The Story: What Solomon says – translated literally – is “Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the whole of a man.” It’s not a little bit of God and some of the world. It’s not as much of God as makes me feel OK, and then whatever else I choose. The whole of what it means to be a human being can be summed up in fearing God and keeping His commandments – loving God and loving our neighbor. And count on it, son: God sees and knows everything about you, and He weighs it all on His eternal scale of justice. You will one day be judged by the God you have scorned. Does it not make more sense to seek the Lord, serve Him with gratitude and joy, and look forward to the day of judgment with confidence and peace?

The Structure: In poetry, these verses would be called the envoi, or the summation of the whole poem. Here again we encounter two ideas which many believers today find rather distasteful: Fear God? What’s to fear? Well, God! We fear God when we truly know Him as He is, and for what He is capable of doing to wretched sinners. We rejoice in the mercy of God precisely because we know to fear what we really deserve at His hand. And keep the commandments? Bring up the subject of God’s Law to a contemporary believer and the chances are he’ll listen politely then inform you that he’s “not under law, but under grace.” That, however, is not a Biblical view. The Law is a means of grace to form us into the people God redeemed us to be – holy and righteous and good (Eph. 2.10, Rom. 7.12). We don’t keep the Law to earn our salvation; we keep the Law out of gratitude to God and in the desire to please and serve Him, and our neighbor, in love (Matt. 22.34-40). What Solomon says to his foolish son, hoping to bring him to his senses and lead him to embrace life as God intends it, he says to us as well.

Would you say that “fear God and keep His commandments” defines the essence of your life? Why or why not?

Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For this week’s study, “Remember to Fear the Lord: Ecclesiastes 12,” simply click here.

T. M. Moore

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved