Can New Covenant relationship with Elohim be motivated through a fear of Hell and a perception of Elohim as a God of anger and retribution?
Discussion,
Those who seek to love our Creator and desire intimacy with Him, knowledge of Him, are not motivated by a fear of Hell but a desire to know and honor the One who gave them life and they seek knowledge of the who, what, where, when, why, how, concerning this temporary life constrained by a temporary Realm of Time and physics.
Personally, I was not motivated to honor Elohim in response to fear but in response to Truth that was absorbed during my first thorough reading of the New Testament approximately 33-years ago; in fact, approximately one-half way through the New Testament I looked up from the pages of Scriptures and asked “Where has this (Scriptural Truth) been all my life?” Hell was NOT on the radar or in the thought process…but an all-encompassing love and assurance resonated from the pages of Scripture and I could do NOTHING but respond in the affirmative to the Holy Spirit’s call upon my life…I BELIEVED what I had read and a change of heart immediately manifest!
In my humble opinion,
I don’t think a true intimate relationship with Elohim can manifest with purity and authenticity if FEAR is the motive for that relationship; this truism exists within human nature as well as true love and intimacy cannot exist in an atmosphere of fear or coercion; therefore, the one who sincerely enters into New Covenant relationship with the Father through faith in the Son is one motivated by love and awe and joy in knowing the One who is Causation for life, the Elohim who possesses the knowledge of why we exist, how we exist, our purpose in this life and in the life to come; therefore, it is “divine relationship” initiated through knowledge and love that inspires “New Covenant relationship” and not fear. It is through the mysteries of nature (Romans 1:20) and internalizing the Word of Elohim with a heart willing to receive that initiates New Covenant relationship with the Father; this, by believing what the Father has said concerning the Son, a testimony provided by the Holy Spirit that is responded to in the affirmative out of love, trust, assurance through faith (Romans 10:17).

