Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Job was very patient. If I had lost all my children, I don’t know that I would still have been reaching out to God. Patience is an attribute, but it does not automatically compute to salvation. Isn’t this the point. God presented the most self-righteous person to show us that no matter how good we are, we are not good enough to save ourselves. “There is none righteous, no not one.”
When God presented Job as perfect and upright to Satan, God was setting Job up to fail. God knew he would fail because he knew Job’s pride. God did this to save Job’s soul.
Let’s look at Job’s pride.
Job said, 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.
God said, Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Job 29:7-11 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me;
When anyone heard Job they blessed him? REALLY? And yet Job couldn’t find it in his heart to bless God after the second test.
Both James and Ezekiel were positive.
Let me be more specific: does the Lord speak of Job being righteous in a positive or negative way in Ezekiel 14?
The fundamental difference in your point of view is that your claim is that Job is not "saved". But based on what is *in the text* we know Job already had a relationship established with God. Furthermore, if Job was solely relying on himself, why would he be crying out to God, asking God to show him his sin, and wanting to restore his relationship with God?
Why can you not accept that Job's relationship with God was established prior to his ordeal? Why do you insist on making it something else, which requires omissions of the text and forcing ideas and other Scripture out of context into the story?
Yes, Job was patient. Again, consider the epistle by James (where Job is mentioned by name in chapter 5) and the theme of suffering:
James 1:2-4
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James 5:10-11
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Job's ordeal is not a coming-to-faith story. It is a story involving a
testing of Job's faith *that existed prior to his ordeal*. The *trying* or *testing* of Job's faith worked patience for him, and in the end, his already established faith was rewarded. Why? Because he passed the tests. Both of them.
It's painfully obvious that Job was clearly not trusting in himself anyway. The reason he mentions those things about his life (chapter 29, for example) is because his friends were accusing him of wrongdoing. Again, he's not proclaiming these things to boast and brag like some proud person. He is arguing his case to his friends who are lying about him. (Look at Eliphaz's last speech where he completely fabricates evils that Job has committed with no basis whatsoever.)
If Job was as prideful and self-righteous, as you claim he is, then why in the world would he be turning to God, seeking Him, and asking God to point out his sin? It's illogical according to your own opinion of Job. Your own ideas are contradicting each other.
How do we know Job trusted God through his ordeal? As mentioned, because Job is seeking God and begging to know what went wrong in their relationship. If Job was "lost" as you believe, why wouldn't God just show him right away? But that's not what the story is about. No, it's about Job's faith being tested, and God's silence was part of that test.
Job also states clearly that he trusts in God in Job 13:15 where he says, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him..."
As for Job 27:6, that is a continuation of Job's response to Bildad. For Job to admit he had committed a sin to incur his suffering would itself be a sin. Why? Because it would be a lie and contradict what God said from the beginning. Plus the friends are rebuked by God for not speaking what was right, as is obvious to anyone looking at the entirety of the story.
In Ezekiel 14, when God speaks of Job's righteousness, is it your belief that he is accusing Job of pride?
Also, how do you ascertain that Job's righteousness is a righteousness apart from God? God says Job fears God and shuns evil (the very definition of wisdom, by the way) and yet you infer this to mean something bad?
The perspective you espouse of Job and about this whole story is just bizarre. Have you ever considered taking what the text says at face value (specifically chapters 1 & 2) and moving on into the story from there?
