Motivated by the Goodness of God
“Motivated by the Goodness of God” Victor Paul Wierwille Negative motivation is the basic ingredient in our cultures. It sells products; it sells government; it sells religion. Motivation is a primary prerequisite to a successful success, or to a successful failure. Acts 2:38: ... Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This verse of scripture has been an enigma since the early days of Christianity, because of erroneous teachings. For instance, the word “repent” has been taught to mean: “confession of sin”. We have been taught: “If you do not confess your sin then you are going to go to hell.” Therefore fear has been bred into people, and people gotten “saved” because they were afraid to go to hell. In contrast to this, Romans 2 makes a singularly significant statement. Romans 2:4: ... knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. Thus repentance is not a confession of sin, nor do you repent to avoid hell. We are not to preach hell-fire and brimstone in order to get people saved, for it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. When people see how good God really is, they will see that He is not a fire-escape from hell. In fact, God and His Word give an enrichment, a joy and an effervescence that make life worth living, and then we can change the motivation for our lives. The non-Biblical motivation has been fear. People have been motivated to be Christian because of fear and have been told: “If you do not confess your sin then you are going to go to hell.” God knew that the world would build on fear, therefore He instituted repentance. “Repentance” means: “a mental change of principle of motivation due to positive action.” For one who is motivated by fear, true repentance is a mental change of motivation due to positive action and not negative. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, and that is positive action. In order to
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Topic: pdf,logospedia Format: text Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades. By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word. In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Ma