Whether Fear Remains in Heaven?
Objection 1: It would seem that fear does not remain in heaven. For
it is written (Prov. 1:33): "He . . . shall enjoy abundance, without
fear of evils," which is to be understood as referring to those who
already enjoy wisdom in everlasting happiness. Now every fear is
about some evil, since evil is the object of fear, as stated above
(AA. 2, 5; I-II, Q. 42, A. 1). Therefore there will be no fear in
heaven.
Obj. 2: Further, in heaven men will be conformed to God, according to
1 John 3:2, "When He shall appear, we shall be like to Him." But God
fears nothing. Therefore, in heaven, men will have no fear.
Obj. 3: Further, hope is more perfect than fear, since hope regards
good, and fear, evil. Now hope will not be in heaven. Therefore
neither will there be fear in heaven.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (Ps. 18:10): "The fear of the Lord
is holy, enduring for ever and ever."
_I answer that,_ Servile fear, or fear of punishment, will by no
means be in heaven, since such a fear is excluded by the security
which is essential to everlasting happiness, as stated above (I-II,
Q. 5, A. 4).
But with regard to filial fear, as it increases with the increase of
charity, so is it perfected when charity is made perfect; hence, in
heaven, it will not have quite the same act as it has now.
In order to make this clear, we must observe that the proper object
of fear is a possible evil, just as the proper object of hope is a
possible good: and since the movement of fear is like one of
avoidance, fear implies avoidance of a possible arduous evil, for
little evils inspire no fear. Now as a thing's good consists in its
staying in its own order, so a thing's evil consists in forsaking its
order. Again, the order of a rational creature is that it should be
under God and above other creatures. Hence, just as it is an evil for
a rational creature to submit, by love, to a lower creature, so too
is it an evil for it, if it submit not to God, but presumptuously
revolt against Him or contemn Him. Now this evil is possible to a
rational creature considered as to its nature on account of the
natural flexibility of the free-will; whereas in the blessed, it
becomes impossible, by reason of the perfection of glory. Therefore
the avoidance of this evil that consists in non-subjection to God,
and is possible to nature, but impossible in the state of bliss, will
be in heaven; while in this life there is avoidance of this evil as
of something altogether possible. Hence Gregory, expounding the words
of Job (26:11), "The pillars of heaven tremble, and dread at His
beck," says (Moral. xvii, 29): "The heavenly powers that gaze on Him
without ceasing, tremble while contemplating: but their awe, lest it
should be of a penal nature, is one not of fear but of wonder,"
because, to wit, they wonder at God's supereminence and
incomprehensibility. Augustine also (De Civ. Dei xiv, 9) in this
sense, admits fear in heaven, although he leaves the question
doubtful. "If," he says, "this chaste fear that endureth for ever and
ever is to be in the future life, it will not be a fear that is
afraid of an evil which might possibly occur, but a fear that holds
fast to a good which we cannot lose. For when we love the good which
we have acquired, with an unchangeable love, without doubt, if it is
allowable to say so, our fear is sure of avoiding evil. Because
chaste fear denotes a will that cannot consent to sin, and whereby we
avoid sin without trembling lest, in our weakness, we fall, and
possess ourselves in the tranquillity born of charity. Else, if no
kind of fear is possible there, perhaps fear is said to endure for
ever and ever, because that which fear will lead us to, will be
everlasting."
Reply Obj. 1: The passage quoted excludes from the blessed, the fear
that denotes solicitude, and anxiety about evil, but not the fear
which is accompanied by security.
Reply Obj. 2: As Dionysius says (Div. Nom. ix) "the same things are
both like and unlike God. They are like by reason of a variable
imitation of the Inimitable"--that is, because, so far as they can,
they imitate God Who cannot be imitated perfectly--"they are unlike
because they are the effects of a Cause of Whom they fall short
infinitely and immeasurably." Hence, if there be no fear in God
(since there is none above Him to whom He may be subject) it does not
follow that there is none in the blessed, whose happiness consists in
perfect subjection to God.
Reply Obj. 3: Hope implies a certain defect, namely the futurity of
happiness, which ceases when happiness is present: whereas fear
implies a natural defect in a creature, in so far as it is infinitely
distant from God, and this defect will remain even in heaven. Hence
fear will not be cast out altogether.
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