What made Job "blameless" and "upright" before God? Was it something Job did or something God saw in Job?

Do we have any of Gods image from Creation that allows us to become "blameless" and "upright" before God, or did sin destroy that and God always have to fill us with His goodness in order for us to reach it just like Job did.

Job 1
Prologue
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil......

Job's First Test
6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you 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's claim:

Job 31:5 "let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless...."

BTW, what was Saul the Pharisee's claim before becoming Saul the great champion of righteousness by faith:

"As to righteousness under the law blameless." [Phil 3:6]

So Job claimed to be "blameless"! Well, something happened between his claim and the end of the book of Job because towards the end Job states the following:

Job 40:4 “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth [because he claimed blamelessness]…."

Job 42:6 “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

But it was God that laid it out not Job...

"Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you 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."

Blameless in God's eyes or blameless in Job's own eyes?

Answer:

"Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, became angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God." [Job 32:2]

Do you not accept God's assessment of Job's character?

Many strong men have made false cofessions under torture.

mel

There are two possibilities:

1] God is presenting His view of Job to Satan, or

2] God is presenting Job's own view of himself to Satan.

Remember that Job isn't around. The discussion is between God and Satan.

I think view #1 is the correct one and the one I would pick. To your original post I would say that what makes Job blameless&upright before God is the fact that no matter what he never once curses God. As his wife keeps begging him to do. I think that God took a chance asking Satan to check Job out.

pkrause

But it contradicts the rest of the book of Job!

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...."

You must remember that Job doesn't know of what God said to Satan, yet we see that Job states the same.

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.

After Job’s three friends quit arguing with him, a fourth man steps in – Elihu. He asks Job, ”Do you think this is right? Do you say, My righteousness is more than God’s?” (Job 35:2, NKJV) Elihu has put his finger on an important point. He isn’t trying to convince Job that his problem is sin, as did the other three friends. He is trying to convince Job that his problem is self-righteousness. And he continues this argument until chapter 38, when God steps in at last to settle the matter:

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?"

What were Job's words spoken without knowledge? "I am blameless"!

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.

God’s words silenced Job’s pretensions to righteousness. Job’s problem was self-righteousness. Job was so focused all the good things he did and the lack of sinful things in his life the he couldn’t recognize the source of his righteousness was self rather than God. But when he came face to face with God, he admitted, “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)

Because that is his own opinion of himself. As long as God says he's blameless he is blameless.

pkrause