QUESTION: These translations interpret ‘fear’ in this way in 2 Corinthians 5:11 (below) But what is the correct reading of the greek?
ANSWER:
Summary of main points
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The Greek text in 2 Cor 5:11 is straightforward: τὸν φόβον τοῦ κυρίου = “the fear of the Lord,” not “judgment” (no κρίσις/κρίμα vocabulary is present). wd.bible+1
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φόβος (phobos) ranges from fear/terror to reverential awe; the immediate context (5:10) makes the fear sober, judgment-aware reverence, not mere “respect,” and not necessarily panic-terror either. Bible Hub+1
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The best English is essentially the ESV line—“knowing the fear of the Lord”—with a footnote-like clarification: reverent dread of the Lord as Judge / accountable before him. ESV Bible
Exegesis
1) Greek text (NA28 / UBS5)
NA28:
Εἰδότες οὖν τὸν φόβον τοῦ κυρίου ἀνθρώπους πείθομεν, θεῷ δὲ πεφανερώμεθα· ἐλπίζω δὲ καὶ ἐν ταῖς συνειδήσεσιν ὑμῶν πεφανερῶσθαι. wd.bible+1
Transliteration (rough): Eidótes oun ton phobon tou Kyríou anthrṓpous peíthomen, theō de pephanerṓmetha; elpízō de kai en tais syneidḗsesin hymōn pephanerōsthai.
ESV: “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…” ESV Bible
2) Key term: φόβος (phobos)
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φόβος can denote:
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fear/terror (a threat-perception response), and
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reverence/awe (a status-and-holiness perception response).
Standard lexica treat both as live senses in Koine; context decides (e.g., BDAG, s.v. “φόβος”; Louw–Nida 25.251 / 87.38).
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What the word is not doing here:
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Paul does not write “knowing the judgment (κρίσις / κρίμα) of the Lord.” So renderings like “fearful judgment” are interpretive expansions—sometimes defensible as implication, but not as the lexical content of φόβος.
3) Grammar and syntax (why English translations diverge)
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Εἰδότες is a perfect participle of οἶδα (“to know”), functioning adverbially:
“Because we know / since we know … we persuade …” -
τὸν φόβον is the direct object of “knowing.”
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τοῦ κυρίου is a genitive modifier of φόβον. Semantically it is best taken as an objective genitive:
“fear of the Lord” = fear directed toward the Lord (not “the fear that the Lord feels”).
A useful way to capture the idiom in English is:
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“Since we know what it is to fear the Lord…”
That explains why some versions paraphrase toward “how greatly the Lord is to be feared” (they are unpacking the idiom), while others keep the compact form.
4) Immediate context control (5:10 → 5:11)
Right before this Paul writes:
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2 Cor 5:10: “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ … whether good or evil.” Bible Hub+1
That is the nearest explanatory anchor for “φόβος.” The “fear” is not generic anxiety; it is the sober, reality-aligned response to certain personal accountability before the Lord/Christ.
5) Textual variants
This clause is textually stable in the major printed traditions; NA28 presents τὸν φόβον τοῦ κυρίου as the text. Bible Hub+1
Theological analysis
A) “Medium Free-Will” (Arminian / Provisionist-leaning) synthesis
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Fear here is covenantal, not merely emotional.
In biblical usage, “fear of the LORD” is a posture of the whole person: recognizing God’s holiness, authority, and right to judge; therefore living transparently and obediently. Paul’s next clauses (“we have been made manifest to God… to your consciences”) fit this: fear produces integrity and openness, not hiding. -
Fear is compatible with assurance, but hostile to cheap assurance.
In a non-deterministic framework, warnings and accountability language are not “hypothetical theater”; they are part of God’s moral governance that keeps agents morally awake. So φόβος is one of Paul’s legitimate motives for ministry, alongside love (see 5:14). -
Why “respect” alone is too thin.
“Respect” can be mere esteem without existential weight. But 5:10 loads the term with eschatological seriousness: deeds “good or evil” will be evaluated. “Fear” (in the reverent-dread sense) fits that gravity.
B) Contrast with Calvinist/Reformed tendencies (brief)
A Reformed reading often stresses “fear” as one of God’s means for preserving the elect in perseverance. Even there, the lexical point remains: the term is φόβος, and the context is judgment-seat accountability. The main divergence is not lexical but how the warnings function within the broader soteriology.
Historical context
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OT / Jewish idiom background:
“Fear of YHWH” (Heb. יִרְאַת יְהוָה, yirat YHWH) is a standard Wisdom-and-covenant category (not a one-note “panic”). Paul’s phrase is best heard with that resonance: not merely “I’m scared,” but “I live under the LORD’s holy authority and forthcoming evaluation.” -
Greco-Roman civic backdrop:
Paul’s “βῆμα” language (5:10) evokes public judgment/tribunal imagery; he then draws the ethical-psychological inference: since that evaluation is real, he “persuades” people and insists his ministry is transparent before God.
Scholarly insight (limited to what bears directly on your question)
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Older “terror” renderings are widely recognized as potentially too narrow for φόβος if read with modern English connotations of panic; Adam Clarke explicitly calls “terror” too harsh and argues for “fear” as reverence. Bible Hub
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The immediate argumentative link is commonly noted: “knowing … because of 5:10” the fear is fear of the Lord as Judge. StudyLight.org+1
(For lexical grounding, consult BDAG, s.v. “φόβος,” and Louw–Nida on fear/reverence domains.)
Multi-layer “deep structure” explanation
1) Metaphysical / ontological level: what reality is doing
Paul assumes a disclosive moral ontology: reality is not morally neutral; it is ordered toward revelation (“φανερόω” language) and evaluation (βῆμα). The “fear of the Lord” is the rational-affective alignment of a finite moral agent with that structure: the universe is heading toward unveiled truth and just appraisal.
2) Psychological–spiritual level: soul, will, affections
φόβος here functions as an affective weight that re-prioritizes:
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away from people-pleasing (mere reputation management)
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toward conscience-level transparency before God
This is why Paul couples persuasion with “we are manifest to God… and (I hope) to your consciences.” Fear is the inner governor that keeps the will from drifting into performative religion.
3) Divine-perspective level: how God sees and wills this
God’s will is not that ministers manipulate by panic, but that they operate in truth before God under the seriousness of divine judgment. From that angle, “fear of the Lord” is a morally fitting response to God’s holiness and judicial authority, producing sincerity, urgency, and fidelity.
Practical implications (tight and non-devotional)
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Best translation choice: keep “fear” (or “reverent fear/awe”), not “judgment,” because Paul chose φόβος not κρίσις/κρίμα.
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Best explanatory gloss: “the sober, reverent dread of the Lord as the one before whom we will be evaluated (5:10).”
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Why it matters: translating as mere “respect” risks flattening Paul’s eschatological seriousness; translating as “terror” risks over-narrowing φόβος into panic and missing the covenantal “fear-of-the-LORD” idiom.