One person wrote on Reddit's r/Christian, "I thought i kept sinning by being scared of hell." Another asked on Reddit's r/Exvangelical, "At what point is fear a preservation instinct and not a sin?" A parent asked on Reddit's r/Reformed, "Is it a sin that children are afraid of these things, does this fear tie into our sinful nature?"
The Catholic, Orthodox and Reformed writers quoted here each treat the feeling of fear, on its own, as something other than sin. Thomas Aquinas finds the sin in fear that is "inordinate", the Catholic Catechism counts fear among the "natural components of the human psyche," and John Calvin says Christ did not blame his disciples "simply because they fear." They differ, sometimes sharply, about when fear becomes a sin.
If you only have a minute
Words for while you are afraid
Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you."
If the question keeps returning
That pattern has a name, scrupulosity, and a treatment.
Psalm 56:3-4, words to say while you are still afraid
The psalm's heading ties it to David among the Philistines in Gath. In 1 Samuel 21 he has fled from Saul into an enemy city, is recognized, and "was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath." The psalm opens under that pressure: "Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me. My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me." Then:
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Bible Nudge chose this passage for fear because it admits the fear in its opening words. The frightened man and the trusting man are the same person in the same verse. It gives you words to say while you are still afraid, with the fear and the trust side by side.
Say verse 3 once, slowly. Then ask the question that goes with it: what are you afraid of right now, if you say it plainly? Bible verses for fear of the future reads the psalm closely.
What the traditions say, in their own words
Aquinas, the Catholic theologian, writes that fear "is a sin through being inordinate, that is to say, through shunning what ought not to be shunned according to reason." The Catechism lists fear among the passions (1772) and says "The passions are morally good or evil insofar as they effectively engage reason and will."
The Orthodox Church in America says passionlessness leaves in place emotions such as "awe, sorrow or fear," and that "A right or wrong use of things, and the resulting effects show us as being either virtuous or sinful." John of Damascus counts fear among the "natural and innocent passions" Christ took on.
From the Reformed tradition, Calvin says of the disciples in the storm that Christ "does not blame them simply because they fear, but because they are timid." Christianity FAQ, a popular Protestant site, says fear is sin "when [it] is an expression of unbelief or distrust in God’s nature, character, or promises."
All of them look past the feeling to what it drives, and draw that line in different places.
Frightened people in Scripture
Scripture is full of frightened people who are not rebuked for the feeling. Hearing that Esau is coming with four hundred men, Jacob "was greatly afraid and was distressed" (Genesis 32:7), and he prays. Paul tells the church in Corinth, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3), and later, "Fightings were outside. Fear was inside" (2 Corinthians 7:5), until God "comforted us by the coming of Titus" (verse 6). Jesus says, "Now my soul is troubled" (John 12:27).
One person wrote on Reddit's r/Catholicism, "Yea I heard that it was a sin to be afraid to talk to people about Jesus." Paul did exactly that, and arrived in Corinth trembling. Bible verses for fear of death reads Jesus in Gethsemane.
The storm, and the question after it
In Mark 4 a storm is filling the boat at evening:
He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
The question comes to men in a boat full of water, after he has stilled the wind. In Matthew 14, Peter walks on the water, sees the wind, is afraid, and begins to sink. "Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him," and only then asks, "why did you doubt?"
Matthew Henry says there can be "cause for some fear," but that the disciples' fear prevailed until they "seemed to have no faith at all." David Guzik at Enduring Word, an evangelical commentary, writes that "the initial fear itself isn’t wrong." Bible verses for panic attacks reads the Mark scene during an attack.
"The fearful" in Revelation 21:8
In the King James Version, "the fearful" shall have "their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." The verse closes a vision of a new heaven and earth, straight after "He who overcomes, I will give him these things." The World English Bible, like most modern translations, reads "cowardly." The Greek word, deilois, is from the same family as the disciples' fear in Mark 4:40. Jack Cottrell, of the Restoration Movement, in The Restorer in 2014, reads it as cowardice under persecution that ends in falling away.
The fear of God is a different thing
"The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10). In Luke 12 Jesus says, "Fear him," and then at once, "Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows."
Aquinas, in question 19, separates servile fear, which fears punishment, from filial fear, "whereby a son fears to be separated from his father, and fears to offend him." Fr Hugh Barbour, on Catholic Answers in 2020, calls filial fear "motivated purely by the love of God." Matthew Henry sets "being afraid of God" beside "the fear of God," which can mean "high regard and veneration."
In 1 John 4:18, "perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment," and the NET Bible notes observe that it follows "boldness in the day of judgment." For the person who asked on Reddit's r/Christianity, "Is it a sin to not fear him?", this reverence is the fear these writers mean.
If the question will not let go
One person wrote on Reddit's r/Christian, "My biggest fear is going to hell. I am REALLY scared of going to hell. The thought of it scares me alot. And I think about this fear daily." Another wrote on Reddit's r/OCD, "I am worried I will go to Hell for picking the wrong religion."
The International OCD Foundation says "Scrupulosity is a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) involving religious or moral obsessions." Its clergy packet lists "That you have committed the unpardonable sin" among common obsessions, and its page for faith leaders says reassurance can "actually fuels the condition and deters their recovery." If the question returns however it is answered, that pattern has a name and a treatment: see a doctor or therapist who treats OCD, and a pastor or priest.
If 2 Timothy 1:7 has been used on you
On Reddit's r/Exvangelical, one person wrote of the verse, "I came to hate that phrase.", adding, "Mom is always afraid but nobody ever tells her its from the devil." In the letter, Paul remembers Timothy's tears and writes about his gift and the hardship ahead. The Fear record set it aside as a first passage because it can be heard as calling your fear a spiritual failure rather than a response to something real. Bible verses for courage reads it closely.
A commenter in that thread on Reddit's r/Christian wrote, "Fear is the opposite of faith." Psalm 56:3 holds both in one line: "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you." What the Bible says about anxiety answers whether anxiety is a sin.
For a parent whose child asked
In the same Reddit thread on r/Reformed, one reply asked, "Why would it be a sin to be afraid of the dark?" Another added, "It’s not just children, some of us adults never got over the fear of turning off the basement light then having to go upstairs. Yikes on a bike."
Give your child Psalm 56:3 as a line short enough to say in the dark, and tell them David was afraid too. Bible verses for fear of death has a section for a child who asks about dying.
Is "fear not" in the Bible 365 times?
One person asked on Reddit's r/Christianity, "Do you have a reliable source that says that it is repeated 365 times?" Shari Grenier, in 2017, combined several translations and wordings such as "Do not be afraid" and arrived at 121. A 2010 True Life BPC bulletin counts the exact King James phrase "fear not" at 62. The count depends on the translation and the words counted, and each "fear not" is spoken to particular frightened people.
When fear needs more than reading
The American Psychological Association, in the United States, calls fear "an appropriate, present-oriented, and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat," and anxiety "a future-oriented, long-acting response." Mind, a UK charity, says anxiety can become a problem when it "starts to interfere with our daily life or affect our relationships." A family doctor (a GP in the UK) is a good first call.
If fear has turned into thoughts of ending your life, please reach a person tonight. In the United States, call or text 988. In Canada, call or text 9-8-8. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans is on 116 123. In Australia, Lifeline is 13 11 14. Anywhere else, Find A Helpline lists services by country.
Where to go next
Read Psalm 56:3-4 with the verses around it and say verse 3 once. Or tell Bible Nudge what frightens you, and it can suggest one passage. Find a passage.
Words that come up here
Tap a term to see what it means.
Passions. Natural emotions such as fear, joy and sorrow.