To be fair, from a theological viewpoint "fear of the Lord" encompasses more than simple fear. Theologically the term fear encompasses awe, reverence and wonder. Mary says: "His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him" (Luke 1:50) and the fear here does not mean something craven.
John Mallon wrote that 'fear of the Lord' is often misinterpreted as a "servile fear" (of getting in trouble) whereas it should be understood as a "filial fear" (of offending someone whom one loves).
Lutheran theologian Rudolf Otto coined the term
numinous to express the type of fear one has for God, and C. S. Lewis apparently liked and used this term often, saying that a fear of the numinous is not a fear that one feels for a tiger, or even a ghost. Rather, it is awe, in which you "feel wonder and a certain shrinking" or "a sense of inadequacy to cope with such a visitant and our prostration before it".
In the RC tradition, 'fear of the Lord' is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, along with wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge and piety.
Aquinas says (ST I.II q68 a1) that four of the gifts (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel) direct the intellect, the other three (fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) direct the will toward God.
The gifts have their counterparts in the virtues, the key distinction being that the
virtues operate according to human reason (albeit prompted by grace), whereas the
gifts operate under the impetus of the Holy Spirit; the former can be used when one wishes, but the latter, according to Aquinas, operate only when the Holy Spirit wishes.
In ST II.II, Aquinas draws the following correspondences between the Heavenly Virtues and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit:
- The gift of wisdom corresponds to the virtue of charity.
- The gifts of understanding and knowledge correspond to the virtue of faith.
- The gift of counsel (right judgment) corresponds to the virtue of prudence.
- The gift of fortitude corresponds to the virtue of courage.
- The gift of fear of the Lord corresponds to the virtue of hope.
- The gift of Reverence corresponds to the virtue of justice.
To the virtue of temperance, no Gift is directly assigned; but the gift of fear can be taken as such, since fear drives somebody to restrict himself from forbidden pleasures.
Rev. Brian Shanley writes: "What the gifts do over and above the theological virtues (which they presuppose) is dispose the agent to the special promptings of the Holy Spirit in actively exercising the life of the virtues; the gifts are necessary for the perfect operations of the virtues, especially in the face of our human weakness and in difficult situations."
(All the above nicked from here and there)
