Love of God and Fear of God

Some people wonder how love of God and fear of God can be compatible with each other. In fact it is not difficult to understand how they are. If you love God, you do not want to make Him upset, so you act righteously. If you fear God, you do not want the consequences of His anger, so you likewise act righteously. In both cases righteous action is the result.

How are love and fear compatible? According to New Age philosophies, the two are opposites of each other. John Steinbeck said that love and fear together produce cruelty. However what we see with love of God and fear of God is not cruelty at all. It is rather a devotion, an almost filial piety, in which the person wants to make God happy and doesn't want to make Him unhappy. So the two can very well coexist and together lead to righteous conduct.

The Hebrew word for fear means reverence. And it makes every sense to revere God. That by itself however is not enough. It will lead to righteous action, but it will also miss the blessing. And the blessing is the love of God, which is probably the greatest gift that one can have.

So yes, it is possible to both love God and fear God. You do not want to make Him unhappy because you love Him, and you do not want Him to be angry at you because you fear Him. The person is motivated both from the top and from the bottom and together rises into devout piety.