What does the Bible say about fear?

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, or pastoral care focused on fear. 

• The cold grip of fear shows up in the Bible with the advent of sin. As soon as they eat from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve sense their naked shame. When God comes to the garden for his daily walk, they slink away and hide, admitting their fear (Genesis 3:10, Adam admits his fear).

• Throughout the Bible, people in various circumstances are told not to fear:  

  • In some cases, this happens when they face a truly fearsome situation. When the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt, they turn around to find Pharaoh pursuing them. Their backs are to the sea — they're trapped. Moses reassures them, telling them to stand firm and await the Lord's deliverance (Exodus 14:13, Moses says not to fear).  

  • In other cases, people are told not to be afraid when they are confronted by God or one of the angels, as when the angel speaks to Mary at the annunciation (Luke 1:30, don't be afraid, for you are favored by God). 

• The Bible's wisdom literature echoes with the call to fear the Lord: 

  • Proverbs 9:10, fear of the Lord leads to wisdom (fearing God is the beginning of wisdom and insight)

  • Psalm 34:9, fearing God brings goodness (those who fear the Lord have everything they need). Some Bible versions translate fear as reverence, seeking to demonstrate the distinctive quality of this fear as a combination of awe and adoration, wonder and worship - a kind of holy love.

• Yet there is a sense in which God is truly fearsome:  

  • Psalm 36:1, no fear of God (the character of the wicked is that they don't fear God; they've fallen for a lie) 

  • Revelation 6:16, fear of God's justice (the wicked call for the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb) 

  • Hebrews 10:31, fear of God's righteousness (falling into the hands of the living God is a fearful thing) 

• Perhaps the deepest truth about fear in the Bible is that perfect love is its very antidote (1 John 4:18, perfect love drives out fear).  

Sermon ideas about fear 

In a sermon on fear, we can use a single sentence to illuminate the two meanings of fear found in the Bible: When we fear the Lord, we need fear nothing else in heaven or earth. Put another way, fearing God is a cure for our earthly fears.  

When we encounter the deep love of God in Jesus Christ, we are delivered from fear once and for all, whether that's fear of God's judgment or fear of the evil that might overtake us in the world. Like a child in the arms of a parent, we are safe from our fears in the arms of our loving God. 

The theologian Frederick Buechner wrote about fear in connection with God's grace, saying, "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you" (from a sermon illustration published on Preaching Today).  

Excerpts about fear 

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org sermon resources about fear: 

• "The terror in their eyes and in their voices comes not when they are shaking Jesus awake to ask if he doesn't care whether they live or die but only when they are asking each other, 'Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!'" Sermon Preparation, Sermon Illustration by Scott Hoezee from Center for Excellence in Preaching  

• "Fear! The emotion hardly seems commendable. 'Fear,' observes Aristotle, 'is caused by whatever we feel has great power of destroying us, or of harming us in ways that tend to cause us great pain.'1 If this is so, then in what sense can fear be part of the life of faith, the purpose of which is to draw us close to the great power of God who saves rather than harms us?" by Russell Reno from Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University  

• "Now I gather from the plentifulness of 'Fear nots,' even in the Old Testament, that the Lord does not wish his people to be afraid, that he is glad to see his people full of courage, and especially that he does not love them to be afraid of him. He would have his children treat him with confidence. Slavish fear may be thought to be congenial to the Old Testament, and yet it is not so, for there the Lord cries to his chosen, 'Fear not.'" Fear Not by Charles Spurgeon from the Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching