Then why repent? Wouldn't God have said, "No, no need to repent - you're blameless"?

Rob

Yes but being blameless doesn't mean that he wasn't a sinner.

pkrause

Really?

Saul, before he became Paul, stated the following: "As to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless." [Phil 3:6]

Rob

What was the main difference between Noah and the rest of the people of his day? What did God see in Noah that He didn't see in the other people? Check out Genesis 6: 9, 22; 7:1,5.

It says that "Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God." Verse 22, "According to all that God commanded him, so he did." 7:1: "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation."

Does that mean Noah was not a sinner? Of course not. It's obviously not talking about earning salvation by keeping the law, yet it is also obvious that Noah would not have been saved if he had been disobeying God like all the rest of the world at that time.

Luke 1: 6 shows the same thing with regard to John the Baptizer's parents: "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."

The testimony of Scripture is that Noah and John's parents were not practicing deliberate sin but were, rather, practicing righteousness and justice because of their relationship with God. We find the same thing said about believers in Romans 8: 3,4; Rev. 12: 17; 14: 12.

Did I miss something? Noah is not the subject...Job is! Job had a problem - it is called "self-righteousness". Do you know what that is? It's the flesh (human nature) outwardly acting good, but it is a lie. Why? The flesh can't be good. Yes, outwardly it can resemble goodness, but it is centered in I-ism and ego...the essence of all sin.

Rob

Here's more:

Paul says that as "touching the righteousness which is in the law"—as far as outward acts were concerned –he was "blameless" (Philippians 3:6); but when the spiritual character of the law was discerned, he saw himself a sinner. Judged by the letter of the law as men apply it to the outward life, he had abstained from sin; but when he looked into the depths of its holy precepts, and saw himself as God saw him, he bowed in humiliation and confessed his guilt.

Job had the same problem, but before Christ....

Yes, I think the record is clear. Job was a l-ist.

Once again, a review:

Job 1:8 God speaking: “Have you (Satan) considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

Job 31:4 Does he not see my ways and count my every step? “If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit— 6 let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless...."

Job 32:1 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 But Elihu [a 4th man] son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.

Job 38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?"

Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 4 Behold, I am vile [what happened to being blameless?]; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.

“I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know....Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:3,6, NKJV)

Clearly, Job had a problem. God did not view Job as blameless. He (God) was merely expressing Job's view of himself. That is very, very clear.

Rob

Notice what Job says in chapter 23:

“My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food’” (verses 11,12 NKJV)

Does this sound like a man who has been justified by faith? Or does it sound like a man who is confident of his own righteousness, who is self-righteous?

By chapter 31, Job is strongly defending his own righteousness. He calls upon God to judge him:

...let God weigh me in just scales and he will know that I am blameless (Verse 6).

He goes onto list the good works he has habitually done – fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cared for orphans and widows, and opened his home to the homeless.

This was Job’s problem – he was righteous in his own eyes. He was sincere; he was honest. But he had a problem he didn’t recognize.

Ellen White:

"We may have flattered ourselves, as did Nicodemus, that our life has been upright [blameless], that our moral character is correct, and think that we need not humble the heart before God, like the common sinner: but when the light from Christ shines into our souls, we shall see how impure we are; [how so?] we shall discern the selfishness of motive, the enmity against God, that has defiled every act of life." [SC 28,29]