1 PETER 2:17 Part 3: Fear God

HONOR ALL MEN.  LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.  FEAR GOD.  HONOR THE KING. -KJV

This blog is blog number 3 of 4.  If you haven’t yet, please go find and read parts one and two, “Honor All Men” and “Love The Brotherhood”.  In these four blogs, I am unpacking the four commands listed in 1 Peter 2:17.  This blog will focus on the third command from this verse, …

FEAR GOD.

In keeping with the structure of the previous blogs, I want to define the sentence.  And it’s really hard to define “Fear God” without scripture.  Why would we want to, anyways?  So, let’s dive in.

• Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.  Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”
• Job 28:28 “And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
• Proverbs 14:27 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all those who practice it have a good understanding.  His praise endures forever!”
• Ecclesiastes 12:13 ”The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

I could keep going, but I think these four give us a good understanding.  There are a lot more verses than this about fearing God.  What I believe it boils down to is this: a healthy, respectful fear.  Knowing that He made us and has the full ability and authority to decide our eternal destiny.  But it’s more than just being afraid of our eternity.

According to Proverbs 8:13, Job 28:28, and so many more, we are called to hate and turn away from evil. Proverbs 8:13 takes it a step further and mentions pride, arrogance, and perverted speech along with evil.  These are all things that I believe many believers are bad at and struggle with on a regular basis.  Getting rid of pride and arrogance is extremely challenging.  Breaking habits like perverted speech takes time.  But the bible says to do it.  And that it goes along with fearing God.

Job 28:28 and Proverbs 14:27 both mention the fear of the Lord being the beginning of Wisdom.  Both also mention having understanding.  We all wanna be wise, right?  We all wanna have understanding, right?  Who doesn’t want to be wise and have understanding?  Fear God.  That will get you on the right track.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 in the same six words lumps fearing God and keeping his commandments together.  So what are His commandments?  That’s a whole different blog series in and of itself.  But, if you don’t know His commandments, or want to study further into them, I’d go check out Matthew 22:36-40.  After that, look up Exodus 20:1-17.  These two passages will get you on the right track for the Lord’s commandments.

So, the fear of the Lord.  What does that mean?  Hating evil, keeping His commandments, and remembering that He is all powerful.  These things will bring us the beginning of wisdom and understanding.  So, get to fearing.