Fear and Trembling

Paul has a very interesting phrase that he used in his epistle to the Philippians.  He told them, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).  He said something similar to the Ephesians when he counseled those who were “servants” to “be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ” (Ephesians 6:5).  In other words, just as unto Christ we look with “fear and trembling”, so should servants act towards their masters with that attitude.  Moroni also used similar language as he wrote to us in the last days.  He said, “Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him” (Mormon 9:27).  The attitude of coming before God with almost an anxiety as seems to be described in the phrase is, at least at face value, markedly different from other scriptural teachings of Paul’s and Moroni’s, such as the exhortation to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy” or the invitation to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” (Hebrews 4:16, Moroni 10:32).  So what it really meant in this invitation to fear and to tremble?    

                I don’t think the phrase means what we would interpret it in normal speech.  The Lord is not looking to make those who seek to follow Him fearful of Him or afraid of failing and not obtaining one’s salvation.  I think what is meant is that we must have a kind of vigilance and urgency before the Lord as we seek to follow Him; in other words, we must not be complacent.  I think the “fear and trembling” attitude is opposite to the kind of feeling that Nephi described in some in the last days: “And others will [the devil] pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell” (2 Nephi 28:21).  The problem with those that say “all is well” is that they feel no need to continue to repent but think that they are good enough and need no more significant improvement.  Those who fear God, on the other hand, recognize their dependence on Him and their need to continue to conform their lives to Christ’s teachings.  As the Bible Dictionary says about the kind of fear we should have towards God, “fear is equivalent to reverence, awe, worship, and is therefore an essential part of the attitude of mind in which we ought to stand toward the All-holy God” (see here).  We fear God not because we are afraid of Him but because we reverence Him and stand in humility before Him.  As for the word tremble, I think in the context of this phrase it connotes again a kind of complete humility before God, not necessarily that we are so troubled that we shake in fear.  Perhaps Paul and Moroni were actually both quoting this verse from the Old Testament: “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalms 2:11).  In that case the idea of trembling would be that we shake out of joy and rejoicing, not fear.  At any rate, in the same verse that Moroni told us to have “fear and trembling” he also said, “ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need,” so certainly this fear and trembling cannot mean that we are afraid to come before the Lord.  Just the opposite, we come before the Lord willingly and eagerly but with great respect, humility, and rejoicing that He will hear the prayers and supplication of His children.