For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
How is it now that you explain fear as being good?
I'm not sure how you missed it. Let me show you again:
"
But I will show you whom you should fear:
Fear him who, after your body has been killed,
has authority to throw you into hell.
Yes, I tell you,
fear him." (Luke 12:5)
These are Jesus' words, with His repetition for emphasis on the fear part. Clearly Jesus Himself thought it was fitting to motivate a sinner, if necessary, through fear of hell specifically. Jude repeats this in his admonishment:
"save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy,
mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." (Jude 1:23)
The word used in Luke 12:5 is phobeo, which means to be terrified; the word in Jude 1:23 is phobos, which means fear, terror or dread. We are actually instructed to use fear if necessary to highlight the
absolute necessity of God's grace. Do you not understand the irony of preaching a message of grace and salvation and claiming to avoid messages of terror? There is no message of grace unless there is a consequence for which rescue from it constitutes grace. The reason we can preach about the glorious salvation of our Lord and Saviour is precisely because the alternative to Him was eternal separation from God, which produces eternal torment and contempt.
A message of salvation that excludes the prior state of damnation is just a polite and hopeful attempt to circumvent one's question of "saved from what?" I wonder sometimes if many Christians remember that God's provision of salvation of a provision of vicarious retribution? Isaiah 53:10 says that "it pleased the LORD to crush Him and cause Him to suffer [for our sins]..." The word there for pleased (chaphets) literally means to delight in. God delighted in crushing Him because at the cross He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), and God delights in destroying sin. Jesus and His Father share the same incommensurable love, but also the same perfectly holy, just and righteous nature. That is precisely why Jesus urged us so strongly to fear His Father, because His love is abounding in passion to rescue us, but His righteousness will cast out into weeping and gnashing of teeth all who refuse the very source of goodness and truth themselves. God
is the good; if you reject God, you will have nothing good, which constitutes your conscious state in hell.
"But unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13:3)."
"The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:10)."
"Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2)."
"Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)."
"Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers (Matthew 7:23)!"
Now certainly those who belong to Christ are not to live in fear of hell, and God has not given us a
spirit of fear, but that doesn't mean we are not to fear when we find ourselves stumbling into sin. In fact, the one who has wisdom
fears the LORD (Proverbs 9:10, Job 28:28), and the one who belong to Christ has the Spirit of the knowledge and
fear of the LORD (Isaiah 11:2). The reason we should find ourselves fearing is not because we do not understand the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice, but first of all because we have
wisdom to understand the LORD still disciplines, and also because we ought to make our salvation sure. What does that mean? The Scriptures tell us to confirm that we have indeed received Christ sincerely, which is evidenced by our producing good fruit and fleeing from sin:
"Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble (2 Peter 1:10),"
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear [phobos] and trembling (Philippians 2:12)..."
As those who belong to Christ we should have peace, joy, and soundness of mind. But we also ought to confirm that we belong to Christ through repentance, which, ironically, the Spirit of Christ will drive you to in confirming that. Don't forget that many will go to Him on that day and say, "Lord, Lord!" And He will reply He never knew them and they were workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:23) - it's an important point to remember.
The summarizing and reconciliating point is this:
If we remain in Christ, He
will remain in us (John 15:5); this is our fearless confidence in His promise. The fear rightly emerges when we begin to conduct ourselves in ways that do not remain in Him and fail to repent. Then the fear itself becomes evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in your life to rouse you towards repentance to Christ.