Reverential fear is the disposition of heart that motivates a man to desirously reverence God, His authority, love and obey His commands and hate and shun all forms of evil. “This ‘fear of Jeh[ovah]’ is manifested in keeping God’s commandments, walking in His ways, doing His will, avoiding sin, etc. (Ex 20:20; Dt 6:13,24; 2 S 23:3; Ps 34:4,9; Prov 8:13; 16:6 ).” 1
Reverential fear as a motivation to proper ethical conduct is presented in Exodus 20:18-20. And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not. This passage is significant to our study for three reasons: (1) it is the account of the giving of the law (the code of ethics) to which the Israelites were to obey, (2) it contains the two senses of fear, and (3) it reveals that the reverential fear not only motivates proper ethical conduct, but it is the motivational factor upon which God desires men to act. In the account, the people were told both, to fear and to fear not. They feared God because of His awesome display of power and were motivated to hear (heed) God’s Will through Moses. Yet, it was not this fear to which Moses appealed for their obedience. Rather, he told them to put away such fear because God wanted them to have a different fear, that is, a reverential fear. This reverential fear was to be the source and reason of their obedience to His law. They were to “fear Jehovah [their] God to keep all his statutes and his commandments” because they were to “love [their] God with all [their] heart, and with all [their] soul, and with all [their] might” (Deut. 6:2,5). It was this fear of which God acknowledged that, in reference to this very account, they had (temporarily) attained (Deut. 5:28,29). Although the fear of terror was predominant under the Old Testament law, God wanted them all along to be motivated to proper ethical conduct by the reverential fear.
Reverential fear as a motivator is also seen in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The fear in this verse is based upon the blessed promises that God would (1) be their Father, (2) dwell in them, and (3) receive them (6:16-18). Such promises do not instill terror. Rather, they arouse indebtedness with reverence to Him who can give such wonderful promises. It is from this reverential fear that the Christian is motivated to strive for holy living.
Truly, reverential fear motivates those who love and respect God to willingly and lovingly conduct themselves in proper ethical conduct by obeying His commandments and shunning evil. Although God uses, and man is motivated to obedience by both types of fear (as observed in the discussion on Exodus 20:18-20), it is our obedience by reverence that God desires. It is like the father who, when necessary, will obtain his child’s obedience with the switch, but would greatly prefer the child to obey out of respect and high regard for his father.
Gary Henson
1 James Orr (ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949), p. 1102.