Fear--Is There a Better Way of Saying It?

FOR some time Roger had been "hung up" on a four-letter word. But then he chanced to meet a Chinese scholar walking along a winding road below the city walls of Chungking talking to himself. The scholar was repeating the same sentence over and over to himself, pronouncing each syllable clearly and distinctly. The young missionary recognized the key words as some that he had recently read in his Chinese Bible.

As Roger caught up with the gentleman and came within conversation range, he addressed the scholar courteously in the customary polite form of the Orient and entered into dialog with him.

Roger was a realist. To him white was white, black was black, and fear was just that. Unfortunately some words in the English language have many uses and some very differing and singular uses. "Fear" is one of these words. In the King James Version of the Bible it is used in the archaic sense of "to reverence" or "respect," as well as in the sense of "to be afraid of."

The corresponding Chinese words in the Mandarin Chinese Bible are ching wei and p'a. These two ideas are, of course, as far apart as sunrise and sunset. But when Roger read fear in Revelation 14:7, he mentally understood it in the sense of "to be afraid of." To him Revelation 14:7 was a "scare" text.

"Honorable teacher, your younger brother recently came to your honorable country and is trying to learn to speak your language so that he will be able to converse with your people.

"I heard you say that the servant 'Hen shih ching wei ta di chu, ren.' Why was the servant so frightened by his master? What had he done? Had he stolen his master's money? Was he trying to run away and hide?"

"No, no, the servant was a very good man."

"Then, my noble friend, was the master a cruel man? Had he treated the servant so badly that he was running away?"

"The master was a very good man and loved his servant as he would his own brother."

"Then please tell me, what did the servant do to ching wei his master?"

The scholar illustrated his answer with an Oriental parable.

"We will suppose that it had been a very hot day. The master had gone out from his cool home to do business in the street. When he returned he was fainting from the shimmering heat and the torrid rays of the glaring sun. The servant quickly helped him take off his outer coat and arranged a comfortable place for him to rest; then brought him a refreshing drink, bathed his face and head with a cool wet towel. When he was comfortably seated the servant fanned his lord until the perspiration dried away.

"You mean the man is a personal servant, a valet?"

"So much more than that!"

"What else did he do to ching wei his lord?"

"If the servant goes out on the street and hears some evil gossip about his master, he will rebuke the offender."

"Would a servant do anything else to ching wei his master?"

"Yes. If thieves should break into the master's store or home, the servant would defend his lord at the risk of his life."

The roadside companion had accepted the role of a teacher, and in language that any child could understand he conveyed the idea that the servant was a completely dedicated person who was loyally committed to his master's person and business safety and welfare.

In this way Roger became aware that the cultured gentleman was telling of the noblest trait that a servant can express to a good master. His devotion and sense of responsibility encompass every phase of the master's life his good name, character, and possessions. Not a slave, but a completely devoted and totally committed comrade or second self in all the walks of life, often out of sight but never absent in spirit.

The word fear in Revelation 14:7 did not mean to be afraid at all. Roger reasoned that other texts could illuminate the idea still more. A search was begun that opened new vistas of under standing. Vistas of what planned Christian commitment, dedication, and service should be. With the help of a concordance the young missionary looked up many texts where fear is used in the English translations and then compared them with the Mandarin Chinese Bible.

In Genesis 9:2 he found that we are introduced to the "fear" complex and its Chinese equivalent is p'a to be afraid or frightened. If prefixes or affixes are added, the meaning of the word may be extended to mean dread, horror, and terror, and raise the meaning to the superlative degree. Such emphasis factors can be applied to ching wei also.

In Genesis 22:12 we are introduced to the most severe test of God-man relationships that can come to a father and son. Abraham was commanded to take his son, the only son of promise, and offer him for a sacrifice on distant Mount Moriah. The weary old man and the son came to the specified place and preparation was made for the unthinkably strange service. Ellen White tells us about it in the Story of Redemption, page 82. A voice interrupted the preparations for the strange sacrifice.

"Now I know that thou fearest [ching wei] God seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me" (Gen. 22:12).

In Genesis 31:41 and 42 Jacob tells about the ching wei of his father, Isaac, who accepted the will of God as revealed through Abraham to the point of willingly accepting the unbelievable, strange plans. We need not wonder that Jacob could express an oath on such stability. He made a pledge or oath based on the ching wei of his father Isaac.

Of all the characters of the Bible who are noted for their worshipful stability and immovable purpose in dedication and allegiance to God, there is none greater than Job. In one of the confrontations between God and Satan, the wealthy and highly respected chieftain of Uz was singled out for an endurance trial. "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth [ching wei] God, and escheweth evil" (Job 1:8).

We have no record of how long the endurance trial lasted but it was severe from many angles. His wife reproached him for his fidelity. "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die" (Job 2:9). His trusted friends reproached him for what they considered to be his sinfulness. When the trial had reached monumental proportions he cried out in his misery, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. . . . Behold ... I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified" (Job 13:15-18).

Then there's Solomon. He preached about many things, some of them bad and some of them good. But when he came to the conclusion of his writing he said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear [ching wei] God, and keep his com mandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 12:13). Here, I believe, we have arrived at a rational understanding of ching wei. The last phrase is interesting in a special way. In Romanized characters, the verse reads: Ching wei Shang Di, chin shou Ta di chieh ming. In a free transliteration, but retaining the intent of the verse, it would read: "Having accepted responsibility in doing noble veneration and giving dedicated service to God, and then going on to carefully guard the principles of heaven. This is the whole duty of man."

In apocalyptic vision John the revelator commits to us a preview, as seen through the eyes of a prophet, of the triumphant march of the redeemed. They are led by the legions of the 144,000 as they come in before the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. John reports, "And I heard a voice from heaven," musical instruments, "harpers harping with their harps" and voices "of many waters" as the voices of the heavenly choir rolled through the vaults of heaven. Then there came a respending chorus as the 144,000 sang a new song; one that is specifically their own.

Then, like turning a page in a book, John was back in the environment of more mundane things.

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth." It may be that he carried back an echo of the heavenly scene for the thunder was toned down to a "loud voice." "Fear God [ching wei], and give glory to him." The message is directed to the very people who may, in a future day, stand on Mount Zion and be among the vanguard legions of the redeemed. The words are emphatic in the Chinese Bible, for two characters precede the words ching wei. They are ying dang and intensify the meaning and add urgency to the message. They mean "you surely ought to."

And the judgment? Job had that problem too, but the ching weied his God and could in confidence say, "Be sure of this: once I have stated my case I know I shall be acquitted" (Job 13:18, N.E.B.).* Or again, "But in my heart I know that my vindicator lives and that he will rise last to speak in court; and I shall discern my witness standing at my side and see my defending counsel, even God himself, whom I shall see with my own eyes, I myself and no other" (chap. 19:25-27, N.E.B.).

The apostle Paul's confidence built upon his total commitment and dedication rings out in similar words. "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).

As Roger's Chinese instructor taught him, ching wei is a wonderful word, an assuring word. With the blessing of our Redeemer it tells of the bond of our inheritance. What a privilege it is to "fear" our God and not be fearful of Him.