1 John 4:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Are God’s saints so imperfect in love that they are commanded to fear? We answer: fear is of two kinds. One is preliminary, and torment is mingled with it. A man who has done evil deeds approaches God with fear, and he approaches in order not to be punished. This is preliminary fear.

The other fear is perfect. This fear is free from such dread, and therefore it is called pure and abiding forever (Ps 18:10). What then is this fear, and why is it perfect?

Because the one who has it is wholly seized by love and strives in every way not to lack anything that one who loves greatly must do for the beloved.

Here fear means preliminary fear. He who sincerely loves God does what pleases Him not from fear of punishment, but from an attraction toward virtue and from love for God.

He does not even guard himself by a lawful fear that consists in love for what is good. And the fear that does something in order not to fall under punishment is identical with the first kind. Therefore it is added: “fear has torment.”

Those who have already reached, by way of contemplation, the very summit of the Truth manifested in the virtues, it names "perfect."

Therefore the one who fears the Lord is in want of none of the goods fitting for those being initiated into piety. He has wholly turned away from the old life in the corruption of the passions.

Out of fear of God he has surrendered his whole disposition of soul to the divine commandments. Yet he has not yet acquired the habit of the virtues, nor become a partaker of the wisdom proclaimed among the perfect (1 Cor 2:6).

Nor is the one who advances in want of any of the goods belonging to his degree. Yet he has not yet acquired the very knowledge of the divine mysteries that distinguishes the perfect.

Again, let those who courageously pass through practical philosophy be acknowledged by us as "those who fear." They have not yet freed the soul from fear and from remembrance of the divine punishments to come.

According to blessed David, they lack nothing necessary for the struggle for truth against the hostile power. Yet they lack the mystical contemplations given from above and diffused in the mind, which belong to the perfect.

But let those already mystically found worthy of contemplative theology be for us "beloved." They have purified the mind of every material representation and bear without reproach the image and likeness of divine beauty.

Thus, according to blessed David, "those who fear," as those who fear, have no want, although "the one who fears" does not possess the fullness and perfection of immediate union with the Word, equally with those who love the Lord.

For each has perfection in his own order (1 Cor 15:23) and in the dwelling appointed for him. Yet one may be higher than another in the quality or quantity of spiritual maturity.

Since fear is twofold, as it is written, "Fear rather Him Who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Mt 10:28), and, "The fear of the Lord is pure. Abiding unto ages of ages" (Ps 18:10), and, "He is great and terrible above all who are around Him" (Ps 88:8), we must inquire how love casts out fear if fear abides unto ages of ages.

We must also ask how God will remain terrible through boundless ages to all who are around Him.

Or rather, since fear, as I said, is twofold, one pure and the other impure, the fear that is impure arises from transgressions and from the expectation of punishment. It has sin as the cause of its origin.

Therefore it will not always abide, for it is destroyed together with sin through repentance. But pure fear, which always arises apart from the remembrance of transgressions, is never destroyed.

For it has in some essential way been implanted by God in creation. It makes manifest to all the natural venerability of His superiority, which surpasses every kingdom and power.

Therefore the one who does not fear God as Judge, yet reveres Him because of the surpassing preeminence of His boundless power, is rightly said to have no want. He is perfect in love, although he loves God with reverent fear and fitting prostration.

Such a man has acquired the fear that abides unto ages of ages, and he is in want of nothing.

Thus the Prophet and the Evangelist are in harmony with one another. The one says that there is no want for those who fear the Lord with pure fear.

The other says that he who fears Him as Judge, because of a stained conscience, is not perfect in love.

According to this understanding, God is terrible to all who are around Him, as though mingling fear with love in those who love Him and will be around Him.

For love by itself, without fear, naturally turns into contempt. This often happens if the intimacy naturally produced by love is not restrained by the bridle of fear.

If you wish, let us also examine what "around Him" means (Ps 88:8). One who is surrounded has those who surround him.

Since the Lord has those who surround Him, by "those behind" we shall understand those who, by the way of the commandments and according to practical virtue, have followed the Lord God blamelessly.

By "those on the left" we shall understand those who successfully carry out natural contemplation in the spirit through pious comprehension of the judgments of God. For the Book of Proverbs says of wisdom, "In her left hand are riches and glory" (Prov 3:16).

By "those on the right" we shall understand those who have received the immaterial knowledge of intelligible beings, pure of sensory fantasy. For "length of life is in her right hand" (ibid.).

By "those in front" we shall understand those who, through an overflowing and spiritually passionate longing for the divine Beauty, have been found worthy to enjoy the contemplation of God face to face.

If another, more exalted and profound meaning is contained in this expression, it is accessible to you and to divine men like you.

Κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν λόγων τε χαὶ τρόπων means literally "a habit of logoi and modes corresponding to virtue."

S. L. Epifanovich notes that an analogous teaching on the three ranks of those being saved in patristic writing is found already in Clement of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Mark the Ascetic, and Dorotheus.

It should be noted that this teaching differs radically from the Gnostic theory, of the Valentinians and others, concerning three kinds of people: "fleshly," "psychic," and "spiritual."

In the latter, salvation does not depend on a person's virtuous life, but on a given initial "nature." This nature determines his belonging to one of the three kinds of people.

The word ὐστέρημα in Greek means "deficiency, lack, need."

See also Ps 2:11.

The other is the fear of the perfect saints, who have reached the measure of perfect love. For example, the one who does the will of God from fear of torments, as we have said, is still a beginner.

He does not do good for the sake of good itself, but from fear of punishment. Another does the will of God out of love for God, loving Him precisely in order to be well-pleasing to Him.

This man knows wherein essential good consists. He has learned what it means to be with God. He has true love, which the Saint calls perfect.

This love brings him into perfect fear. Such a man fears God and fulfills the will of God no longer from fear of punishment, and no longer to escape torments.

Rather, as we have said, he has tasted the very sweetness of being with God, and fears falling away. He fears being deprived of it.

This perfect fear, born of this love, casts out initial fear. Therefore the Apostle says, "Perfect love casts out fear." Yet it is impossible to reach perfect fear except through initial fear.

For there are three ways, as Basil the Great says, by which we may please God. Either we please Him by fearing torment, and then we are in the state of a slave.

Or, seeking a reward, we fulfill God's commandments for our own benefit, and therefore we become like hired servants. Or we do good for the sake of good itself, and then we are in the state of a son.

For when a son comes to perfect age and understanding, he fulfills his father's will not because he fears being punished, and not in order to receive a reward from him.

Rather, he maintains a special love for him and the honor due to a father precisely because he loves him. He is sure that all his father's estate also belongs to him.

Such a man is found worthy to hear, "You are no longer a slave, but a son, and an heir of God through Jesus Christ" (Gal 4:7).

Such a man no longer fears God, as we have said, with that initial fear. Rather, he loves Him, as Saint Anthony also said, "I no longer fear God, but love Him."

And when the Lord said to Abraham, after he had brought his son to Him for sacrifice, "Now I know that you fear God" (Gen 22:12), He indicated that perfect fear which is born of love.

For how else could He have said, "Now I know," when Abraham had already done so much in obedience to God?

He had left all that was his and had moved to a foreign land, to a people that served idols, where there was not even a trace of the worship of God.

Beyond all this, God brought upon him so terrible a trial, the sacrifice of his son. After this He said to him, "Now I know that you fear God."

It is evident that He was speaking here of the perfect fear proper to the saints. They fulfill the will of God no longer from fear of torment, and not to obtain a reward.

Rather, loving God, as we have often said, they fear doing anything contrary to the will of the God they love. Therefore the Apostle says, "Love casts out fear."

For they no longer act from fear, but they fear because they love. In this consists perfect fear.

Thus perfect love casts out fear, or frees the soul from servile fear before God. He who truly loves God turns to Him with childlike devotion and trust, asks Him, glorifies Him, and hopes in Him.

He cries out, according to the Apostle’s word, “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15). “Because fear has torment.” Fear is not proper to love. Fear is contrary to the essence of love.

Love is a pleasant and joyful feeling. Fear, on the contrary, is an unpleasant, painful, burdensome, and tormenting feeling. “He who fears has not been perfected in love.”

Whoever feels in his soul a tormenting servile fear before God has clearly not yet attained perfect love. Either he lacks sincere love, or his love is inconstant or unstable, and is not justified by deeds.

If someone fears God as a slave fears a stern master, it is clear that he does not have filial love and devotion toward God as the all-good Father Who abounds in love.

There is servile fear, and there is filial fear. The Apostle is speaking precisely of servile fear, which is opposed to love. This fear is stirred up by expectation of punishment, and therefore it contains pain or torment.

This fear is excluded by love. Yet filial fear is by no means excluded by it. Filial fear is the painless and pleasant feeling of watchful attention to oneself, lest one do anything displeasing to God.

Perfect love frees the soul from this servile fear and establishes in it peace, rest, and the hope of boldness. This is the highest state of man’s happiness on earth.

“Relying on David’s words, ‘Fear the Lord, all you His saints’ (Ps 33:10), some will ask: how does John now say that perfect love casts out fear? Are God’s saints so imperfect in love that they are commanded to fear?

We answer: fear is of two kinds. One is preliminary, and torment is mingled with it. A man who has done evil deeds approaches God with fear and approaches in order not to be punished. This is preliminary fear.

The other fear is perfect. This fear is free from every dread, and therefore it is called pure and abiding unto the ages of ages (Ps 18:10). What is this fear, and why is it perfect?

Because the one who has it is wholly seized by love and strives in every way not to lack anything that one who loves greatly must do for the beloved” (Theophylact).

“Fear has torment”: an unpleasant, burdensome, painful, and tormenting feeling. It is like a foretaste of the future torment of the sinner, whereas love is a foretaste of a sweet, luminous, paradisal state.

“He who fears has not been perfected in love.” Whoever fears God as a slave fears a stern master. Clearly he does not have filial, sincere love and devotion toward God, and is plainly imperfect in love for God.