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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMcClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Reverence
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(usually some form of éָøֵà , öïâÝïìáé , to fear), a respectful, submissive disposition of mind arising from affection and esteem, from a sense of superiority in the person reverenced. Hence children reverence their fathers even when their fathers correct them by stripes (Heb_12:9); hence subjects reverence their sovereign (2Sa_9:6); hence wives reverence their husbands (Eph_5:33); and hence all ought to reverence God. We reverence the name of God, the house of God, the worship of God, etc.; we reverence the attributes of God, the commands, dispensations, etc., of God; and we ought to demonstrate our reverence by overt acts, such as are suitable and becoming to time, place, and circumstances. For though a man may reverence God in his heart, yet unless he behave reverentially and give proofs of his reverence by demeanor, conduct, and obedience, he will not easily persuade his fellow- mortals that his bosom is the residence of this divine and heavenly disposition; for, in fact, a reverence for God is not one of those lights which burn under a bushel, but one of those whose sprightly lustre illuminates .wherever it is admitted. Reverence is, strictly speaking, perhaps the internal disposition of the mind, öüâïò (Rom_13:7); and honor, ôéìή , the external expression of that disposition.