How Can Job Be Self-Righteous When God Called Him Righteous?
Posted June 13, 2014
Hi.
I just read what is the meaning of Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/Thing_I_feared.php
You say a lot of good stuff, however how can you say Job was self-righteous when God said Job is righteous.
Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright (Hebrew translated RIGHTEOUS 9 times in KJV ) man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (NKJV)
And that Job has spoken about God what is right.
Job 42:7 And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. (NKJV)
“For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” is, I believe, Job’s cry of anguish. Job has done what is right in the eyes of GOD, and STILL destruction from God has come upon Job.
Job 31:23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. (“not endure” meaning could not have lived the way his accusers claim)
Job is a type of Christ, a righteous man suffering because of the wisdom of GOD.
God bless,
T____
Hi T____,
Thank you for your question.
Here is the answer to your question about how I can say Job was self-righteous. I pray you are given to see that it is not me saying Job is self-righteous, but Christ Himself speaking to Job:
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
When God told Satan that Job was a righteous man, who loved God and eschewed evil, those words were true of Job, from a “righteousness that is in the law” perspective, but not from the perspective of giving God the credit for Job’s righteousness. The rich young ruler kept the law from his youth up, and the apostle Paul “according to the righteousness that was in the law [was] blameless”.
Mar 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, [Just like Job] all these have I observed from my youth.
Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou laciest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Mar 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.Php 3:4 Though I [the former great Pharisee, the apostle Paul] might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
That was how Job was righteous. Even after God had relieved Job of all his physical possessions and had stricken Job with grievous boils from head to toe, Job was still proclaiming his own righteousness and clinging tenaciously to his own integrity, as if He was anything good of himself.
These are Job’s own words:
Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
“My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.” Does that sound like a humble spirit giving God the credit for any good he might do?
Neither Job, nor the rich young ruler, nor the great Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, yet had any concept of the truth of this verse of scripture:
1Co 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
That is the lesson for the book of Job.
If you have any doubt about how Job felt about himself, just take the time to read Job chapter 29, and you will find that He saw himself as about the best thing since Adam was created, for the simple reason that “Job… was a righteous man who feared God and eschewed evil… according to the righteousness which is in the law”, which the apostle Paul makes clear “is not of faith… without [which] it is impossible to please God”.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
God said Job was righteous for the purpose of sending Satan to try Job so you and I could learn never to contend with, reprove, or condemn our own maker, as Job did. These are not my words, this is Christ speaking to Job:
Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Is Job lying, or is he vile? is the Lord lying, or had Job contended with, reproved God, disannulled His judgment and condemned God to make himself righteous? I wrote none of that, I just cut and pasted it from the King James Version on my e-sword.
So when God spoke the words you quoted:
Job 42:7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
I do not for one minute think you deliberately ignored the immediately previous verses:
Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Job 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
I know it was not deliberate because I had the same argument at one time in my life. I simply had not been given eyes to see what God had said to Job concerning how Job was “contending with, reproving, disannulling God’s judgment, and condemning God” for showing Job his own self-righteousness and demonstrating to us all what we all are by nature.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek, tupos, types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
I hope this helps you to see that Job “spoke that which is right” only after the Lord had shown Job that he had no righteousness of himself, and that of himself he was guilty of “contending with, reproving, and condemning” (his own maker) for the express purpose of “making himself righteous”.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
We concluded a commentary on the entire book of Job, which you can access at this link:
You did make the statement: “You say a lot of good stuff…”, and you are referring to what was written in this link:
http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/Thing_I_feared.php
Here is some of the “good stuff” from that link. I try to say as little as I can, and comment only as much as is needed to make clear how what is written is really far from the things we have been taught. So all this “good stuff” isn’t really what I say at all, but what the scriptures say about the lives of every man who has ever been born, and yes, in the end it really is “good stuff”.
This is an italicized section of that e-mail which if read carefully will help you to see that Job’s self-righteousness was known to God before Job was ever born, and that the same is true for us all, because mankind is, by nature from the Potter’s hand, a very self-righteous creature, and all the admonitions of all scripture are for the benefit of all men of all time:
These verses should give us the peace which we, like Job, do not have before we become aware of these truths:
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked [self-righteous Job, Mike, and you] for the day of evil [in each of us].
Ecc 7:2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
Ecc 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth [Job, Mike, and you].
We deny it while we are in Babylon, nevertheless the Truth is that we are as self-righteous as Job, and we believe that if we just attend church, pay our tithes, and do good works that we can avoid the chastening and scourging of the seven last plagues of God’s wrath, when in reality we are doing nothing less than making certain that His wrath will be poured out upon us:
Your brother in Christ,
Mike
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