Araneae
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.1 John 4:18 NASB
Involves punishment– What does fear have to do with punishment? If we can’t answer that question, then we probably can’t understand what John is trying to communicate about perfect love. The verb here is pretty straightforward, although its umbrella of meanings does add something to our examination.
“échein in Secular Usage. This term means ‘to have’ in various senses, ‘to have in, on, around, over, or with,’ ‘to own,’ ‘to enjoy,’ ‘to possess.’ In Greek philosophy it is used with abstract terms, e.g., with qualities or with fellowship, which may be with gods or demons as well as other people (for Christians with Christ or God).”[1]
So we might note that fear is experienced, perhaps, as “around,” “over,” “with” or “on,” and it involves, according to John, the sense of possession, as if we are owned by it. It doesn’t take much personal reflection to understand this. What’s important is that John decides to pair this with kólasis (punishment). This is a very rare word:
“This word, meaning ‘punishment,’ is used for divine punishment in 2 Macc. 4:38; 4 Macc. 8:9. In the NT it occurs in Mt. 25:46: Those who fail the practical ethical task will go away to eternal punishment. The only other instance is in 1 Jn. 4:18, which says that fear is its own punishment (cf. 3:18). This fear is driven out by love, which is free from every fear.”[2]
The verbal form, kolázō, connects John’s usage to Jewish history because the verb means, “to cut short,” “to trim,” “to impede,” “to restrain,” and “to suffer loss.” Since John could intend his readers to imagine God’s divine punishment, these alternate meanings drag us quickly back to themes in the time of the exodus and in the book of Numbers. One of the worst possible things that could happen to someone in the enmeshed communal world of the ancient Semites is to be removed from the group. Excommunication was a serious threat, not as the Church used it for centuries but rather as the equivalent of connection to death. No one survived on his own. Does this remind you of Cain’s plea in Genesis 4? We tend to think of punishment as corporal, but from a Hebraic/Jewish perspective, emotional separation was hell on earth, and afterward.
Now maybe we can answer the question, “What does fear have to do with punishment?” It isn’t about getting a beating or serving time in incarceration. It’s about the devastating prospect of emotional isolation. Since we owe our very identity and self-consciousness to involvement with others, this is truly the nightmare of kólasis. God isn’t going to take you out behind the wood shed. What you’ll experience is absence. The sense of being alone will deepen. The sky will be a lead ceiling, the earth hidden beneath impenetrable, man-made, concrete. You will be a stranger to others and to yourself, surviving in a cocoon woven by the Araneae (spider) yetzer-ha’ra.
John doesn’t want this to happen. Clearly, neither do we. But if “perfect love” is the only antidote, and it evaporates in the heat of everyday living, how are we going to avoid this living trauma? Is it really our fault if we can’t seem to muster the spiritual strength to love perfectly?
Ah, maybe that little word inversion (perfect love vs. love perfectly) is really the key. We’ll see.
Topical Index: punishment, kólasis, fear, perfect love, 1 John 4:18
[1]Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (286). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
If the curses are about a reset for another chance – a heavier deterrent so as to (hopefully) make us less likely to think that particular choice is going to give us love next time – they also are a chance for God to take pity on us who are suffering so, for the heaviness of the curses make it more likely that we will seek divine relief. So curses are God’s continued blessing even when we are sinning, for the only thing He has to bless us with is Himself: “oh cut me not off from your presence” is how we keep ourselves on the receiving end of God’s blessings.
So if the curses are not punishment proper – if they are God’s continued guidance even when we choose a detour, in fact – what about ‘real’ punishment? You know, the stuff that ‘pays’ for sin, like some archaic tooth for tooth? Doesn’t God punish? Well, the verse doesn’t exactly point to Him as the source for the torment: it identifies the source as coming from the sin of fear itself, which could make sin a kind of god: a disciplinary power over our lives. To serve fear, then, is to place ourselves under its power to make us miserable. If you think about it, punishment is about separation from God, but He promises to NEVER leave us or forsake us, and that promise is about His character (which makes it unconditional) – not about where we may or may not be in relation to Him. Fear is not where He leaves us, after all; fear is about where we leave Him.
What about the torment promised at the judgment seat of God at the end of the age? Isn’t that punishment? Well, Rev. 21:8 and other places tell us that “the fearful” will be on the outside of the Holy City, where all that torment is taking place. Judgment Day is not about God doing what He wants after all: it is about Him finally setting aside His one-sided controversy with the nations: His one-sided obsession with drawing us to Himself. I think punishment is where God agrees with our choice to avoid Him and turns us over to the gods (powers over us) we chose, with annihilation (which is the only way we CAN be “separated from the love of God”) being the choice all sin is really making. Fear is the tormentor we should have had enough experience with to decide to never let it in to our holy place – our mercy seat for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – which is our part in that great City of God. May we learn not to be “habitations for demons” and thus be a participant in our own torment and destruction today!
Probably like the majority of people I was brought up being taught to fear. Thus, I had lived under a cloud of fear through my growing up years and then having been connected with the church during and after that, the fear continued. From walking on eggshells with those in authority ( parents, older brothers, teachers etc.) to walking on egg shells around God. Trying to stay hidden, like Adam and Eve, fearing the retribution for my sin. What a horrible existence! In so many ways, what a tragedy, a loss of years being under the dominance of performance, never knowing when and in what fashion the punishment was going to occur. Now that God has told me, that he has not given me a spirit of fear, I am extricating myself from that mindset. If I get sick, it is not the punishment of God. The fear of that punishment then, causes me to try and behave myself so as not to incur further punishment, discipline, whatever. Truth be told, it’s more like Skip is teaching, the fear is actually so much more than punishment per se like going to the woodshed, being afflicted, shame, blame etc. but it’s fear of losing God’s love ( Presence) That is the real torment. This belief system,or this way of thinking was bred into me at a very young age. Talk about breeding a sense of insecurity! Oy vey! In order to have sustained, unconditional love it was based on performance. So one sin piled upon another, upon another, upon another caused me to go deeper and deeper into hiding. Now truth is leading out of my prison . Of course, in truth, I am freed from my prison, so I am in the process of recognizing that and being free.
Somewhere along the line, the church has handed me teaching that is more for control than anything else ! This is an area I will really need help in, forgiving the church for us so much damage and bondage. The teaching of what God is like. The teaching that God is like my father. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even those Christian leaders who were in control and in charge and representing God, painted a distorted picture of God to me. A God who was impossible to please, a God who was harsh, sullen, moody unpredictable, impossible to please, always on a low boil of anger, ready to be poured out.
So you could say, I got messed up. I wasn’t acceptable. So I found ways to console myself and ways in which I was acceptable. And so the story goes…. at least for me!
Thank you Skip for making this available, for leading us out into truth, to get us to think for ourselves and speak for ourselves, to process and come up with our own conclusions !
Also, thank you Laurita, for your understanding, your constant input, and your kind and gentle spirit, so healing ! You guys are a gift to my life from God !
Another thought. Sin produces fear and then fear keeps us trapped. But aren’t we the ones that choose to sin? Hasn’t Christ set us free from sin, from its power? Is it that we don’t recognize this truth that we continue to be servants of sin, thus living in fear of losing God’s presence? What can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus….me? Should I fear myself, my greatest enemy? Yetzer ha ra, as you say?
Back in 2008 when I was down and out, my family would continually tell me I had so much to be grateful for. Now no one in my family is wealthy at least I don’t think, but probably comfortable. My family was quite dismissive of me as in get over it. Now that I am at least mentally and emotionally more clear about things, I see how fearful my family members are. They are financially secure in a way that I will probably never be. I would not want it to happen, but I have wondered how one of them would fare if they lost their money. If they would appreciate me telling them they have so much to be grateful for. Maybe we might call that a Job situation. Unsolicited advice. If you have people around you that are telling you you aren’t doing it right. You don’t measure up. You aren’t doing enough. Let me show you how it is done. You might want to stay away from people like that. Now those kinds of people are the ones who create real fear in another. It is a funny thing well maybe a sad thing that there have been significant people in my life that i cared about and trusted who do harmful things to me and want to call it love.
The separation aspect you brought up is somewhat similar to what R. Friedman says “Heaven” and “Hell” are like. The Soul being from God, so when the body dies it returns to God, what’s important is if the Soul lived a good “soul-like” life (Torah observant, i.e. perfect love) or not on Earth. If so great, when the Soul returns to God and the other Souls with God then it is part of the group again being Souls with God, but if not then it is like if; you went to some remote island and have diamonds and you try to trade there and they have an abundance of diamonds, so your diamonds are meaningless to them, but what is rare on the island is onions. So after a while of living on the island you aquire a huge supply of onions and decide to return home, forgetting that back home onions are not a delicacy and they stink. When you dock in the harbor, it has been days, possibly weeks, on the journey back and now your onions are really starting to stink. You are isolated because no one wants your stinky old onions. The Soul comes back to God smelling like onions and He thinks what happened to the diamonds I gave you. Friedman says the “burning” of ghenna is the purification of the soul, and being that the soul is immaterial how could it burn, it burns with shame, the same way that when we feel shame in regular life we don’t necessarily feel like we’re on fire, but it is some sort of burning sensation, maybe your ears turn red and get hot, inside us because of the shame. You can think about this when thinking about what happens after your body dies, or for in the now. Is there shame in your life that you feel, is it because you have diamonds in a place where onions are valuable or are you returning to God with a ship full of onions. Yeshua is the fulfillment of the Torah and the Torah is all about how to love God and love others as yourself, including strangers, for we were once strangers and know what it feels like. Torah/Yeshua is how to have perfect love, love perfectly.
Thoughtful comments that generated thoughtful consideration on my part, James…thanks!
One word Skip……. EXCELLENT
God’s love is a constant and abundant gift.
It’s available to whosoever believes Him enough to
surrender their old being to Him, and thus inherit the
freedom in Christ that is God’s heartfelt desire for all.
Fear is a dynamic that is SO real, God’s Word cautions
staying away from it 366 times! It can only manifest itself
when we allow ourselves to step away from our obedient
life of following Him. The moment we choose to get back into
an “old groove”, fear shows up. Likewise fear disappears when
we choose to get back in step with Him.
This remarkable gift never leaves us . . . we, however, can remarkably
walk away from it.