1 Peter 1:17-21; John 8:31-36, Fear (2)

The word fear has two meanings that share a common basis.  It can mean being afraid, scared or it can refer to reverence, awe.  Both definitions share the idea of a conscious awareness of an unseen presence or reality.  Peter is speaking to those who call on God as Father; He is the Judge of all men but for His children this inspires reverence.  Here is one description of this fear:

...the attitude of mind of the man who is always aware that he is in the presence of God ... The man who speaks every word and who performs every action and who lives every moment conscious of God. (Barclay)

It is reverential fear,

#         of God, as a controlling motive of the life,

#         Not a mere fear of His power and righteous retribution, but a wholesome dread of displeasing Him,

#         A fear which banishes the terror that shrinks from His presence,

#        And which influences the disposition and attitude of one whose circumstances are guided by trust in God, through the indwelling Spirit of God.

As Paul said in Rom 8:15: For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Let us now note a very powerful message from Peter about this: it has to do with the controlling thought out of which this fear of God must operate.  Our perspective of this fear of God is tied tightly to our redemption.  We fear God knowing that you were … redeemed. 

Redemption is defined in Scripture by the story of Ruth and Boaz in the Old Testament.  Boaz, out of love, paid the price of redemption for Ruth; he had to be and was near of kin to do this.  Thus he is called the kinsman redeemer.  He is a picture of Christ who is our Kinsman Redeemer.  He became one of us (kinsman) that He might pay the ransom, the price to redeem us from slavery to sin.  As Peter points out, that ransom price was not something as cheep as corruptible gold or silver; it was the precious blood of Christ.  There are three aspects to redemption.

·        That which we are purchased from which is slavery or captivity.  We are all held captive by sin, a point Jesus work hard to communicate to the Jews in John 8.  They proudly claimed to be no one’s slave, never bowing the knee to any ruler, even the Romans.  Yet they were enslaved to sin as is true of each of us.

·        That which we are purchased with which is the ransom, the price.  The picture comes from the Passover in the Law of Moses.  A male lamb, in the prime of life, without blemish, was sacrificed annually as the sacrifice for sin.  Jesus was the sinless Lamb of God.

·        That which we are purchased to which is the liberty of the sons of God.  Being redeemed we are no longer slaves to sin but sons of God, people of privilege.