Question Three of Chapter Six of the Second Decade
That the fear of falling away from God through sin is not in angels or in the blessed
It is asked whether the good angels fear falling away from God through sin.
To this it is answered as follows. In angels and the blessed there is no fear of falling from beatitude or of being separated from God, because in the fatherland servile fear, or the fear of punishment, will in no way exist, on account of the security of eternal beatitude.
Nevertheless, filial fear will indeed be present there. This fear concerns the evil which consists in not being subject to God, which is indeed naturally possible for a human being on account of the natural flexibility of his free choice, but is made impossible for him on account of the perfection of glory.
Whence on the way the evil is altogether possible; but in the fatherland it is possible on the part of nature and impossible on the part of glory.
And when an argument to the contrary is made through that saying of Job, chapter 26, “The pillars of heaven tremble and are afraid at his nod,” canonized in On Consecration, distinction 1, chapter Hi duo solummodo hymni, it is answered that the pillars of heaven—that is, the angels—are afraid either with filial fear or in contemplation of God, who is incomprehensible to them and exists above them.
These things are from Lord Johannes, Cardinal of Saint Sixtus, upon the aforesaid chapter Hi duo solummodo hymni.