One of the most confusing things about human language, among all its limitations, is the occasional use of the same word for different realities. Or, in this case — one might say — for concepts very similar and quite different at the same time.
The Hebrew text of Isaiah 11:2-3, where the enumeration of the “Gifts of the Holy Spirit” is found, actually repeats “fear of the Lord” twice. But the Greek Septuagint translation, followed by the Latin Vulgate that was so formative for the Catholic tradition of catechetics, separated this concept into two different notions: “piety” and “fear of the Lord.” Thus, we can see that the fear of the Lord is closely connected to “piety” — that virtue of dutiful respect for God, or parents, or homeland, flowing from a sense of obligation to those who have reared, formed, and nourished us.
The “fear” that should be part of our relationship with God, then, is very similar to the kind of “fear” that a child rightly has in relation to the authority of his or her parents, leading not only to obedience but also to the strong desire to please the parents in every way. This kind of “fear” is not based on any worry about a lack of love on the parents’ part; on the contrary, it very much depends on this love! If there is any dread, it is not so much of anything that the parents might do; but rather of one’s own failure to do what is best. It may include a dread of punishment, but the child knows it is not simply to cause harm, but for his or her own good.
Young people falling in love also have an experience that can shed light on this notion of holy “fear”: they take such delight in the object of their affection that they simply cannot approach this person in a casual way. Sweaty palms, a quivering voice, and blushing cheeks certainly do not mean that there is any dread of something terrible that the beloved person might do; quite the contrary! I dread that I might fall short in some way and lose this person’s affection by doing something that hinders the budding relationship.
When it is a matter of our relationship with God, a mature faith, with long and multifaceted experiences of God’s love, assures us that we do not need to earn his love; he loves us before we do anything for him. Even so, there is a healthy fear that each one of us can and should have. Indeed, the Holy Spirit himself instilled in us this fear: falling short in responding to so great a love.
While our actions cannot make God stop loving us, they can blind us to the love he continually offers us. If we establish habits of ingratitude and sin, they might even cause us to turn away from God definitively. It is this eventuality that we should fear more than anything else, since it would mean the loss for us of all that makes life meaningful and beautiful. St. Therese of Lisieux expressed it succinctly: “I fear one thing only, my own will.” She does not fear that God will hurt her; instead, she fears that she may turn against him. Even so, in her, as in us, this fear arises out of a closeness to God so that it is understandably described as “fear of the Lord.”
Admittedly, it might have been less complicated if Scripture or the Tradition of the Church had provided us with different words for describing this fear that results from love rather than fear that stems from a lack of love. In some ways, they are opposites: one is life-giving while the other is death-dealing. If we were to lack holy fear, we would approach God with a sense of casualness and entitlement that could hinder our capacity to receive his blessings gratefully and to be transformed by them.
In any event, the Holy Spirit has given us this single word for both kinds of “fear,” not only in the Book of Isaiah, but also throughout the Sacred Scriptures, and in the Church’s tradition. Once we are familiar with the difference between the two, we can readily distinguish them even within the same sentence. Give it a try as you ponder the biblical exhortation from God to Israel immediately after he had given them the 10 Commandments. It uses the same word in both senses, not only in my English translation from Exodus 20:20 but in the original Hebrew: “Do not fear, for it is to test you that God has come, and also so that the fear of him may be before your eyes to keep you from sinning.”
Msgr. Michael Magee
(Living City, USA)
