was growing up my dad was a strict disciplinarian, and when he spanked me for wrong doing, it was very, very painful. But my dad never spanked me just because he had a bad day at the office. So I wasn’t really scared of my dad as long as I was obeying him, but I was rightfully scared if I had done something wrong and thought he might find out. You might say I was scared of disobeying my dad at all times; that fear helped keep me in line.

Our fear of God is similar. As long as we are obeying God, we don’t have to be scared of Him or scared of the bad place (Matt 25:46). But if we are not living a living a life in submission to God’s will, we should be scared out of our britches (Matt 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in h-e-l-l.”). Look where we might end up (Rev 20:10, 21:8).

And it would be correct to say (like with my dad) we are scared to do wrong at all times. Because if we do wrong, we risk having to endure God’s wrath.

How do I know there is still an element of fear even for Christians who love God?

· Because Eccl 12:13 asserts the “whole duty of man” is to “fear God, and keep his commandments.” That duty doesn’t lessen even when we’ve been a faithful Christian for 50 years.

· And Phil 2:12 says “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” And that is talking about faithful Christians, and you can’t become a Christian without loving God first (I Cor 16:22, Gal 5:6, James 1:12b, Matt 10:37, John 14:21,23,15).

· Likewise, Heb 12:28-29 reads “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” So Godly fear should never end for the Christian.

· Prov 1:7a says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” If we don’t continue fearing God, then we will stop learning.

· It wouldn’t surprise me if there are hundreds of passages in the Bible like Psa 86:11 (“Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name”) that teach love doesn’t do away with fearing God completely and in every sense. Aren’t faithful Christians supposed to fear God and His name?

· The Old Testament taught in Deut 10:12 “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” That principle is still true today (Matt 22:37).

· I Pet 1:17 confirms this when it reads “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” Fearing God is not something that is to be eliminated from the Christian life, even as our love for God grows.

Another type of fear that love casteth out (hopefully completely) would be the fear of man. Matt 10:28 reads “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in h-e-l-l.” I find that as my love for God grows, the less and less I fear what men (even Christians) think of me as I do what is right and contend for the faith (Jude 3).

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