Commentaria in Isaiam
Sixth, the gift of godliness is Christian justice, of which the chief part is piety or religion, by which we revere God as the supreme parent and worship him with the greatest reverence, and with our neighbours and brethren we keep equity and goodwill for the sake of the one God, our common parent. Seventh, fear is as it were the source and completion of all, filial fear, I mean, born of love, or rather a kind of consummation of love. So Hilary on Psalm 127 and Ambrose on Psalm 118, sermon 5, on the verse: “Establish thy word to thy servant in thy fear”; on which more at Proverbs 1:7. This fear in the soul of Christ arose from inmost reverence and clear knowledge of the divine Majesty and of the lowliness of his human nature, that it had come from nothing and could be brought back to nothing by God. That nature could have sinned and been damned, like Judas and the other damned, had not God by his free mercy so helped it and raised it to that degree of union; and all this produced in Christ a certain horror mixed with the sweet joy of gladness, love and reverence, that is, a certain fear mingled with security, by which he did not so much dread what was to be as consider what could happen. On this chaste fear see St. Augustine on Psalm 18, at the words “The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever.” From this passage of Isaias, therefore, that a reverential and filial fear was in Christ, St. Thomas, Alensis, the Master of the Sentences, Bonaventure, Gabriel, Cajetan and others teach, whom Gabriel Vasquez cites and follows, part 3, question 7, article 6, disputation 44, chapter 3.
As to the order of the gifts, Hilary and Ambrose, cited above, seem to want Isaias here to ascend from the lowest to the highest; others, on the contrary, to descend from the highest to the lowest: all excellently; for as in a circle you can begin anywhere and end anywhere, and begin again where you ended and end where you began, so it is in these diverse gifts: for whence does one come to wisdom? from understanding: whence to understanding? from counsel: whence to counsel? from fortitude: whence to fortitude? from knowledge: whence to knowledge? from godliness: whence to godliness? from the fear of the Lord. You may go back again by the same steps: for wisdom informs the fear of God, understanding instructs wisdom, counsel directs understanding, fortitude strengthens counsel, knowledge rules fortitude, piety adorns knowledge, and chaste fear, which endures for ever, establishes piety. On this ascent see Gregory, homily 19 on Ezechiel, before the middle.
Symbolically, St. Bernard adapts these gifts to the seven beatitudes, in his sermon On the gifts of the Holy Spirit. See on these gifts St. Thomas, 1–2, the whole of question 68, and part 3, question 7, article 2.
Verse 3. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. For “shall fill” the Hebrew has hariho, which Vatablus renders “shall make to smell”: the spirit of the fear of the Lord, that is, the Spirit of the Lord will give Christ sagacity and keen judgment, so that he can at once perceive whether men fear God or not, just as if he perceived it not by sight or hearing but by smell alone. Hence there follows: “He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes.” So St. Hilarion, St. Mary of Oignies, and other Saints knew from smell alone whether someone was in the grace of God or not; for when sinners approached they perceived a wondrous stench. Second, others render, “the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall make him fragrant,” according to that in the Canticle: “We will run after the odour of thy ointments”; and that of Isaac about Jacob, Genesis 27: “Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed.” Third, Sanchez renders: the spirit will make Christ smell of the fear of the Lord, that is, the spirit will bring it about that Christ in every work and place gives forth from himself the odour of the fear of the Lord. Fourth, Forerius renders: “his breathing shall be in the fear of the Lord”; as if to say, the Spirit of the Lord will make the breathing, that is, all the life and action, of Christ be in the fear of the Lord: the fear of the Lord will be the breath, the life and soul of Christ. Fifth, you may render best: the Spirit of the Lord will make him (Christ) breathe the fear of the Lord; because it will make Christ exhale and breathe nothing but the fear of God, religion and piety, from heart, mouth, eyes, hands and his whole body: as roses and lilies give off and breathe the fragrance of their scent on every side. So the Apostle says: “We are the good odour of Christ.”
In the Hebrew, for “godliness” and “fear” there is the same word, yirah; hence in both places Pagninus, Vatablus and Forerius render “fear”; from which Oecolampadius would have only six gifts counted here, not seven. Leo Castrius replies that yirah in the latter place is derived from yare, that is, “he feared,” and signifies fear, but in the former place from raah, that is, “he saw,” and signifies vision or illumination, which produces eusebeia, that is, godliness. But this is far-fetched.
Two things, therefore, does yirah signify: first, fear and reverence; second, godliness: for this naturally follows reverence. For this fear is the love of God, and completes and embraces all the other gifts. So the Arabic version distinguishes these two, and makes seven spirits. For it says: The spirit of wisdom, and so on, and of the fear of the Lord shall descend upon him, and trust in the Lord, or hope in God, shall arise in him. Where by fear it takes godliness, and by trust in God invocation, worship and reverence. So also the Syriac: The spirit of wisdom, and so on, and of the fear of the Lord shall descend upon him, and shall arise in the fear of the Lord, or in religion and worship, and the manner of worshipping God. Abbot Chaeremon in Cassian, Conference 11, chapter 13, notes that it is not said “shall rest,” as it is said in other places, but “shall fill,” the spirit of the fear of the Lord: “So great,” he says, “is the greatness of its abundance, that whom it has once possessed by its power, it occupies not a part but the whole of his mind, and not without reason; for clinging to that charity which never falls away, it not only fills but possesses with perpetual and inseparable continuity the one whom it has taken, diminished by no delights of temporal joy or pleasures, as sometimes happens to the fear that is cast out (servile fear, which was therefore not in Christ, as Chaeremon says in the same place).”
Wherefore St. Ambrose on Psalm 118, octonary 5, at verse 38, Establish thy word to thy servant in thy fear, notes that fear is here placed last among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as the form and completion of the rest. “Fear,” he says, “is subjoined, that it may have something to follow; it is informed by wisdom, instructed by understanding, directed by counsel, strengthened by fortitude, ruled by knowledge, adorned by godliness.”
He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes. First, some explain thus: Christ will not esteem or make much of what the eyes of men curiously look at and esteem, namely vain riches and the pomps of the world.
Second, and truly: as if he said, Men judge according to the appearance and outward show, which often deceives; for hypocrites by it put a false colour on things for judges when they pretend to be good: but Christ, full of the spirit of wisdom, counsel, godliness and fear, will judge not according to outward appearance, nor even from the report of others, or from rumours, because sight and hearing are often deceived in these matters; but according to the very equity of the cause, which he will behold within himself. For he will see the inward and innermost things of the matter, he will search hearts and reins, and as he himself says: “The Son of man knows what is in man.” Wherefore he will strip off the disguise and lay it bare, and in feigned holiness and veiled malice he will detect and disclose iniquity and fraud, and in deceitful speech and the double tongue craft and imposture. So St. Jerome, Sanchez and others.
To this belongs what the Platonists teach, that all men are to be judged with their soul stripped of every adornment of outward good works, and with only the lights of virtues or the stains of vices appearing in it; from whose opinion Claudian sang something in book 2 Against Rufinus.
And he shall judge the poor with justice. That is, he will render blameless and sincere judgment to the poor, whom the powerful often oppress, or whom wicked judges despise and unjustly condemn. Hence Irenaeus, book 3, chapter 11, renders: “He shall judge the humble with judgment.”
And he shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. That is: Christ will defend his poor disciples, who will meekly submit to his preaching, against the harsh and proud Scribes, Pharisees and similar adversaries, whose pride, frauds and crimes he will reprove and rebuke, as he did in Matthew 12 and 15.
The Septuagint renders: he shall reprove the humble of the earth. Christ did this when he said to Peter: “Go behind me, Satan”; and elsewhere: “You know not of what spirit you are”; and elsewhere: “You know not what you ask.” Hence Clement of Alexandria, Pedagogue, book 1, explains it thus: He will chastise the meek, instructing them for their profit, and saving them from death, according to that: “The Lord chastising hath chastised me, but he hath not delivered me over to death.”
Note: in Scripture the just and holy are called meek, gentle, humble; for the proper virtue of the Saints and the mark of holiness is humility and meekness.