Views: 1<\/p>
[Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in\u00a0<\/strong>larger font on our Brief Articles 1<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n The 112<\/span>th<\/sup>Psalm begins as follows: \u201cPraise ye Jehovah. Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.\u201d This blessing upon the God-fearer is one of dozens of Biblical statements that either commends or enjoins our fear of God. Contrary to the contentions of modernistic and liberal theologians, these appear not only in the Old Testament.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The premise of such clerics is that the two Testaments depict two different \u201cGods.\u201d They allege that the \u201cOld Testament God\u201d is harsh, demanding, and wrathful, but the \u201cNew Testament God\u201d is all gracious and indulgent; He is our \u201cbuddy,\u201d \u201cpal,\u201d \u201cdaddy,\u201d or \u201cthe man upstairs\u201d\u2014Whom we need not fear. A close companion to this view of God is the false concept that the Old Testament is a book of law, containing little or no grace, but the New Testament is a \u201clove letter,\u201d containing no aspect of law. Thus the modernist\/liberal disparages the idea that, in the Christian age, we are to be concerned with keeping Divine commandments.<\/span><\/p>\n Truth be told, the Old Testament contains God\u2019s Law for His elect people who lived before\u00a0<\/strong>Calvary, revealing His wrath against the disobedient, but it also repeatedly reveals His grace and mercy. Likewise, while the New Testament is a message provoked by and filled with the love and grace of God through Christ, it is no less God\u2019s universal Law since\u00a0<\/strong>Calvary\u2014and He still demands man\u2019s obedience. Those who seek to rob the Gospel of its legal nature (i.e., \u201cWe are free from all law under Christ\u201d) thereby remove the need\u00a0<\/strong>for God\u2019s grace and forgiveness because of our sins. Do these antinomians not realize that in the absence of law sin does not exist (Rom. 4:15) because the very definition of sin\u00a0<\/em>is transgression of Divine law (1 John 3:4)? Thus no law equals no sin, and no sin equals no need for God\u2019s mercy and grace.<\/span><\/p>\n Fear\u00a0<\/em>in both Testaments may have more than one connotation (ranging from awe-inspired reverence to terror that causes trembling). The ordinary meaning of \u201cfearing\u201d God is obedience to God. Psalms 112:1 states as much, and this theme is borne out in other passages (e.g., Psa. 111:10; Deu. 6:2; 10:12; et al.).\u00a0 Fearing and loving God and His Son are thus parallel; obedience (not mere talk) is the means of demonstrating our Godward love (Mat. 7:21; John 14:15\u201324; 1 John 2:5; 5:3). Obedience\u00a0<\/em>implies commands\/laws. Solomon was right: our \u201cwhole duty\u201d still is to \u201cfear God and keep his commandments\u201d (Ecc. 12:13).<\/span><\/p>\n What about 1 John 4:18a: \u201cThere is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear\u2026\u201d? John is discussing one\u2019s attitude toward the Judgment. Christ-lovers do not tremble at it because they know they are living in obedience to Him.<\/span><\/p>\n [Note:\u00a0<\/strong>I wrote this article for and it appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, May 5, 2011.]<\/span><\/p>\n Attribution:\u00a0<\/strong>From TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Views: 1[Note: This MS is available in\u00a0larger font on our Brief Articles 1\u00a0page.] The 112thPsalm begins as follows: \u201cPraise ye Jehovah. Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.\u201d This blessing upon the God-fearer is one of dozens of Biblical…<\/p>\n