152. The fear of God
152. THE FEAR OF GOD
Is fear good or evil? What are the different kinds of fear?
(1) Since the object of fear is an evil (we love only good things, or at least apparently good things, and we fear only bad things, or at least apparently bad things), sometimes on account of the evils he fears man withdraws from God; and this is called human fear.
(2) Sometimes, on account of the evils he fears he turns to God and adheres to Him. The latter evil (what is feared here) is twofold, viz. evil of punishment and evil of fault. Accordingly, if a man turn to God and adhere to Him through fear of punishment, it will be servile fear.
(3) But if it be on account of fear of committing a fault, it will be filial fear, for it becomes a child to fear offending its father (II-II, I9,2).
Nothing evil is from the Holy Ghost. But servile fear is from the Holy Ghost. . . . Therefore servile fear is not evil. . . . It is (only) owing to its servility that servile fear may be evil. For servitude is opposed to freedom. Since, then, what is free is cause of itself (Aristotle), a slave is one who does not act as cause of his own action but as though moved from without. Now whoever does a thing through love does it of himself . . . so that it is contrary to the very notion of servility that one should act from love. Consequently servile fear as such is contrary to charity; so that if servility were essential to fear, servile fear would be evil simply. . . . Consequently servile fear is substantially good but its servility is evil (II-II,19,4).
The first kind of fear (human fear that turns us from God) is simply evil, for anything that turns us away from God, the source of all good, is evil. God is the only absolute; everything is relative to Him. “Human fear” is the fear of some apparent evil that is involved in our turning to God, such as the sacrifices we would have to make, or the unpleasant nature of honestly confessing and repenting of our sins. (These things are not really evil, since they lead us to God; but they are apparently evil, and therefore they can be feared, if we lack wisdom, which is the habit of distinguishing appearance from reality.)
But anything that leads us to God is good. And therefore servile fear as well as filial fear is good. Filial fear stems from the love of God and is the desire, because of that love, not to offend the God we know and love as our Father. Servile fear lacks that filial, trusting love—and that lack is evil—but servile fear also leads us to God through fear of punishment. It is a low motive, but it works, and God “stoops to conquer” us by appealing, if necessary, to even low motives. He is easy to please though hard to satisfy. He treats us as patient parents treat intellectually disabled children. For that is what He really is and that is what we really are.
Thus “the (servile) fear of the Lord is the (primitive) beginning of wisdom” but it is not the (mature) end. But the beginning of a good thing is a good thing; and moving closer to God is a good thing; and servile fear moves us closer to God; therefore servile fear is a good thing, as a concrete whole, though the abstract aspect of its servility is not good, because it is opposed to freedom and lacking in love. The noun is good but its adjective is not. It is substantially good and accidentally bad. A man may be a good man yet have some bad habits or ugly features. Imagine the Mona Lisa being defaced by an ugly rip in its canvas. A broken masterpiece is not just a broken masterpiece, it is also a broken masterpiece.