You will forgive me if I do not have the Latin? I will have to address these from the Greek.
The word here in the Greek, same as where we get the word “phobia”. Surely you don’t think God wants us to be phobic about Him! No, it can also be rendered “reverence”. That we subject ourselves to one another because we reverence Christ, not because we are 'phobic" of Him.
Is this not the same “fear” spoken of in Isaiah 11:2 that we are given at Confirmation? This is a holy reverence, not “phobia” (that is what I mean by the “modern” sense of fear.)
I was not suggesting that we change the word. The poster asked the element of “fear of the Lord” in the context of a personal relationship. It is difficult to have intimacy with someone if you are “phobic” of them. However, to have a Holy reverence, or awe it is possible.
Dear Guanophore:
Thank you for your comments. Your posts are often helpful to me.
I suggest that “holy reverence” may be as obscure as “fear” in reaching the meaning of the Scriptures regarding “fear of the Lord, God, and Christ.”
The Latin in all three passages has some form of “timor,” that is fear, dread, apprehension, timidity, alarm, anxiety. The Greek in Ephesians is “phobos," panic, flight, fear terror. (I did not check the other two passages in Greek.)
I do not think that “phobia” is a good translation, because “phobia” has been associated with irrational responses in English. Rather, a serious and rational fear is what is meant in these Scripture passages.
The analogy would be something like “fire.” One should and does fear fire. This is rational. Fire is dangerous and can destroy homes and lives. In fact, it would be irrational not to fear fire. However, the proper response to this is not what we would call “phobia” in English. Rather, the fact that we fear fire causes us to take reasonable steps to address the risks of fire. We do this precisely so we do not have to be “afraid” of fire. One is afraid of fire when a fire has started and is actually threatening us. Rather, the response to our fear of fire is to consider it repeatedly and carefully – that is to to “re-spect” it – so that we do not have to be afraid and, in fact, we can use fire to good ends.
Similarly, human beings are dangerous. Anyone who is able to handle a knife is capable of killing us. To know a human being entails knowing and respecting this danger. It is part of the dignity of persons that they must be treated with some fear. They must be understood to be dangerous, and care must be taken to be courteous and show respect to them, so that we do not need to be afraid of them. But if we forget this respect, then we should be afraid.
Jesus is like this, but the Scripture comes to mind: “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition.) Jesus is the most dangerous man who has ever lived.
I agree with you, if we use the word “respect” rather than “holy reverence” (though these may amount to the same thing in what you were saying) then a relationship is possible. In fact, it is not only possible to have a relationship with someone we respect, it is impossible to have a relationship with someone for whom we lack respect.
However, I remain in doubt. Is the “person” whom some posters are claiming to “know personally” the actual Jesus? Is He dangerous, or is He only comforting and safe? Is He the “Good Shepard” who is always forgiving, as one poster suggested, or is He also the “torturing Lord” of Matthew 18:34. (Note this torture was for a debt that had already been forgiven. The forgiveness was revoked, because the Lord was so angry at the servant’s refusal to forgive another as he had been forgiven.) Is He the man of “hard sayings” who allowed many of His follows to leave (and likely be damned), rather than soft peddling His teaching in John 6:67?
If the “person” who is known in one’s heart is not this dangerous and judging man of hard sayings, as well as the Good Sheppard, then is it Jesus or something else?
Of course, the Good Sheppard is no softy either:
And David said to Saul: Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, or a bear, and took a ram out of the midst of the flock: And I pursued after them, and struck them, and delivered it out of their mouth: and they rose up against me, and I caught them by the throat, and I strangled and killed them.
For I thy servant have killed both a lion and a bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be also as one of them. I will go now, and take away the reproach of the people: for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, who hath dared to curse the army of the living God? 1 Samuel 17:34-36 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition.)
Laudatur Jesus Christus.
John Hiner
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