<p>4:18 <em>There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; because fear has punishment, and he that fears is not made perfect in love</em>- If we reach the level of love intended for us, then we will have no fear at the day of judgment, but rather &quot;boldness&quot; (:17) and assured hearts (see on 3:19).</p><p>Murderers often reveal that their psychological motivation was not merely hatred, but often fear- fear of what that person might do, or who they might show them up to be. Fear, therefore, is at the root of all lack of love and respect for our brethren. We fear the poor image of ourselves which they reveal by their actions or examples; and so slander and hatred of them in the heart Biblical murder develops. If only we can cast away this kind of fear, then love will take its place; for perfect love comes when fear has been cast out (1 Jn. 4:18). The Greek for 'drive out' is that used in Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30 to describe how the wicked are driven out into darkness at the last day. If we now in this life can cast out or condemn our own fear of rejection, then we will not live in fear... because fear has, or is, its own condemnation (1 Jn. 4:18 Gk.). If we are still consumed by fear, in whatever way, in this life- then this, according to John's logic, appears to be a sign that we will not be accepted in the last day. Fear as a purely nervous reaction is not what he is speaking of. Rather is it the crippling moral fear of which we have spoken. &nbsp;</p><p>We are saved by grace, already, we are elevated to the heights of heavenly places on account of being in Christ. A perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn. 4:16,18), fear is associated with bondage rather than the freedom of sonship which we enjoy (Rom. 8:15). Yet all this can in no way erase the very clear teaching of many other passages: that we ought to fear God, really fear Him. What's the resolution of all this? It may be that <em>ideally, </em>we are called to live a life without any fear in the sense of <em>phobos</em>- in the same way as we are asked to be perfect, even as God is (Mt. 5:48). Yet the reality is that we are not perfect. And perhaps in a similar way, we are invited to live a life without <em>phobos</em>, but in reality, it is necessary to have it if we truly realize our weak position. We ought to be able to say with confidence that should Christ come now, we will by grace continue to be in His Kingdom. Yet in the same way as we always assume a future, so we inevitably look ahead to the possibility of our <em>future</em>&nbsp;apostasy; as we grow spiritually, there is an altogether finer appreciation of the purity of God's righteousness. The risk of rejection, the sense of the future we may miss, and the faint grasp of the gap between God's righteousness and our present moral achievement, will <em>inevitably</em> provoke a sense of fear in every serious believer. And yet fearing God, unlike fear on a human level, is a motivating and creative fear. Our fear of and yet confidence with God is a strange synthesis.</p><p>Psychologists suggest that there is something within the human psyche that needs to fear, that wants to fear. Just look at the huge success of terror stories, movies, images, Stephen King novels; and the way that the media realizes that their global audience laps up fear and sensationalism about terror. One common thread throughout all the pagan forerunners of the &lsquo;personal Satan&rsquo; idea is that the pagan concepts all involved the generation of fear and terror. True Christianity aims to &ldquo;cast out&rdquo; such fear through its revelation of the ultimate love of God (1 Jn. 4:18). So many control systems have played upon fear of the Devil &ndash; to bring children into subdued obedience, flocks into submission to pastors, etc. It&rsquo;s now high time to realize that this is not how the true God works. &ldquo;For fear has torment&rdquo; (1 Jn. 4:18), and this is exactly what true understanding of the cross of Christ saves us from. God isn&rsquo;t a psychological manipulator, and He doesn&rsquo;t coax us into submission through fear. And yet it could be said that humanity is increasingly addicted to fear. People may mock fearing a Loch Ness monster, werewolves, funny sounds at night... but they still buy in big time to fearing a personal Devil. There&rsquo;s something in us that wants to fear something; that just loves the popular idea of a personal Satan. This is why it&rsquo;s hard to budge this mentality.</p>