There’s Nothing Wrong with Emphasizing
Fear of Eternal Punishment
Dylan Stewart
For some reason, many believers take issue with Bible teachers emphasizing fear of eternal punishment as motivation for serving God. However, teaching others to obey God due to fear of punishment is the exact reason listed in 2 Corinthians 5:10-11a as to why Christians should be diligent in teaching others: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Now, of course, fear of God should not be the sole motivator for obeying Him. There are certainly other reasons God expects us to be motivated to obey Him. Consider just a few reasons that should motivate us to serve God in addition to fear of eternal punishment:
- We obey God because we have faith in Him – “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
- We obey God because we love Him – “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21).
- We obey God because He is so good to us – “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).
- We obey God because Christ’s death drives us to do so – “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
- We obey God because we want to go to Heaven – “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:27); “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).
These reasons are just a few among many motivations each person should have for obeying the Lord.
Albert Einstein once said, “If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” If the only reason a person obeys the gospel or remains a Christian is due to fear of God’s wrath, that person definitely needs to examine their heart and realize God expects more from him than just fear as his sole motivation. However, as 2 Corinthians 5:10-11a teaches, there is certainly nothing wrong with Christians emphasizing and being motivated by fear of eternal punishment as one of the reasons for serving Him faithfully.