The point is that you can never get away from the love that will not let you go and the elder brother standing there in the courtyard in his own hell is never going to get away from the Jesus who seeks him and wills to raise him from the dead.

If fear is not a scriptural motivation endorsed by Paul then why this statement? Maybe our recollection of this familiar phrase conceals its simplicity, for we so easily ignore this: “for it is God who is at work IN you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure”. Now if God is working IN us, both in the willing and in the doing, we are assured of completion.  But what about the “fear and trembling” part?  Do we ignore it?  Do we balance it?  Or have we more than likely stuffed it in a dark corner so that it continually nibbles away at our confidence by suggesting that maybe we don\'t do enough because we don\'t fear enough?

We are all familiar with the verses that God will write his law on our heart, and for most of my walk with God, I assumed this to mean the law of the old covenant.  However, Paul dismantles the law as the ministry of death and condemnation not fit for a righteous person.  Why on earth would God write such a code on our hearts?  What would be the purpose to inscribe a code which can only lead to wrath?