Five Types of Fear in the Bible
In Afghanistan, we came with our credentials, our degrees, our expertise; in reality we were like babes at living and finding meaning beyond the veil, the walled compounds, and guns at every corner.
- Anna Hampton
The Greeks and Romans have been used by God in significant ways to civilize the world and spread the Gospel. We should not throw out our history and our culture.
However, critical evaluating past philosophies and thinking of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and their disciples help us see where Greek Philosophy diverged from the teachings of Jesus. When it comes to how we think and talk about fear and courage, I’ve wondered if we unthinkingly repeat the views of Plato and the Stoics on fear and courage and put a Bible verse on top. To form theology on life-and-death matters without critical evaluation of where the Greeks and Romans have subtly influenced our thinking is foolishness.
When we mix Scripture and a pagan worldview, it’s called syncretism. Syncretism is mixing two things that don’t go together, like Catholicism and animistic cultures. What comes out is an unrecognizable unorthodox Catholic faith.
As one persecuted Central Asian believer told us,
"Stop exporting American fear to us."
Fear is a common feeling when advancing the Gospel in dangerous areas where we risk our lives. Fear is one of the eight major categories of emotions (1), and includes numerous shades from mild anxiety all the way to paralyzing horror.
Philosophers, theologians, and soldiers have weighed in on this. Soldiers of war have most likely given it the deepest and most personal thought. For them, it's crucial to decide if they have been courageous or not, did they have courage, did they have enough courage, did they do the right thing?
A few thoughts:
1. Opposites
Fear is not the opposite of faith.
Fear is not the opposite of courage
Unbelief is the opposite of faith.
Cowardice is the opposite of courage.
What is fear the opposite of? Is it an opposite? Is it an underlying current to everything, including anger, and we must factor its positive and negative influences?
2. Fear and Sin
Fear in and of itself is not sin. "Fear is a normal response to threat. Like pain, it is a gift of God intended to keep us safe. Feeling guilty for feeling fear in a situation of threat is like feeling guilty for feeling hungry when you haven't eaten. It's something your body does, not your will. The challenge is to respond appropriately." (2)
3. Interconnections That Refuse to be "Put In A Box."
Courage, Cowardice, and Fear are elusive They have a wide range of nuances and characteristics; they are both actions and attitudes, a psychology, a theology, traits of character. They clearly have a range to be mapped out, and are complex, interconnected and related.
4. The Danger of Abnormality Becoming Routinely Normal
When fearful things become routine, courage may easily become foolish, unthinking courage, or this could be a good thing. The point is, are people thinking about this and what do they do when new people come into the abnormal situation that has become normal to the old timers?
"When courage is annexed to good things like skill and experience, these may arguably undo the possibility of courage by making fearful things routine matters and thus not so fearful at all."
5. Jonah is Not A Biblical Example of Running Away from Risk
Jonah DID NOT run away because he was afraid. This is one of the most repeated untruths in the Church. He is often brought up as someone who ran from danger. The first principle of interpretation of the Bible text is to let the Bible interpret itself.
Jonah says why he ran away -- he clearly did not run away because he was running from danger or because he was afraid. I prefer to leave him out of most risk-related discussions except in the context of listening to and obeying God's voice.
6. Greek-based Theological Malpractice
Aristotle's view on fear is not Biblical but infuses Western Church theology like a Turkish tea bag.
While it is good that a person who struggles with fear is able to control their fear, Aristotle was of the opinion that the person that never struggles with emotions, such as fear, is the better more virtuous courageous person. It is from this philosophical teaching that I believe modern day preachers teach their people such unsound teaching that "Faith is the opposite of fear, so to have fear is to sin" and "Ignore your fear."
However, those who ignore their fear and don't take into account what it is trying to tell you may miss some very important data, either for their own transformation or to stay away from danger, or to assess the danger and then enter into it. Either way, ignoring fear does nothing to help our resilience, and in fact decreases our resiliency and increases fear simply because we haven't faced it.
Facing our fear, assessing it, naming it, and then choosing the appropriate action is what will increase our courage, our faith, and glorify God the most.
Why does the Bible tell us repeatedly to "not fear?" Clearly, it is a human trait, and God is patient, so I cannot agree with Aristotle. Furthermore, the men who were sent home in the story of Gideon's battle with the Midianites were not condemned for their fear. Their fear disqualified them only in that situation.
5 General Categories of Fear in the Bible
When we discuss fear from the Biblical perspective, there are five main categories of fear that are nuanced. Instead of saying “don’t fear,” or the common pop Christian song that repeats, “fear is a liar, ”it would be more helpful to encourage people to “consider your fear” and then choose the righteous course of action. This takes discernment and reflective thinking which can result in transformation and re-ordered fears and loves. Fear is not always a liar, and to ignore it is foolish.
We have to deal with the source of our fears. They may be part of our internal dialogue or real physical, psychological, and spiritual dangers threatening us from the outside. We can be far along in processing one type of fear but have trouble with another source of fear.
The most common fear word in the Hebrew Bible is Yare. According to TWOT, this word is used in five general categories:
The emotion of fear.
the intellectual anticipation of evil
reverence or awe
righteous behavior
formal religious worship.
Notice we have both an emotion of fear, thoughts about fear of evil (happening to us), and fear of God that leads to righteousness. We may engage in religious worship, however, without a proper fear of God. So this one word, Yare, can mean all of these things, and it takes reflection to consider what the source of our fears are.
Another way of describing the human daily experience of fear is in terms of their source.
1. Fear of God - Proverbs 1 teaches us to fear God, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The word is translated into English as "fear." It is probably better translated "awe." But awe is on the spectrum of fear, so it is still helpful. We are to have a holy fear of a holy God, that He sees all and knows all and that our desire is to please Him.
Knowing that he sees and knows all gives us a healthy awe (or fear) to do the right thing, even when no one is looking.
2. Fear of Man - we fear what others will think. We fear what others may do or say to us. Jesus was quite clear on this one in Matthew 10 and 24. He told us not to worry about what to do or say when dragged before kings and judges. He will give the words to say. Jesus told us that parents will betray children, children will betray parents; brother betray sister, friend betray friend. But we are to fear God the most - He is the one who can put our soul in hell.
3. Fear of Self - this is probably the one most sung and preached about, but again, without appropriate nuancing. We all have insecurities, weaknesses, wrong thinking about ourselves, feelings of inadequacy, feelings of failure. This is quite normal and is an area all humans need to work through. These fears can paralyze and keep us from acting.
4. Fear of Danger - Fear is a natural human emotion that comes when we face threat of any kind. This is an appropriate God-given warning signal. We are made in his image. Fear at the appropriate time is actually imaging God. Jesus clearly felt fear in the Garden, and three of the Gospels record this.
Clearly, when we feel fear, as Jesus did, we are to turn to our Heavenly Father and ask for help. But we are also called to faithfully obey, and not be paralyzed by fear.
5. Spirit of Fear - this is not from God. This one is external to us, although we may sense his presence internally, it will be discerned differently from the others. When we experience this spirit, we know we are on the right track of whatever we are called to do that day, so keep pressing on by rebuking the spirit of fear, ask God for help, and keep on moving.
To learn more, click on the Fear Management page to see the path through fear. Consider reading Facing Fear: The Journey to Mature Courage in Risk and Persecution where I dive much deeper into fear and what practical courage looks like.
On the hunt for Mature Courage.
Sources
(1) Peter Scazzerro, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Mature.
(2) Excerpt from private e-mail correspondence between me and the former Pastor to the International Christian Community, Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 18, 2018
(3) William Ian Miller, The Mystery of Courage
