(phobia)
- Phobia is used 108 times in the New Testament. People are said to fear:
- Violence from other people. (Matthew 10:26, 10:28, 31, Luke 1:74, Acts 5:26, 16:38, 23:10, 27:24, Romans 13:7, 1 Corinthians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 7:5, Philippians 1:14, Hebrews 11:27, 13:6, Revelation 2:10) Being cast out of the synagogue or worse (John 7:13, 9:22, 19:38, 20:19)
- Revolution (the leaders feared) (Matthew 14:5, 21:26, 21:46, Mark 11:18, 11:32, 12:12, 19:21, Luke 20:19, 22:2)
- The violence of natural events (Matthew 8:26. Mark 4:40, Luke 8:50, 12:32, 21:11, Acts 27:17, 27:29, Hebrews 2:15)
- Being humiliated (Matthew 1:20, Luke 9:45)
- Supposed or real supernatural events (Matthew 14:26, 27:54. 28:4, 28:8, Mark 4:41, 5:33, 6:20, Luke 1:12, 1:65, 5:10, 5:26, 7:16, 8:37, 9:34, 12:7, 21:26, John 12:15, Acts 2:43, 5:5, 5:11, 19:17, Revelation 18:10, 18:15) Meeting an angel; the angel often began with “Fear not.” (Matthew 1:20, Matthew 28:5, Luke 1:13, Luke 1:30, Luke 2:10, Revelation 1:17)
- Satan (Luke 12:5)
- God (Luke 1:50, 18:2, 18:4, 23:40, Acts 9:31, 10:2, 10:22, 10:35, 13:16, 13:26, Romans 3:18, 11:20, 2 Corinthians 7:11, 7:15, Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, 1 Timothy 5:20, Hebrews 10:27, 1 Peter 2:17 – 18, 3:2, 3:15, Jude 12, 23, Revelation 11:11, 11:18, 14:7, 15:4, 19:5)
- Not God (Romans 8:15, 1 John 4:18)
- Bad reactions from fellow Christians (1 Corinthians 16:10, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 12:20, Galatians 2:2)
- The fate of the lost (2 Corinthians 5:11, 7:1, Ephesians 5:21, Philippians 2:12, Hebrews 4:1, Hebrews 10:31, 1 Peter 1:17)
- All passages about fearing God must work together
- Romans 8:15 and 1 John 4:18 caution against the attitude of fearing for self
- Christians are motivated by fear of what God will do to the lost
- Christians are not to be fearful of either natural or supernatural events