John says, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), so why does David the prophet say, “Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints!” (Ps. 34:9)?

The answer

Abba Dorotheos says, “St. John says, ‘Perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18). How is it then that the holy Prophet David says, ‘Fear the Lord, all you his saints’ (Ps. 34:9)? This shows that there are two kinds of fear: the first, initial, the second perfect; one belongs to beginners, the other to perfect saints, who have attained to the measure of perfect love. He who obeys God’s will through fear of torment is still a beginner; and he who fulfils the will of God through love for God in order to please Him, is brought by this love into perfect fear; and through this fear, when once he has tasted the delight of being with God, he is afraid to fall away, is afraid to be deprived of it. It is this perfect fear, born of love, which casts out the initial fear.”³⁶⁸

St. Philoxenus of Mabbug talks about fearing the Lord willingly versus being forced to fear the Lord saying, “In the case of Cain, who by his will did not fear God, fear ruled over him by necessity and he was wandering over the earth trembling. Because he had not feared the One who was worthy of fear he was filled with terrors of everything that was visible to him. By the torment of fear itself, he was asking and seeking from God that anyone who would find him should kill him—so that he might escape from a life full of terror and fear.”³⁶⁹

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty