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State of the question. There are two difficulties: (1) It seems
that hope is stronger than fear, for the object of hope is good,
whereas the object of fear is evil. If, therefore, Christ did not
have the virtue of hope, a fortiori He did not have the gift of fear.
(2) The gift of fear makes one afraid either of being separated from
God, or of being punished by Him. But these two were impossible for
Christ, because He was impeccable.
Reply. Christ had the gift of fear.
Scriptural proof. The testimony of the prophet, quoted in the
preceding article, is: "He shall be filled with the spirit of the
fear of the Lord,"[905] which also in the Hebrew text refers to
the spirit of fear. Moreover, the Church condemned the following
proposition of Abelard: "The spirit of the fear of the Lord was not
in Christ."[906]
Theological proof. This assertion of Sacred Scripture is not so
much proved as explained by the following syllogism.
God is feared by an act of reverential fear, not only inasmuch as He
can inflict punishment but on account of His pre-eminence, who cannot
with impunity be resisted. But the soul of Christ was moved by the
Holy Spirit toward God b; certain reverential affection. Therefore
Scripture attributes to Him the fullness of the gift of fear, not
indeed of the fear of punishment, or sin, but of reverential fear.
Confirmation. This gift of fear, understood as reverential fear,
remains in the blessed, for the Psalmist exclaims: "The fear of the
Lord is holy, enduring forever and ever."[907] It is said of
the angels, especially of those called Powers: "The Powers
tremble."[908] For every creature that is not self-existent
trembles in the sight of Him who alone is and can be the
self-subsisting Being. But Christ's human nature is not His
being, although it exists by the very being of the Word, inasmuch as
there is one being in Christ, just as there is one person.[909]
Doubt. What is the primary object of the gift of fear?
It is God's pre-eminence, who cannot with impunity be resisted;
and its primary act is reverence for this divine pre-eminence, and so
this gift can be both in Christ and the blessed. The secondary object
of the gift of fear, or of filial fear, is the evil of sin that must
be avoided.
In contrast to this, the primary object of fear, considered as a
passion, is terrifying sensible evil, and the primary act of this fear
is flight from this evil. Finally, the primary object of servile fear
is the evil of punishment to be inflicted on account of the offense
committed.
Thus it remains true that the habits of the virtues and the gifts
properly and directly refer to good, but to evil as a consequence.
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