Anyone who has interacted with a Christian in America is familiar with the phrase “God-fearing Christian.” What exactly is meant by fear in this context? Does God want his devout followers to be afraid of him? The Bible frequently mentions fearing God. According to some, the Bible contains more than 300 instances of this. For the purposes of answering these questions, I limited myself to some fifty different cases from both the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament. In pursuit of answers, I attempted to determine in every case whether the fear of God (or the Lord in some instances) mentioned in the verse came in the form of a command or simply as an idea within the author’s religious views. Additionally, I considered the Greek words that corresponded to the usage of “fear” in modern translations. For simplicity’s sake, I referenced the English Standard Version for the verse in its context and Strong’s Greek/Hebrew Concordances for its meaning.

It comes as a surprise to some people as they explore the history of the Christian and Jewish faiths that these traditions have not always held monotheistic views – strictly believing that only one god exists and that god is the Lord, God. Their surprise is wholly justified, as both of these traditions have held these beliefs for many centuries at this point. That said, Judaism, and later Christianity, struggled internally to come to consensus, and these evolving perspectives help paint a picture of when and how these faiths came to accept their modern-day beliefs.

Practitioners of many religious traditions have one or more powerful entities with which they associate the machinations of the world or the powerful forces within the world. These beings are ordinarily called gods in Western discourse of religion. Christianity is no exception to this practice, although it does muddy the waters to outside interpreters. In the Christian faith, there is only one God, but this God also has a divine son – Jesus, as well as a divine spirit – the Holy Spirit. A majority of Christians subscribe to the idea of a trifecta God, that is to say that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are coeternal (all three existed before time and are eternal) and cosubstantial (all three are of the same substance, yet different in aspects) divine persons; this belief is called Trinitarianism.[1] In contrast, Unitarian Christians affirm that God is singular and unique in his role. Consequently, Jesus is not equal to God, nor is the Holy Spirit.

The story of Jonah is one of the most commonly retold biblical stories in many circles, particularly to Sunday School classes. The Book of Jonah is oftentimes interpreted through a strictly metaphorical lens, but a sizable group considers the whole of it as a literal history. Regardless of the story’s historical reality, readers have commonly misunderstood the passage of Jonah being eaten. The popular depiction of this scene, especially in art, suggests a whale swallowed Jonah. Although this interpretation is common, there is no textual evidence to imply this case. The debate over this detail is complex and longstanding. To provide clarification for what the text can impart, it is necessary to review the original Hebrew text, the later translation into Greek, and the themes of the story as a whole.