What should we do because we have these promises?

Back to Study the Book of Second Corinthians

We should cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The Greek word translated fear, in II Corinthians 7:1, is FOB-owe. It is the same word used in Luke 12:5, where it appears as a verb: "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him."

Again, we find the concept of the fear of the Lord, in Isaiah 8:13:

Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

The context of Isaiah 8:13 reveals that the words "fear" and "dread" do not refer to reverence and awe but to the dreadful fear of destruction.

The early apostles preached the message of salvation against the backdrop of the coming Day of Wrath. The primary concept of salvation is that of being spared in the Day of Judgment. The Book of Revelation gives us some small idea of the end of sinners. The maximum penalty is eternal separation from our Creator in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This indeed is a fearful fate!

The insistence of modern translators on rendering the Greek word for fear as reverence is difficult to understand. We think it reflects the influence of humanism on the Gospel of the Kingdom. The love of God has been preached until people have a distorted understanding of God and His Christ.

This distortion is not based on spiritual reality. In the Day of the Lord the present generation will be in jeopardy because of our dangerous overfamiliarity with the things of Christ. We are not working out our own salvation with fear and trembling!

The fear of God has been taken away from us. What will we do in the Day of Wrath?

How will we stand before Him whose eyes are a flame of fire?

Will we bring Him down to our level?

Do we expect Him to change His Person or His Word because we are mistaken?

Paul knew the "terror," the FOB-on, of the Lord.

"It is a fearful [fob-er-ON] thing to fall into the hands of God" (Hebrews 10:31). The context of this verse concerns God’s chosen people and their obedience to His holy laws. The term "fearful" hardly means full of reverence and awe.

There may be many people and institutions that we reverence but we do not necessarily fear them!

When we are brought into the Presence of God and Christ we fear and tremble. This will continue to be true until we, having put away all uncleanness, all rebellion from our life, have been made perfect in love. Then all fear FOB-os will have been cast out. Then we will have boldness in the day of judgement.

There is no fear [FOB-os] in love; but perfect love casteth out fear [FOB-os]: because fear [FOB-os] hath torment. He that feareth (fob-OU-men-os)is not made perfect in love (I John 4:18).

Would we say there is no reverence in love?

Would we say love casts out reverence because reverence has torment?

He that has reverence toward God has not been made perfect in love?

The same translators who adhere to the word reverence, in II Corinthians 7:1, use the terms dread, fear, and terror when translating I John 4:18.

We can see no sound lexical or spiritual reason for varying the rendering of the same term in this manner. We can see harm proceeding from the current unwillingness to face the spiritual reality that God is to be feared.

Perhaps there is some sort of lexical defense for the substitution of reverence for fear. But Paul’s usage of FOB-owe, as indicated by the context, and also the experience and knowledge of the saints, do not support the substitution. The substitution has had a destructive effect in that today’s believers are able to maintain their pride and arrogance, trusting that God would not expect such fine, worthy people to fear Him. They prefer to reverence Him at their convenience.

We understand from First and Second Corinthians that the church in Corinth was defiled by the works of the flesh. The believers had not been made perfect in love. They were practicing unclean works. They had reason to fear God! They were to purify themselves "in the fear of God." They were to perfect themselves in holy living.

The consequences they were to fear if they did not cleanse themselves were that of not being welcomed by the Lord Almighty, of not being accepted as His sons and His daughters, of the Lord God not being willing to dwell in them and walk in them.

It is because of these wonderful promises of love, and also because of our realistic and wholesome fear of the Father of spirits, that we are to act diligently in putting to death though the Holy Spirit the uncleanness of our flesh and spirit.

There are believers today who have every determination to serve God and who live a commendable Christian life, and yet refuse the idea that if they do not continue in their serving of the Lord they will be punished.

We have pondered this phenomenon. Either such people are leaving a loophole for themselves in case they desire to sin (which we doubt); or they are deathly afraid that they will not please God and are clinging to the hope that if they fail they will be received anyway; or else they do not fear God.

We should not leave loopholes for ourselves. We should not attempt to change the Scriptures in order to provide security for ourselves. We should fear God—not just reverence God but fear God! If we do not fear God we are ignorant of spiritual reality.

The current emphasis on the goodness of God and the doing away with the severity of God are the same old voice: "Thou shalt not surely die."

If we will do the simple, practical things God requires of us each day, if we will seek to live righteously and delight ourselves in the Lord and His will, then there is no need to fear that the Lord Jesus will not take care of us or not bring us through successfully to the promised salvation.

Back to Study the Book of Second Corinthians

Back to Chapter Seven