Fear of God

Under the fear of God (also: Eusebie ) refers to the respect and reverence for God.

Christianity

The theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg describes the fear of God as follows: " fear God - that is to acknowledge God as God in his majesty and power, as the Creator, on which depends our lives at every moment, and as the court before which nothing is hidden. "

The fear of God means the right attitude of the deity and his will against; it is to cause the people not to transgress the commandments of God. The model of a godly people in the Hebrew Bible is Job. Fear of God is not understood as a fear in the sense of terror or fearful Eingeschüchtertseins. It leads to the observance of the commandments of God, and is seen as the beginning of wisdom. In the Old Testament book Ecclesiastes says, " Fear God and keep his commandments; because it applies to all people. " ( Koh 12.13 LUT). Solomon emphasized in the book of Proverbs: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Despise wisdom and discipline [ only ] the fool. " The term" fear God "is one of the Deuteronomic and wisdom literature.

In the NT the idea resigns. Only the aged prophet Simeon ( Lk 2,25 LUT) and the seller of purple, Lydia (Acts 16:14 LUT) are explicitly referred to as " God-fearing ". Otherwise, it is rather spoken of the " God-fearing ". This refers to either those that the Jewish commandments and customs strictly follow ( Lk 1,50 LUT), or those who live in the Diaspora loosely connected with the synagogue, but not officially converted to Judaism through or are not circumcised such as in (Acts 13:16 LUT ) or a Greek Jewish inscription in Aprodisias.

As a counterpart to fear God, people fear applies in the Christian Bible and tradition: the fear of defamation, discrimination, persecution and human, social, financial or physical damage with an open commitment to belief in God or to God's commandments. As a motto for the Christian rejection of the fear of man is considered the word of Peter: "You must obey God rather than men. " ( ( Acts 5:29 LUT) ) In Christianity, the martyrs are considered to be those people who have an exemplary manner put the fear of God on the human fear and sacrificed their lives for it.

Islam

In Islam, the fear of God according to the Qur'an is called Taqwa. Certain religious buildings were then called ( Taqwa Mosque).