Summa Theologiae Moralis, vol. I: De Principiis

S. Th. II-II, q. 19.

820. Notions. — Fear is a movement of the appetite by which one flees an imminent evil which, although difficult to be avoided, can nevertheless be avoided. It arises from love and hope: for one fears to lose or not obtain what one loves or hopes. — Then fear and hope mutually help one another to preserve man from presumption and despair: for fear mediates between hope and despair. Whence, after we have treated of hope, and before we treat of despair, it is fitting to treat of fear.

821. What is the fear of God? — We cannot fear God inasmuch as he is an evil which we flee, for he is the supreme good; we can however fear some evil on account of God, inasmuch as from God or by comparison to God some evil can befall us: 1) from God indeed the evil of punishment, eternal or temporal, which he can inflict on us; 2) by comparison to God the evil of guilt can befall us, by which we offend him and are separated from him.

822. How manyfold is the fear of God. — Fear by which we turn to God and adhere to him is threefold: 1° if we turn to him and avoid sins solely on account of the evil of punishment, it is servile fear, by which a man fears guilt (i.e. offense of God) on account of the punishment: for in this way servants are wont to fear punishments inflicted by the master; — 2° if we turn and avoid sins solely on account of the evil of guilt, it is filial fear, by which a man fears guilt as guilt, or inasmuch as it is an offense of God: for it belongs to sons to fear the offense of a father; — 3° if however on account of both we avoid sins and adhere to God, it is initial fear, midway between servile and filial, and as it were the beginning of filial fear.

To these is opposed worldly or human fear by which a man withdraws from God, and on account of the evil he fears, is ready to offend God. Which fear is always a grave or light sin, according as it leads us to sin mortally or venially.

823. Principle I. Servile fear in itself, considered according to its essence, is good: for it is nothing else than fear of punishment to be inflicted by God, which is rightly feared. Whence Mt. X, 28: "Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in gehenna" (cfr. Lk. XII, 5; Mt. III, 7-10). Which can be honest, because it does not positively exclude the fear of guilt (just as it does not include it), but abstracts from the comparison with guilt. Cfr. C. Trid., sess. 6, c. 6, can. 8; sess. 14, c. 4; prop. damn. 14 and 15 by Al. VIII; and 60-64 Quesnell's, by Clem. XI.

Nor does it hinder that to fear solely punishment is inordinate. For from its essence and proper object, servile fear fears simply punishment, abstracting from this that guilt as guilt is also to be feared or not, for it does not exclude another fear: so that it is neither affirmed that punishment alone is feared nor that guilt is also feared. — But that someone fears punishment solely and does not fear guilt on its own account, does not arise from the essence or object of this fear, but because it is in fact found in a sinner who does not fear God's guilt: it becomes therefore servile, by reason of something extrinsic, namely the state of the one fearing, from the sole absence of charity and filial fear. Hence

1) from the absence of charity it is evil, whence it is said by S. Thomas that the servility of fear is evil;

2) since the absence of charity is extrinsic to fear, the servility is extrinsic to it;

3) whence, charity and the fear of guilt being present, the fear of punishment according to its essence remains but is no longer servile.

824. Corollary. — Many modern theologians distinguish servile fear as a genus into two species, namely into simply servile and servilely servile; not rightly however, for fear that is servilely servile has nothing in common with the fear of a servant except the name. Simply servile namely is the fear described above; servilely servile however is the fear by which a man fears punishment more than guilt, and indeed so that here and now he is so disposed that he would sin if there were no punishment. It is a fear which positively excludes the fear of guilt, whereby namely a man says: I fear only punishment, so that the servility is intrinsic to it and belongs to it from its proper object and is of its essence. But such fear is not true fear of God, by which we turn to God out of reverence and avoid sins, but it is sin; whence rather than being numbered among the fears of God, it seems to be reduced to worldly fear.

825. Principle II. Servile and filial fear differ specifically, since they are concerned with different objects of evil; initial fear by which we tend to God, fearing primarily the evil of guilt and secondarily the evil of punishment, is not a new species of fear, but is filial fear, with which it has the same primary object, which however is in an imperfect state.

For those who do not yet have the perfection of charity, but begin to love God, do not yet adhere to God and avoid sins solely out of fear of guilt, but also out of fear of punishment. Whence in them there is the fear of guilt which necessarily presupposes the fear of punishment, and this is initial fear. Charity increasing, the fear of punishment diminishes, but filial fear grows.

Filial fear does not exclude the fear of punishment, but causes that the fear of punishment is not the reason why we adhere to God: for in those who have filial fear, this is solely fear of the offense of God.

826. Does the fear of God remain after this life? — In heaven the fear of punishment does not remain; filial fear however has two acts, namely 1) to fear separation from God, and as to this act it does not remain in heaven, where no guilt is to be feared; 2) to reverence God, and as to this act it remains, for the blessed, considering the loftiness of God and their own smallness, worship God with the greatest submission of soul, and are perfectly subjected to him: it is reverential fear.

827. The fear of the Lord is called the beginning of wisdom, not according to its essence, but as to the effect from which wisdom begins to operate (Ps. CX, 10; Eccli. I, 16):

1) servile fear, inasmuch as it is the first thing that disposes to wisdom from outside (Eccli. I, 27);

2) filial fear, because the first effect of wisdom is reverence and subjection toward God (ib. 20-22).

828. Remark. — Servile fear, although it is from the Holy Spirit, is nevertheless not numbered among his seven special gifts; because it is found in a sinner who does not possess the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Among those gifts however filial is numbered: for gifts dispose us to obey promptly the motion of the Holy Spirit; for this however it is required, and indeed first, that we are not resistant to the motion; but this is done by filial fear by which we reverence God and subject ourselves. And therefore filial fear holds the first place among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, ascending from the less perfect to the more perfect.

To this gift corresponds 1st the beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit...: for filial fear causes us to reverence God and subject ourselves to him; whence we seek to be magnified in God alone, and not in ourselves through pride or in honors or in riches.