"If you truly trusted the Lord, you would have no fears"

Well said. Tom wins the interwebs today.

 

I don't see scriptures where it even hints Jesus having any fear at all. I see Scriptures where we can say his very inner being was troubled, and I may agree with the reason being His coming separation from the Father on account of the sins which will be imputed upon Him, and maybe it caused Him to express His dismay with the words which seems to imply Him asking if there could be another way other than Him dying on His people's behalf.

You see, this whole thing was planned and agreed on by the Great One in Three (or Three in One, whichever you prefer) before the foundatio of the world. The Father trusted His Son to go through with everything necessary to redeem His people, and the Son trusted the Father to walk with Him through the darkest paths of His mission, and He trusted the Spirit to bring His body up from the grave in due time.

He had no fear AT ALL, that I can surmise and that is my take, with all due respects to what you all have said.
He loathed the idea of being separated from the Father, maybe, but that is not fear.

As for the OP, I certainly have no fear of death itself because death is my entrance to literal life with my God, but I do fear the process of dying itself, if the Lord will have me go through a slow, painful, illness filled death.

I have no fear of the economic times, either, and the hardships that may befall us (me and my wife) because of it, after all, God is in control, and if His eye is on the sparrow, it should most certainly be on His people as well.

 

I think it goes back to the definition of fear. If it is a blind fear that incapacitates us, that is certainly not of God.

Jesus never felt that fear, that terror that we may feel at times that destroys us.

 

We ought to be afraid of being afraid, lest we should vex the Holy Spirit by foolish distrust. Spurgeon

 

Fear, in and of itself, is not sinful.
It is a basic emotion that God has put in humans to help us stay away from dangerous situations that could harm or kill us.
When someone puts a gun to our head.. we fear...
When are put in any situation where we may get hurt or die... we fear...

It works in conjunction with our survival instinct. That is part of being human.
If Christ was fully human, and he was, he had to experience ALL things humans experience.
And he would have experienced fear.

Saying fear is a sin, would be saying the same thing as anger is a sin, or sadness, or any other emotion.

Fear helps us to stay alive. God designed that emotion for that.

 

I agree with TinyTim, some fear is good.

Matt 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Here Jesus said we should never fear men who can only kill our physical body, but we should fear God who is able to destroy both our soul and body in hell.

It is a good thing to fear God. This should not be an overwhelming fear, a terror, but it should be a healthy fear and respect of God.

Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

1 Pet 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

 

When Jesus said "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", He was quoting Psalm 22 - which is a description of the crucifiction.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel. [a]

4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

8 "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.

10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.

14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced [c] my hands and my feet.

17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.

18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

19 But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.

21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save [d] me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you [e] will I fulfill my vows.

26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.

30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.

When Jesus said "It is finished" He was declaring the completion of this prophecy.

 

I think this is an unwise statement to make to another person and not very helpful. It may imply that if at sometime in the past you trusted Christ as your Saviour and are now truly saved, you should never have any fear about any thing, person, or circumstance the rest of your life. If you do have fear, then did you really trust Christ; are you really saved? The truth is, while we are certainly saved by a single instance of faith in Christ, we are not perfected by a single instance, but we are being perfected by a continuing exercise of faith.

You might say "If you are truly trusting Christ, you would have no fears". If a person is actively trusting Christ in a given situation then, truly, you should not have fear because trust and fear are mutually exclusive. However, I still don't like that statement because it has no value. In our sinful weakness, we often find ourselves in a situation in which we are not trusting Christ. We ask God to help us grow to trust Him more, but as long as we are in this flesh, we will never trust God fully, 100% of the time. So, I think a statement like this invites a feeling of defeat in the person who is being instructed in this way and is not helpful.

Perhaps what we should say to one who is full of fear is "I encourage you in your situation to fully trust Christ. He can remove your fear and give you the strength you need to endure". This statement is an encouraging, hopeful statement that show the way to fearlessness without inciting guilt.

IMHO