📖 Biblical Definition
The reverent, holy, life-orienting awe of God; in Scripture, the foundational disposition of wisdom (the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Prov 9:10) and knowledge (the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, Prov 1:7). Distinct from servile dread of punishment; identical with the Spirit-given recognition that the Lord is unspeakably great and the proper creature-response is reverence.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
FEAR, n.
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1. A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil. 2. The fear of the Lord — in scripture, reverence; awe; the love of God which produces obedience.
📖 Key Scripture
Proverbs 1:7 — "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."
Proverbs 9:10 — "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
Ecclesiastes 12:13 — "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
Acts 9:31 — "The churches... walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity has all but lost fear of the Lord; therapeutic religion replaces it with sentiment.
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The fear of the Lord is the foundation Scripture lays for wisdom, knowledge, the duty of man, and the multiplication of the church. Modern Christianity, especially of the therapeutic variety, has functionally lost the category. Sermons emphasize God's love (rightly) without His holiness; worship songs prefer intimacy without majesty; pulpits would not dream of producing the response Isaiah had in chapter six (woe is me; for I am undone).
Acts 9:31 names the missing ingredient in modern revival expectations: walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Both. Together. Fear without comfort makes legalists; comfort without fear makes shallow saints. Recover both. Read Isaiah 6 out loud. Stand at Hebrews 12's holy fire. Confess that the same Lord who tenderly washes feet still has eyes like flames of fire (Rev 1:14). The fear of the Lord is the beginning; everything wise grows from it.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew yirat YHWH; Greek phobos kuriou.
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Usage
"Modern Christianity has all but lost fear of the Lord; therapeutic religion replaced it with sentiment."
"Acts 9:31 pairs the fear of the Lord with the comfort of the Holy Ghost; both are required."
"Fear without comfort makes legalists; comfort without fear makes shallow saints."