Fear of God - wikipedia Fear of God For other uses, see Fear of God ( disambiguation ). Fear The Lord, St. Leonard 's, Spernall ( Deut. 10 : 20 ) Fear of God refers to fear or a specific sense of respect, awe, and submission to a deity. People subscribing to popular monotheistic religions might fear divine judgment, hell or God 's omnipotence. Contents 1 Bahá'í 2 Christianity 3 Islam 4 Judaism 5 Alternate views 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Bahá'í In the Bahá'í Faith, `` The heart must be sanctified from every form of selfishness and lust, for the weapons of the unitarians and the saints were and are the fear of God. '' Christianity According to Pope Francis, `` The fear of the Lord, the gift of the Holy Spirit, does n't mean being afraid of God, since we know that God is our Father that always loves and forgives us,... ( It ) is no servile fear, but rather a joyful awareness of God 's grandeur and a grateful realization that only in him do our hearts find true peace. '' From a theological perspective `` fear of the Lord '' encompasses more than simple fear. Robert B. Strimple says, `` There is the convergence of awe, reverence, adoration, honor, worship, confidence, thankfulness, love, and, yes, fear. '' In the Magnificat ( Luke 1 : 50 ) Mary declaims, `` His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. '' The Parable of the Unjust Judge ( Luke 18 : 1 - 8 ) finds Jesus describing the judge as one who ``... neither feared God nor cared for man. '' Some translations of the Bible, such as the New International Version, sometimes replace the word `` fear '' with `` reverence ''. It can also mean fear of God 's judgment. The fear of God is felt because one understands the `` fearful expectation of judgement ''. Still, this is not a fear that leads one to despair, rather it must be coupled with trust, and most importantly, love. In Psalms 130 : 3 - 4, it is said, `` If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand ? But with you there is forgiveness ; therefore you are feared. '' In the New Testament, this fear is described using the Greek word φόβος ( phobos, `` fear / horror '' ), except in 1 Timothy 2 : 10, where Paul describes γυναιξὶν ἐπαγγελλομέναις θεοσέβειαν ( gynaixin epangellomenais theosebeian ), `` women professing the fear of God '', using the word θεοσέβεια ( theosebeia ). Roman Catholicism counts this fear as one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Proverbs 15 : 33, the fear of the Lord is described as the `` discipline '' or `` instruction '' of wisdom. Writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Jacques Forget explains that this gift `` fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread, above all things, to offend Him. '' In an April 2006 article published in Inside the Vatican magazine, contributing editor John Mallon writes that the `` fear '' in `` fear of the Lord '' is often misinterpreted as `` servile fear '' ( the fear of getting in trouble ) when it should be understood as `` filial fear '' ( the fear of offending someone whom one loves ). According to Jerry Bridges, `` There was a time when committed Christians were known as God - fearing people. This was a badge of honor. '' Lutheran theologian Rudolf Otto coined the term numinous to express the type of fear one has for the Lord. Anglican C.S. Lewis references the term in many of his writings, but specifically describes it in his book The Problem of Pain and states that fear of the numinous is not a fear that one feels for a tiger, or even a ghost. Rather, the fear of the numinous, as C.S. Lewis describes it, is one filled with awe, in which you `` feel wonder and a certain shrinking '' or `` a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant of or prostration before it ''. It is a fear that comes forth out of love for the Lord. Islam Taqwa is an Islamic term for being conscious and cognizant of God, of truth, of the rational reality, `` piety, fear of God ''. It is often found in the Quran. Al - Muttaqin ( Arabic : لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ ‎ Al - Muttaqin ) refers to those who practice taqwa, or in the words of Ibn Abbas -- `` believers who avoid Shirk with Allah and who work in His obedience. '' Judaism See also : Devekut § Forms of love and fear of God The first mention of the fear of God in the Hebrew Bible is in Genesis 22 : 12, where Abraham is commended for putting his trust in God. In Isaiah 11 : 1 - 3, the prophet describes the shoot that shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, `` The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him : a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. '' Proverbs 9 : 10 says that `` fear of the Lord '' is `` the beginning of wisdom ''. The Hebrew words יִרְאַ֣ת ( yir'aṯ ) and יִרְאַ֣ת ( p̄aḥaḏ ) are most commonly used to describe fear of God / El / Yahweh. Bahya ibn Paquda characterized two types of fear as a lower `` fear of punishment '' and a higher `` fear of ( divine awe ) glory. '' Abraham ibn Daud differentiated between `` fear of harm '' ( analogous to fear of a snake bite or a king 's punishment ) and `` fear of greatness, '' analogous to respect for an exalted person, who would do us no harm. Maimonides categorized the fear of God as a positive commandment, as the feeling of human insignificance deriving from contemplation of God 's `` great and wonderful actions and creations. '' Alternate views Author Boyd C. Purcell and atheist Sam Harris have each compared doctrines promoting the fear of God to living under the Stockholm syndrome, where hostages feel a misplaced sense of connection and affection for the hostage taker. See also Fear appeal God - fearer Religious paranoia Taqwa References Jump up ^ `` Fear of God '', Bahá'í Library Online Jump up ^ Harris, Elise. `` Pope : Fear of the Lord an alarm reminding us of what 's right '', Catholic News Agency, June 11, 2014 Jump up ^ `` The Fear of the Lord ''. Opc.org. Retrieved 12 January 2015. Jump up ^ The New Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew as instruction. Jump up ^ Forget, Jacques. `` Holy Ghost. '' The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York : Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 3 September 2016 Jump up ^ Mallon, John ( April 2006 ). `` The Primacy of Jesus, the Primacy of Love ''. ISSN 1068 - 8579. Jump up ^ Bridges, Jerry. The Joy of Fearing God, p. 1, WaterBrook Press, 1997 Jump up ^ `` Taḳwā '', Encyclopaedia of Islam ( 2012 ). Jump up ^ Nanji, Azim. `` Islamic Ethics, '' in A Companion to Ethics, Peter Singer. Oxford : Blackwells, n ( 1991 ), pp. 106 -- 118. Jump up ^ `` The Meaning of Al - Muttaqin ''. Quran Tafsir Ibn Kathir. Retrieved 4 August 2015. Jump up ^ The New Jewish Publication Society of America Version translates the Hebrew as discipline. Jump up ^ `` Fear of God ''. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 12 January 2015. Jump up ^ Office of the Chief Rabbi Archived October 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Spiritual Terrorism : Spiritual Abuse from the Womb to the Tomb, by Boyd C. Purcell, page 199, 2008, ISBN 1434378888. External links Look up theophobia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikiquote has quotations related to : Fear of God Jewish Encyclopedia : Fear of God Bauck, Whitney. `` Putting the Fear of God in the Fashion Industry '', Christianity Today, August 19, 2016 Compilation of Bible verses Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fear_of_God&oldid=856387910 '' Categories : Religious belief and doctrine Christian terminology Positive Mitzvoth Fear Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Articles containing Arabic - language text Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Авар Български Català Cebuano Čeština Deutsch Español Esperanto Italiano עברית Polski Русский Tagalog 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 24 August 2018, at 20 : 39 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: what does fear of the lord mean catholic
Answer: the "discipline" or "instruction" of wisdom