The Necessity of Godly Fear

The terror or fear that Paul is talking about here is not that of eternal damnation, but rather the fear that should dwell in the hearts of God's children--a reverential awe and holy respect for the Lord. There has to be a balance to the idea that some people only want to think about God as a buddy and ignore the fact that He is also a consuming fire. It was vital in Paul's mind that the Corinthians embraced Paul's words as a consistent revelation of God's truth, because in order to have godly fear, one has to have a healthy respect for the authority and trustworthiness of God's word--the word Paul proclaimed. Those seeking to undermine Paul and his ministry were seeking to deceive and take into captivity the Corinthian believers. Paul argued that the truth of his words and life were obvious and transparent before God and should be so to the Corinthians too. Thus they should not be led astray by the lies of those who undermined Paul. Finally, Paul showed that he had died in Christ which meant that the focus wasn't upon him since he was no longer his own. Everything belonged to Christ--that old Saul with all of his rights, hopes, desires, habits, ambitions, etc, ceased to exist and the life he now lived was in Christ and for Christ.