NOTES for Mat 10:26

Fear of the unknown and secret is characteristic of people. One can try to prepare in advance for something known; at any rate, it is clear what to expect from it. A hidden danger is always sudden and unpredictable; it is impossible to "put down straw" and somehow soften the unwanted consequences. And this is natural. But this naturalness does not mean rightness before God; it comes from human nature distorted by the fall, from the habit of living in distrust and therefore in fear. Fear is the basic state of the fallen human soul, and a person fears not only real dangers but imaginary ones as well. Moreover, imaginary dangers are always more frightening, because they are inevitably "secret", since only realities can be known.

It is no accident that God, in almost every contact with people, says: "Do not be afraid." He calls us to trust, because there is no fear in trust. For the most incomprehensible thing for a person is God Himself; if anyone is to be feared, it is only Him, not some of His creatures and their "secret conspiracies". But in Christ God reveals Himself as true love, which means that even He must not be feared, but loved: with reverence and trembling one should seek the encounter.