The Theology of Thomas Watson Series: Part 5
The Fear of God and the Death of Casual Christianity: Thomas Watson on Reverence, Awe, and Obedient Fear
There are few doctrines more misunderstood in modern Christianity than the fear of God. Even the phrase itself makes many people uncomfortable. It sounds negative, restrictive, or even unhealthy to modern ears. We prefer words like love, acceptance, and freedom. Fear feels out of place, almost like a threat to joy or assurance.
Thomas Watson would argue that this discomfort is not accidental. It is a symptom.
Watson believed that when the fear of God fades, Christianity does not become more loving or more free. It becomes casual. And when Christianity becomes casual, it slowly loses its strength. Holiness weakens because sin no longer feels serious. Obedience softens because God no longer feels weighty. Worship loses its gravity because awe has been replaced with familiarity.
Nothing dramatic has to change on the surface. The church can still gather. The songs can still be sung. The sermons can still be preached. But something essential is missing. The sense that we are dealing with a holy God. The awareness that we stand before someone infinitely greater than ourselves. The quiet, steady reverence that shapes how a believer thinks, speaks, and lives.
Watson would say that the fear of God is the difference between treating God as holy and treating Him as helpful. When God is reduced to a resource rather than revered as Lord, the Christian life subtly shifts. Prayer becomes casual conversation rather than a humble approach. Scripture becomes inspirational content rather than divine speech. Sin becomes manageable rather than deadly.
For Watson, the fear of God was not a fringe doctrine meant to scare people into obedience. It was central to a serious Christian life because it kept everything else in its proper place. Fear of God guards love from becoming sentimental. It guards grace from becoming permission. It guards freedom from becoming self-indulgence.
Watson believed reverent fear was not the enemy of intimacy with God, but the soil in which true intimacy grows. A believer who fears God does not keep his distance from Him. He draws near carefully, thoughtfully, and gratefully. He approaches God with confidence, but not with flippancy. With assurance, but not with entitlement.
In Watson’s mind, the question was never whether Christians should fear God. Scripture had already settled that. The real question was what kind of Christianity could survive without it. And his answer was clear. A Christianity without the fear of God may feel comfortable, but it will never be strong.
Why Modern Christianity Avoids the Fear of God
Watson lived in a culture that understood authority, reverence, and accountability. Ours does not. We instinctively resist anything that suggests restraint or submission, even when Scripture clearly commands it.
In A Body of Divinity, Watson does not treat the fear of God as optional or outdated. He treats it as foundational. He writes:
The fear of God is a holy awe of God, whereby the soul is afraid to offend Him.”
(Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)
That definition alone corrects many misunderstandings. Watson is not talking about terror or panic. He is talking about awe. Reverence. A settled awareness of who God is and who we are before Him.
Modern Christianity often assumes fear and love cannot coexist. Watson insists they must. Love without fear becomes sentimental. Fear without love becomes servile. But together, they produce careful, joyful obedience.
Servile Fear Versus Filial Fear
Watson carefully distinguishes between two kinds of fear.
First, there is servile fear. This is the fear of punishment. It belongs to slaves, not sons. It fears God as a judge only, not as a Father.
Second, there is filial fear. This is the fear of a child who loves his Father and dreads grieving Him.
Watson writes:
Servile fear is a fear of punishment; filial fear is a fear of offending.”
(Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)
Believers are not called to live in servile fear. Christ has dealt with condemnation. But Watson is equally clear that believers are never freed from filial fear.
Filial fear deepens intimacy with God. It sharpens conscience. It guards against presumption. It keeps grace precious.
The Fear of God Produces Wisdom, Not Paralysis
One of the great lies about the fear of God is that it paralyzes believers. Watson argues the opposite. The fear of God produces clarity, stability, and wisdom.
In A Body of Divinity, Watson ties fear directly to wisdom and careful living:
The fear of God is the fountain of wisdom.”
(Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)
Why? Because fear restrains folly. It slows impulsive sin. It makes a man think before he speaks, acts, or decides. It teaches him to weigh eternity, not just convenience.
A man who fears God is not timid. He is steady. He is not reckless with his soul. He does not flirt with temptation under the assumption that grace will clean up the mess later.
Watson would say fear of God is not weakness. It is spiritual sobriety.
Fear of God and Obedience
Watson consistently links the fear of God to obedience. Not anxious rule-keeping, but careful living.
In The Ten Commandments, Watson explains that fear is one of the chief motives for obedience, not because God is cruel, but because God is holy.
The fear of God puts a restraint upon sin.”
(Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments)
This restraint is not external pressure. It is internal reverence. A man who fears God does not ask, “How far can I go?” He asks, “How can I please God?”
Fear of God guards obedience from becoming mechanical. It keeps the heart engaged. It keeps motives clean. It turns obedience into worship rather than mere compliance.
The Fear of God and the Godly Man
In The Godly Man’s Picture, Watson includes the fear of God as a defining mark of true godliness. It is not reserved for especially pious believers. It is basic Christianity.
Watson writes:
A godly man fears God.”
(Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture)
He goes on to describe this fear as something that affects daily life. The godly man fears God in private as well as public. He fears God when temptation whispers. He fears God when compromise seems easy.
This fear does not make him gloomy. It makes him watchful. It does not rob him of joy. It protects his joy from decay.
Fear and Joy Are Not Enemies
One of Watson’s most pastoral insights is that fear of God and joy in God are not opposites.
Modern Christianity often assumes that seriousness kills joy. Watson insists that reverence deepens it.
A Christianity without fear becomes shallow because it loses awe. When awe disappears, worship becomes routine. Prayer becomes casual. Sin becomes manageable.
Watson believed joy grows best in the soil of reverence. A believer who fears God treasures grace more deeply, not less. He knows what it costs. He knows who gave it.
This is why casual Christianity often struggles with assurance. When God is treated lightly, grace feels thin. When fear is restored, assurance stabilizes.
What Happens When the Fear of God Is Lost
Watson would not be surprised by the state of much modern Christianity. He would recognize the symptoms immediately.
When fear of God fades, several things follow:
- Sin becomes casual rather than alarming
- Obedience becomes selective rather than careful
- Worship becomes familiar rather than reverent
- Grace becomes permission rather than power
Watson would warn that a Christianity without fear eventually hollows itself out. It may still talk about grace, but it no longer trembles at God’s Word.
And Scripture is clear. God has not changed.
Recovering the Fear of God
Watson never treats fear of God as a personality trait. It is cultivated. It is learned. It is nurtured.
He points believers back to ordinary means:
- Serious engagement with Scripture
- Prayer that lingers rather than rushes
- Obedience is practiced even when inconvenient
- Humility before God’s holiness
Fear grows when God is seen rightly. It fades when God is reduced.
Watson would remind us that the fear of God is not something to outgrow. It is something to deepen.
A Final Word
The fear of God does not crush the Christian life. It anchors it. It gives weight to what matters and steadiness to what wavers. It keeps the soul from drifting into either arrogance or despair.
The fear of God guards holiness by reminding us that sin is never small and obedience is never optional. It steadies joy by rooting it in reverence rather than emotion. It sharpens obedience by turning duty into devotion. And it keeps grace precious, because grace is no longer treated as a right, but as a mercy.
A Christianity without fear may feel comfortable, but it will not endure. It cannot withstand suffering, because it has no depth. It cannot resist temptation, because it has no restraint. It cannot survive cultural pressure because it has no backbone. When fear of God disappears, faith slowly hollows out.
Reverent Christianity is different. It may be quieter, but it is stronger. It may be less flashy, but it is more durable. It is built to last because it is rooted in who God actually is, not in what the world finds acceptable.
Thomas Watson understood this. He lived in unstable times. He ministered under pressure. He watched the cost of faithfulness rise. And through it all, he insisted that the fear of God was not a burden to be shed, but a gift to be guarded.
We all would do well to learn that lesson again.
Transition to the Next Article
Once the fear of God takes root, it reshapes how a believer views the world, eternity, and what truly matters.
That leads us naturally to Watson’s teaching on heaven, hell, and eternal realities.
Read Part 1 of my Thomas Watson series, Who Was Thomas Watson and Why Should Modern Christians Read Him?
Read Part 2 of my Thomas Watson series, The God Who Is: Thomas Watson on the Attributes of God
Read Part 3 of my Thomas Watson series, True Repentance in an Age of Excuses: Thomas Watson on the Repentance God Requires
Read Part 4 of my Thomas Watson series, Grace That Trains Us: Thomas Watson on Holiness and Sanctification
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