When Christian teachers know the importance of the theme in Scripture but misunderstand the right fear of God as nothing but the fear of the Creator, they can actually rob believers of their filial fear. It is all too easy to point people to God’s grandeur as Creator—which is absolutely right to do—but then fail to point to the gospel and God’s grandeur as a compassionate Savior. A telltale sign of such truncated teaching is that it will lack the Savior’s compassion and therefore come across as angry, hectoring, and unkind. God may appear great, but he will not appear good.
