And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
All Commentaries on Isaiah 11:3 Go To Isaiah 11
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Now in respect of this passage of the apostle, we must be on our guard against supposing that we have not received the spirit of the fear of God, which is undoubtedly a great gift of God, and concerning which the prophet Isaiah says, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon you, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord.” It is not the fear with which Peter denied Christ that we have received the spirit of, but that fear concerning which Christ himself says, “Fear him who has power to destroy both soul and body in hell; yes, I say to you, ‘Fear him.’ ” This, indeed, he said, lest we should deny him from the same fear which shook Peter; for such cowardice he plainly wished to be removed from us when he, in the preceding passage, said, “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” It is not of this fear that we have received the spirit, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.
