PHOBOS

THE RIGHT AND WRONG FEAR

PHOBOS means 'fear', and all ages of Greek phobos is what is sometimes known as 'middle word.' That is to say, the word is to say, the word itself is quite neutral, and, according to the way in which it is used and the context in which it occurs, it can have either a good or a bad meaning, and can describe something which is useful and praiseworthy, or evil and contemptible. In Greek phobos, 'fear' can be characteristic either of the coward or of the truly religious man.

In classical Greek phobos has three main meanings.

    1. In Homer it nearly always means 'panic' or 'flight,' 'Panic-stricken flight,' says Homer, 'which is the companion of chilling phobos, fear' (lliad,9.2). Phobos in early Greek had always in it the idea of running away, of fleeing panic-stricken from battle.
The passive of the corresponding verb, phobeisthai, means 'to be put to flight,' and it is the opposite of the verb hupomenein, from which comes hupomone, and which means 'to stand fast' and to endure.'The word has in that failure of nerve which makes a man take to his heels and flee.'

    2. More generally in classical Greek phobos means 'fear' in the widest sense of the term. It is the opposite of tharros, which means 'courage.'

    3. Lastly, in classical Greek, phobos means 'awe' or 'reverence' for some exalted ruler and especially for some divinity or some god. It is the feeling which a man experiences in the presence of someone who is infinitely his superior.

In the New Testament the word is common and occurs about 47 times. First of all, let us look at it in the Synoptic Gospels and in Acts.

It is used of the reaction of the disciples when they saw Jesus walking on the water. Mat.14:26 and when He stilled the storm Mark 4:41. It is used of the reaction of the people after the healing of the paralyzed man Lk. 5:26, after the raising of the widow's son at Nain Lk.8:37. It is used of the feeling of Zacharias when he saw the angel of the Lord beside the altar Lk.1:12, and of the spectators when Zacharias recovered his speech Lk 1:65. It is used of the shepherds when the stone was rolled back from the door and they saw the angels countenance as lightening Mtt.28:4, and of the women as they went home after seeing the empty tomb Mtt. 28:8. It is used of the feelings of men in the midst of the shattering events of the last days Lk 21:26.

In Acts it is used of the feeling in men's minds when they saw the signs and wonders and felt the power in the early Church Acts 2:43. It is used of the reaction of the people after the death of Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:5,11. It is used of the discomforted heathen exorcists at Ephesus Acts 19:17. The Church is said to walk in the phobos, the fear of the Lord Acts 9:31.

In not one case in the Synoptic Gospels or Acts is phobos used in a bad sense. In every case it describes the feeling in a man's heart when he is confronted with the Divine power in action. It always describes the feelings of a man when he finds himself in the presence of what Otto [The Great] Holy Roman Empire (936-973) called 'the wholly other,' when he finds himself face to face with something outside and beyond and different than himself, something which he cannot understand.

There is here the truth that there can be no religion without reverence. Between God and man there is 'intimacy' but not familiarity. It describes the feeling of the man who is 'lost in wonder, love and praise.' It describes that awe which comes upon the creature in the presence of the Creator. In a famous sentence Swinburne wrote: 'Glory to man in the highest, for man is the master of things.' Phobos is the very opposite of that, for, in its highest sense, phobos is the essential reverence of man in the presence of God.

In the rest of the NT the word phobos is a much more complicated word. It can have both a good and a bad sense. GOOD SENSE:

    1. In many cases the word 'fear' translates phobos in the AV where the meaning is rather 'reverence' than 'fear'. In Acts it is said the Churches were 'walking in the fear of the Lord,' Acts 9:31, that is the Christians were living reverent lives. It is Paul's condemnation of the heathen world that there is no 'fear of God' before their eyes Rom. 3:18. Reverence, respect for God. was entirely lacking. Peter talks about passing our sojourning here in 'fear' IPeter 1:17. a man must be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies in him with meekness and 'fear' I Peter 3:15. In this sense phobos describes the feeling of the man who is living in the shadow of eternity, who is always conscious of God, and walks in God's will, while realizing he that he no longer walks, in sin because that man reckons sin to no longer control him, but now walks in the Love of God and thus is 'doing in remembrance of Him.'

    2. This phobos, this 'reverence,' this 'awareness' of God's presence, is the source of certain great things. It is the source of the 'chased conversation' of WORD. He will guard over his own word, so as to also to do (live) it, as Christ did. So walk in His LOVE.

    3. This phobos, is the source of 'holiness' II Cor. 7:1. Because God is holy, God's man must be holy too. There must be a difference in the Christian life and that difference finds its motive power and mainspring in the sense of God.

    4. This phobos is connected with the 'godly sorrow' that brings repentance II Cor.7:11. Repentance must have as one of its roots the feeling of inadequacy, of failure, of unworthiness in the presence of God. That feeling produces in the first instance phobos, the sense of abasement of the creature in the presence of the Creator.

    5. This phobos is the source of Christian effort Phil. 2:12. The Christian must work out his own salvation WITH phobos, 'fear', and trembling. In Is. 11:2 the fear of the Lord is part of the Spirit of the Lord. And in Prov. 8:13 it is good to see what the (Spirit) fear of the Lord is. It is seen here that the Holy Spirit is the Power that brings to the Christian, the ability to hate evil in the same manner as God hates evil. So it's WITH this Divine Holy Spirit power nature of Jesus Christ dwelling within, does he see the revelation of God's Holiness, thus bringing him to loathe the same evil as God loathes, of pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the froward mouth. The man trembles because of the shaking power of the Holy Spirit being manifested, thus shaking all things that need expelling, so that that, which is of God, remains.

    6. This phobos is the basis of the 'mutual respect' and 'mutual service' which Christians are bound to render to each other Eph. 5:21. Christians live in the Spirit presence of God. All must be conscious, not only of their own salvation, bur also of the brother for whom Christ died. Christians, because of their common reverence for God, also reverence each other.

    7. This phobos can be 'the motive power of persuasion' II Cor. 5:11. It is because he knows the phobos of God that Paul seeks to persuade the Corinthians. It is altogether completely wrong to exercise the threat from the Christian message. Christianity always comes to men with a promise and an offer. The promise of life eternal. Jn 17:3.

    8. The Pastoral Epistles have one rather special instance of phobos. Christian discipline is to be publicly exercised that others may see it and 'fear'.I Tim. 5:20. It is an interesting thought that Christian discipline is to be exercised not only for the sake of the man who sinned, but also as a means of warning the man who observes, so he may also phobos (learn to hate evil as God does).

It can easily be seen that In the NT the thoughts of phobos are known as, seeing the holiness of God, and in love and respect one keeps his spiritual awareness sharpened towards Him and he will become sensitive to the difference between holiness and evil. He is drawn to stand in agreement with the Holy Spirit, so that Holiness releases God's love, peace and joy on the inward parts. It's not until that man sees God's merciful love, that he will become aware of how dreadful evil is. This causes respect towards God, and a constant awareness and desire of God's merciful presence to remain manifested in him.

We will now turn to the other side of phobos, the side in which phobos is an evil thing.

    1. Before we turn to the bad side of phobos we must look at two things which are not bad in themselves, but which could become bad. Phobos describes the 'natural shrinking' from some difficult task. So Paul uses phobos of his own feelings regarding the unhappy situation in the church of Corinth IICor. 7: 5, 2: 3. Such a phobos is natural and inevitable. The more sensitive a man is the more acutely it will be known in him. In itself it is nothing to be ashamed of, but when it stops a man from doing what he knows he ought to do, or facing what he knows he should face, it may hamper the flow of the work of the Holy Spirit through him. This man, however can learn to have confidence in Jesus Christ, through a period of time, as he becomes aware that he can learn to trust in the Lord. The Holy Spirit will work with him to bring him to the place of total trust, as he steps out in obedience, and sees the Lord's performance as he looks hindsight. Time upon time, he can gain more and more confidence in the Holy Spirit, and gain release from this phobos.

    2. And now we come to the bad side of phobos. There is a phobos which is characteristically the bad man's emotion. Rom 13:3. In the face of authority the upright man has nothing to fear. Phobos is in a child of evil-doing. And then there is the child of evil-doing that goes past phobos [respect] of good. His heart becomes hardened towards good, and desires evil above it.

    3. There is the phobos, the fear of death Heb. 2:15. An American journalist set high on the list of his personal rules for life. 'Never to allow myself to think of death.' It was DR Johnson who declared that the fear of death was so naturally ingrained into man that life was one long effort to keep it at bay. That is a phobos from which the Christian's hope must deliver a man. Jesus Christ partook death, and destroyed him who has the power over death, that is the devil. And Jesus delivers them who all their lifetime were in bondage of the fear of death. Death was swallowed up of Him.

    4. Phobos and legalism go hand in hand. Legalism reduces a man to being a slave instead of a son, and the characteristic feeling of the slave is phobos, 'fear' Rom. 8:15.
It was Paul's belief that religion dominated by law cannot issue in anything else but fear. But the Christian holds a faith dominated by grace, in which he is a son of love and not a slave of law.

    5. The cure for phobos, 'fear' , is love I Jn. 4:16,18. Perfect love casts out fear. Fear, said John, has torment I Jn 4:18. Fear has to do with death, and that is associated with punishment, but the Christianity teaches us to think not so much of the vengeance, but of the love of God, and not so much of punishment, but of the working of mercy within the soul of the Christian, which is called grace.
    When we put that saying of Paul and that saying of John together, we get a very interesting and suggestive thought. Together they go to prove that fear is the sign of an inadequate religion. When fear becomes the motive power of religion it means that a man is thinking of religion in terms of law and judgment, but when they become so dominate that they oust grace and love from a man's life, they issue in an inadequate religion.

    6. Phobos 'fear', is the cowardice which prevents a man from bearing the Christian witness. This is a characteristic usage of the Fourth Gospel. Fear of the Jews kept men from confessing their faith in Jesus Jn. 7:13. It kept the disciples terrified and behind locked doors after the crucifixion Jn 20:19. It is that which may prevent a man in time of trouble from showing those he is and whom he serves I Pet. 3:14. Phobos destroys the essential heroism of the Christian faith.
    In the NT phobos is one of the great words. There can be no religion at all without the awe of the creature in the presence of the Creator, who is THE Mercy-Love. The feeling of reverence, the awareness of God, is at once the *prophylactic against evil, the dynamic of the Christian life, and the mainspring of Christ-image. But when reverence turns into fear, in the lower sense of the term, then religion becomes a stunted and inadequate thing, which because it has lost it's grace, then it becomes Icchabod. The GLORY departs, and becomes headless. Then God no longer is the head, and man returns to his vomit, and his condition is worse that it was before.
    So what is the remedy? The Love of God. Be filled with the fullness of Him, through the workings of the Holy Spirit, who brings Life from the Word who becomes revealed in you. YET you must study to show yourself approved unto God. Seek Him, and He will make known the riches of His Glory. Dig into the Word of God, listen and obey the Holy Spirit's prompting and impressions in your soul. Then over a period of time fear will dissipate, and be overturned by Love of God. Give praise, honor and glory to HIM!

*Prophylactic: [that guards, preserves, and protects]