JBC 34:1 (2020): 7–19 7

Fear Is Not Sin

by EDWARD T. WELCH��������������������������

Our common understanding of fear is that it is sin, though not the

worst of sins. It is a partial, sin-like kind of sin, and is worthy of only
moderate or even no guilt. Fear is not on par with anger, and it is not a
cause for church discipline. But it is still classified as sin. You can hear
it in commentaries, in sermons on “do not be anxious,” and in church
conversations. “Could you pray for my sin of anxiety?” I hear a version
of this most every week.
Once I was invited to talk about fear and anxiety on a radio pro-
gram. After a few minutes, the host declared that after he received the
Spirit he was never anxious again. I responded that after I received the
Spirit, I never had a day without some kind of anxiety. For the remainder
of the program, he insisted that I could not really be a Christian and he
evangelized me.
The confusion about this topic is understandable. “Do not fear” is
the most frequent command God gives in Scripture. On its face, the
meaning seems unambiguous and straightforward: our fears must stop.
It’s a matter of obedience. But there are biblical reasons to approach fears
and anxieties without first assuming they involve disobedience. Confu-
sion here has consequences for our own souls and our care of others.

Edward T. Welch (MDiv, PhD) counsels and teaches at CCEF and is the author of
numerous books on counseling. His latest book is Created to Draw Near: Our Life
as God’s Royal Priests.
8 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch

My purpose here is to reflect on the question, “Is fear sin?” As the

article’s title indicates, I believe it is not and I will discuss various biblical
texts to make my case. Though I believe that fear is not sin, I also caution
that, when we are afraid and anxious, we must be careful about what we
do next. We can cry out to the Lord and grow in our knowledge of him,
or we can live like those who have no hope.

A Command Is Not Always a Command

Though the words “do not be afraid” are in the imperative or command
form, a command is not always a command. First, consider our common
use of the phrase “don’t be afraid.” It is never considered a command. No
reasonable person says “don’t be afraid”
There are biblical and expects the fearful person to com-
ply. We, of course, are not the Lord. He
reasons to approach
can command whatever he chooses. But
fears without
a command like this from him would be
first assuming
most unexpected. It stands outside our
they involve human experience, and doesn’t make
disobedience. sense to us given who we know him to be.
We had a family living with us and
I had a nice relationship with their five-year-old son. One day we were
playing in our backyard and I thought he might enjoy a walk through
the woods that are right behind us. It would be an adventure. I put him
on my shoulders and off we went. Within the first five steps, he began to
cry. I responded, “Don’t be afraid. I am big and I will make sure you are
safe.” It meant nothing to him, and he cried harder. But I didn’t inter-
pret it as rebellion. He was being a five-year-old. When we say “don’t
be afraid” to our children, it is the equivalent of “I am here; everything
will be okay.” If our children continue to cry, we don’t rebuke them. We
hold them.
Jesus seems to have a similar intent. When he approached a grieving
widow in the village of Nain, “he had compassion on her and said to
her, ‘Do not weep’” (Luke 7:13). His words, though technically in the
imperative form, were not a command, but an expression of care and
compassion. He did not require something of her. Throughout his min-
istry when Jesus said, “don’t be afraid” or “do not weep,” it meant that
 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch 9

something good was about to happen. He was going to help in a way

that only he could.
When Jesus approached a paralytic who had been brought to him, he
said, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven” (Matt 9:2). Here again,
Jesus was not commanding him to be courageous; he was comforting
him, especially in light of the healing he was about to do. Compare this
with Jesus’ response to unconfessed sin and those who tested him. He
might warn (Matt 23:13–29), grieve over their rebellion (Luke 13:34),
or tell a story that silenced those who tested him (Luke 10:25–37). But
he did not speak gentle words of comfort or consistently say, “I am with
you.”
The command form in Greek1 can be used to present a request or to
make an entreaty.2 It also includes a more moderate and softened version
that is used in prayer. For example, the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer are
in the imperative form (Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us
our debts). But these petitions are not commands. Rather, they reveal
our desires and intentions.

A Desire Is Not Always a Sinful Desire

Underneath our fears and anxieties are personal desires that are at risk.
We are anxious about a job interview because a poor interview jeopar-
dizes our financial future. We are anxious about the results of a biopsy
because cancer can be life threatening. Fears identify what we want, what
is important to us, and what we desire. If such desires are always wrong,
fear is sinful. But such desires are not always wrong.
The Old Testament has a firm category of natural, human desires.
What is desired in a man is steadfast love. (Pro 19:22)
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me. (Song 7:10)
You satisfy the desire of the afflicted. (Is 58:10)
The Bible certainly has its warnings about misplaced and unleashed
desires, but Scripture attests that to be human is to have desire.

1. Greek is the original language of the New Testament.

2. E.g., Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1996), 487.
10 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch

Among our natural desires are life and health, food and shelter, love,
enough money to care for ourselves and our families, peace in relation-
ships, freedom from injustice and oppression, and a good reputation.
The New Testament assumes natural desires (Luke 22:15) yet empha-
sizes lustful desires and the covetous dimensions of the human heart.
This emphasis gives us opportunity to
Fear expresses our consider if our fears are built on excessive
desires, but the presence of natural desires
weakness amid the
does not presume sinful roots to our fear.
threats of daily life,
The experience of grief is a helpful
but weakness is not analogy. Grief is fear’s twin. Fear is a desire
sin. that is threatened; grief is a desire taken
away. Fear is when a loved one’s diagno-
sis is uncertain; grief is when a loved one dies. The apostle Paul was
distressed over a dear friend’s illness. When he recovered, Paul wrote
that Epaphroditus’s death would have caused him “sorrow upon sorrow”
(Phil 2:27), and no one would have begrudged him such grief. Grief is
met with compassion rather than suspicion of reckless desires. Fear, too,
is met with compassion. In fact, the Lord expects us to be afraid.

The Lord Expects Us to Be Afraid

Scripture assumes that we live with fear and anxiety. We are weak people
who can control very little. Our reputation, finances, loved ones, and
even our lives are at risk every day. The psalms are filled with human
fears and anxieties—and these are words that the Lord asks us to speak
to him. He actually wants to hear about our fears.
My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death
have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon
me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “Oh, that I
had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
(Ps 55:4–6)
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How
long will you hide your face from me? How long must
I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart
 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch 11

all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over

me? (Ps 13:1–2)
The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of
destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled
me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I
called upon the Lord. (Ps 18:4–6)
My heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast.
(Ps 22:14)
None of these is a confession of sin.
Like the psalmists, the apostle Paul also acknowledges his fears. “For
even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were
afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within” (2 Cor 7:5).
God’s comfort came in the person of Titus and in his report that the
churches were following the words that Paul had written to them.
Fear and anxiety express our weakness amid the threats of daily life.
We are merely human. We are not the creator. Weak people are also
sinners, but weakness is not sin. Weakness means that we need help from
God and other people.

Our Fears Arouse God’s Compassion

Throughout the Old Testament, God made covenants with his peo-
ple. These covenants were made or reaffirmed when his people were in
uncertain times and had reason to be afraid. In response, the Lord gave
assurances of his care in the most vivid and culturally meaningful way
possible.
Notice the Lord’s renewal of the Abrahamic covenant with Jacob.
Jacob was a liar and cheat, and his victimized brother had reason to be
angry with him. When Jacob’s parents realized that his life was at risk
because of Esau’s anger, they sent him to live with his great-uncle Laban,
where he would hopefully find a wife and receive protection. On the
way, the Lord met him in a dream and said this to him,
“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever
you go, and will bring you back to this land [which
I will give to you and your offspring]. For I will not
12 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch

leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

(Gen 28:15)
To a man who deserved rebuke, the Lord focused on Jacob’s fear and led
with comfort: “I am with you… I will not leave you.” The Lord commit-
ted to be faithful and present, even when Jacob was less so.
In the New Testament, Jesus’ words continue this tradition of reassur-
ance and comfort. In the Gospels of both Luke and Matthew, there is
an account of Jesus’ words that begins, “Do not be anxious about your life”
(Matt 6:25; Luke 12:22). In Luke’s account, Jesus concludes with this:
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.” Jesus sees us as vulnerable sheep needing his care. His words are
gentle and affectionate. Our fears arouse his compassion—not his rebuke.
“He has pity on the weak and the needy…. For he knows our frame; he
remembers that we are dust” (Ps 72:13; 103:14).

From “Little Faith” to Fuller Faith

The word faith can have different meanings. The faith can be identical to
the gospel, the story of Jesus who came to rescue us through his death and
resurrection. Faith is also the common way that the epistles identify our
trust in Jesus. It is an action or response. As a transitive verb, it always
assumes the direct object in Jesus. So it’s faith in Jesus or confidence,
hope, trust, or rest in Jesus. A third use of the word faith, especially in
the gospels of Matthew and Luke, is faith as a quantity or amount. Peo-
ple are described as having more faith or less faith. It is this use of faith
that we are interested in here because, in several passages, Jesus identifies
fearful people as “little-faiths.” Yet, he does not label the behavior of
these fearful people as sin or call them to repent of their fears.
The phrase little faith is usually translated, “O you of little faith”
(Matt 6:30; Luke 12:28). It appears only that one time in Luke. But
Matthew uses it five times in his gospel, including when the disciples are
afraid in a boat that seems to be sinking (8:26), when Peter walked on a
tumultuous sea and began to sink (14:31), and when the disciples could
not heal a demon-possessed man (17:20). In the context of the story of
the demon-possessed man, Jesus also says that faith the size of a mustard
seed can move mountains. A mustard seed is tiny so a “little-faith” must,
indeed, have very little faith. But these are not rebukes.
 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch 13

To be sure, little-faiths are followers of Jesus. They listen to his teach-

ing and they are with him in small boats. They are his people and even
their limited faith can move mountains. Notice the disciples’ little, but
very real, faith while they are in the storm (Matt 8:23–27). Rather than
simply panic, they wake Jesus and cry out for help, “Save us, Lord; we
are perishing.” Three simple words in Greek: “Lord save-us we-perish.”
A childlike appeal. This is faith.
The task of little-faiths is to grow more than repent. We pray:
“increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). The apostle Peter uses a similar idea
but with love rather than faith. “Having
purified your souls by your obedience
Our fears arouse
to the truth for a sincere brotherly love,
God’s compassion—
love one another earnestly from a pure
heart” (1 Peter 1:22). That is, you have not his rebuke.
love for your brothers—you are on the
right path—now grow in even more love. Increase your love. Whereas
repentance means changing course and turning away from a wrong
path, growth stays the current course and keeps moving with and
toward Jesus.
Along the way, we meet those with greater faith. They are all in dire
straits and have reasons for fear, yet they are heroes we hope to emulate.
Watch for centurions (Matt 8:10), friends of a paralytic (Matt 9:2), a
woman who touched Jesus’ garment (Matt 9:22), a Canaanite woman
(Matt 15:28), and many others whom Jesus healed.
The writer of Hebrews mentions many who were “commended
through their faith” (Heb 11:39). There are some surprising names on
the list, including Gideon and Samson. These two men would seem to
barely make the little-faith list. Gideon was a coward and idolater; Sam-
son was a fool. Yet, when you look closely at their stories, you discover
a mustard seed of faith. Gideon “worshiped” after receiving a third sign
from the Lord that he would deliver the Midianites into Israel’s hand,
and he went into battle with courage (Judg 7:15). Samson “called to the
Lord” (Judg 16:28) after he was captured by the Philistines, which was
not typical of the judges. These small acts of faith were accompanied by
God’s large acts of deliverance.
14 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch

God has determined to use little-faiths and short bursts of faith

to partner in his work. By this he reveals that he delivers through his
strength. His strong deliverances also help our faith to grow and mature.

Maturing Faith Includes Courage and Confidence

Fear is always a time to grow in faith. “Jesus help!” This is what we want
to master during our fears and anxieties. “Be gracious to me, O God,
for man tramples on me” (Ps 56:1). If we make this a habit, our faith
will strengthen and mature and we will come to have greater courage and
confidence.
Courage. Growth in courage will not abolish fear but it might
help us to be less paralyzed in the midst of it. When heroic soldiers are
awarded for their valor, they will tell you that they were afraid during
the combat mission that brought them recognition. Courage, then, is
not the absence of fear, but is what enables us to persevere despite being
afraid.
Fear takes many forms. Consider a time when you avoided a con-
versation because it was relationally risky. Let’s say that your spouse, or
someone with whom you have a close relationship, has wronged you and
you believe it would be best to speak about it. But you are anxious. You
risk the possibility of anger and a larger rift in the relationship. Courage
means that you speak even though you fear the outcome.
Or consider something more severe. So much of our fear is con-
nected to death. Here again you can be courageous, even as you have
fears. Courage can be outweighed by love and duty. One of my vivid
memories from childhood was when my older sister fell into a pond,
and my father, lame from polio and a poor swimmer, immediately cast
off his crutches and ran into the water to rescue her. That image of love
conquering fear has never left me.
Courageous faith cries out, “Lord, save me.” Yet courage, like the
psalms themselves, doesn’t stop there. It leads us into a mature and tested
understanding of the Lord.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose
word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What
can flesh do to me? (Ps 56:3–4)
 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch 15

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall

not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be con-
fident.…For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of
trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock. (Ps 27:3–5)
So we call out to the Lord when we are in peril. Then, we call out again.
When we stop and consider our God—both his love and faithfulness,
fully made known to us in Jesus Christ—it nurtures us and nudges us
forward in faith. We hear Jesus say, “Take
heart; it is I” (Matt 14:27), and we add to Fear is always a time
our cries, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” to grow in faith.
Maturity must reckon with the trou-
bles that surround us. The psalmists often
are delivered from their foes, but our foes can overtake us. We fear that
a loved one might die, and the loved one dies. We fear being alone, and
we are actually quite alone. Our troubles are a consequence of the curse
and they arouse the compassion of the Lord. But these troubles are also a
“testing of your faith” that exposes little faith and grows us to be “perfect
and complete” (James 1:3–4). They are occasions to grow in courage, in
which we are more certain that God is with us, that death will not have
the final word, and that Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).
Confidence. Another way Scripture speaks of maturity is as confi-
dence in Jesus (e.g., Eph 3:12; Heb 10:35). I stepped into an old boat
recently that was headed for rocky waters. Among our small party, I was
the only one who seemed unafraid or at least unaffected by the combi-
nation of a rickety boat and bigger seas. My secret was that I knew and
trusted our skipper. He had navigated that same course countless times
and he was unconcerned. In a similar way, the better we know Jesus,
the more a psalm-like structure will guide us through our fears. Psalms
begin with fear, move toward the faithfulness of the Lord, and end with
confidence and hope.
This confidence in Jesus is also the message of 1 John. Jesus is our
advocate before the Father. When we confess our sin, we can be certain
that he will forgive us. Having put our faith in him, we are children of
God. He abides in us and we in him. He will not abandon his children,
so we can have confident hope.
16 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he

appears we may have confidence and not shrink from
him in shame at his coming. (1 John 2:28)
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we [will]
have confidence before God. (1 John 3:21)
When guilt persists, and fears attach to that guilt, we have misappre-
hended the fatherly love of God and the propitiating work of Jesus. God
is love, yet our fears anticipate punishment (1 John 4:18). The message
to us is of joy, belonging, and confidence in the day of judgment. We
are God’s children now (1 John 3:2). As
The better we know beloved children, John urges us on toward
a more confident maturity.
Jesus, the more a
The apostle Paul identifies this confi-
psalm-like structure
dence as a clear conscience (e.g., Acts
will guide us 24:16; 1 Tim 3:9). As with John’s use of
through our fears. the word confidence, a clear conscience
does not mean sinless, but it does mean
that we are open with the Lord about our sins, confess them, and rest in
his forgiveness. As we remember what Jesus has done, we are persuaded
that he hears and forgives us when we call out to him (1 John 5:14).
Fear is always a time to grow in faith. As we seek his help, God uses
our trials to help mature our faith. But fear is also a time to watch for
sinful responses and desires.

Sins to Watch For

We have captured Scripture’s priorities and have seen that the seminal
texts on fear do not focus on sin and repentance. But when we are fearful
and anxious, we still need to keep our eyes open for sin. Here are two
places we might find it.
Sin in our response to fear. Fear and what we do with our fear are
two different things. Fear is natural; our responses to fear can be more
complicated and are best assessed by whether they turn us toward the
Lord or not. Sinful responses to fear can be divided into two categories:
disobedience and silence.
 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch 17

1. Disobedience. After Israel left Egypt for the land God promised,
they heard ominous reports about the land’s inhabitants: they were
strong and lived in heavily fortified cities. The people, in response, were
afraid. Their fear was not the problem. It was how they responded to
their fear that was the problem. They cried, wished they had never left
Egypt, and wanted to stone the leaders who still wanted to conquer the
land (Num 14).
This response was sinful. It was rebellion against the Lord. And his
response was decidedly different from encouragement and compassion.
And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this peo-
ple despise me? And how long will they not believe in
me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among
them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disin-
herit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and
mightier than they.” (Num 14:11–12)
The Lord had commanded the people to take the land, and he had
demonstrated that he was both with them and over all the other king-
doms. His command was clear—so their disobedience was beyond
doubt.
There is a similar story about King Saul (1 Sam 15). God com-
manded him to destroy Amalek and everything associated with the city.
But Saul “feared the people and obeyed their voice” (15:24) and chose
to spare the Amalekite king and the best of their animals. As a result,
God took the kingship away from Saul and gave it to David. The Lord
would likely have sympathized with Saul if he had become unpopular
for obeying him, but God disciplines those who violate his direct and
unequivocal commands.
We will rarely receive specific commands in the way Israel and Saul
did, but these stories invite us to consider whether our responses to fear
violate the Lord’s commands by either doing something he prohibits
or not doing something he requires. For example, as a result of fear we
might lie or fail to love. By such acts, we rebel against the Lord.
2. Silence. We might occasionally act in disobedience when we are
afraid but more often, if we have a sinful response, it will be silence
before God. When we are afraid, it is not unusual to redouble our efforts,
18 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch

consider our options, and find new strategies. These are not wrong, but
if our human effort is not accompanied by prayer, we are sinning.
When the nation of Israel split into two, the northern kingdom was
the first to be seriously threatened. In response, they cried out in fear—
but not to the Lord. Instead, they trusted in foreign alliances rather than
his protection, and they turned to idols and self-harm rituals to ensure
their food supply. The Lord said, “They do not cry to me from the heart,
but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves;
they rebel against me” (Hos 7:14).
King Ahaz followed this tradition of self-reliance when the southern
kingdom was threatened. After the Lord gave assurances that the tribes
who opposed Ahaz would not stand, the Lord asked for a response from
Ahaz.
The Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the Lord your
God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But
Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord
to the test.” (Isa 7:10–12)
Why wouldn’t Ahaz ask for a sign? Because he trusted in his foreign
alliances to protect him.
When we are afraid, we are vulnerable to temptation, so speak hon-
estly to the Lord. Ask for his help. This is harder to do than it seems. It
takes more than a mere human response; it is a response of faith. Silence
in times of fear is evidence that we trust in ourselves, and this is sin
against Jesus. To speak to him is evidence of the Spirit’s power in us.
Sin in our excessive desires. Key passages on fear and anxiety rarely
push us to identify the sinful roots of fear. But we know enough about
excessive desires to want to keep them in view whether they are actually
connected to present fears or not. Have our desires become idolatrous?
Do we love health, money, and reputation above all else? When fears and
anxieties are especially loud, persistent, and frequent, look for overgrown
desires that can be tangled up with them. Keep an eye out for fears
that are immune to God’s promises, perhaps mixed with indifference to
them. These attachments to our fears cannot be assuaged. Rather they
are best cast off by way of repentance. As we repent, we jettison encum-
brances to a truly fuller life, and know God’s loving forgiveness, which
will build our confidence that he is still God-with-us.
 Fear Is Not Sin | Welch 19

Fear in the Age of the Spirit

Jesus remains very aware of our vulnerabilities. Our fears are to be
expected, and they are consistently met by the God who hears and cares.
We are his little flock and he does not minimize our worries, as though
they are excessive. He treats them as real hardships, not as sin. He is
our high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses and frailties (Heb
4:15). And when we are afraid, those fears become an occasion for the
Lord to repeat his greatest promise to us: “I am with you.”
Indeed, he is always with us. Yet there is more. Because we live in the
age of the Spirit, we are more active in response to our fears. We want to
grow. We are all little-faiths who hope to honor the Lord with growing
confidence and courage. During that maturing process, we expect to
speak more openly to him, cry out for help with less delay, and learn
from people of faith who came before us. We grow in confidence that
Jesus loves us, that he is with us in the storms, and that he is very, very
strong.
 The Journal of Biblical Counseling

(ISSN: 1063-2166) is published by:

Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation

1803 East Willow Grove Avenue

Glenside, PA 19038

www.ccef.org

Copyright © 2020 CCEF

All rights reserved.

For permission to copy or distribute JBC articles, please go

to: ccef.org/copyright-permissions.