Thinking-Christianly

When some read the book of Job, they fault God for intimidating Job in chapters 38-41. This characterization sometimes assumes that God is highly irritated because Job dares to ask questions about his suffering.

That conclusion does not flow from the text, or from related Old Testament literature. God does not overreact to hard questions about his management of the universe, either in this dialog with Job, or in the book of Habakkuk, which also asks questions about theodicy. The issue is also raised in Psalm 73.

One of the intriguing aspects of the book of Job is the juxtaposition of the speech of Elihu with the remarks of Job. The book contains several cycles where Job speaks and his three friends seek to enlighen him about the real cause of his afflictions, which they presume to be his own moral failure. At the end of the third cycle, Zophar is silent, and the debate breaks down. Elihu, who has been silent thus far, summarizes the observations of Job’s friends. All four are in agreement that suffering in this life is the result of sin against the living God. Job disagrees with the punitive categorization of all sin, though the does not understand the reasons for his suffering.

In some ways, the book illustrates the contrasts between the way we often approach the issue of suffering and the way God would have us view it. Job does not have the final answer to the question, but he rightly rejects the oversimplification of his friends (and of most cultures). In Job 42:7, God says to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you  have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” God does not blast Job for asking hard questions about his own suffering. Instead, he affirms Job’s desire to honor God despite his unanswered questions.

If Job sinned at all, it was in assuming that he could bring his case before God in such a way that at the end of the day he would fully understand the motives and methods of God’s sovereign rule. The questions and assertions God puts forth in chapters 38-41 could be summarized by Isaiah 55:8-9, which maintains that God’s ways are higher than our own. Though we can know him truly (as a result of his revelation to us through scripture) we cannot know him exhaustively.

Job reminds us that the God of the Old Testament does not recoil at the notion of being questioned about his operations in the universe. Job is not berated because he asks questions. Neither are we. We might not get all the answers we desire. We may not understand the answers we find. But in any case, the questions don’t put us at odds with God. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons this remarkable account is part of scripture.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Paul presents a list of behaviors that characerized the city of Corinth and challenged the development of godliness for those in the church. Lives marked with greed or slander are as unholy as those characterized by idolatry or homosexuality.

So this is one of those passages where homosexual behavior is addressed–not as an ultimate form of sin–but as one sin out of many that go against the moral will of God.

One interesting footnote about the secular Roman culture is it’s attitude toward homosexual behavior. In ancient Rome, same-sex relationships were condoned as long as the aggressor was the person in the higher social class. It was not regarded wrong for those of the ruling class to engage in heterosexual or homosexual union with anyone who was socially beneath them. That is because these kinds of relationships were built on power, not love or affection. It was simply a way to subjugate or demean those below you. The idea that two upper class males would engage in same-sex behavior was abhorent, because the passive one would be acting beneath his class. This idea of sexual mastery as a vehicle for power and status is distant from modern justifications of same-sex relationships based on love.

In the wider context of the entire list in verses 9-10, it seems as though each of the vices in some degree share the common element of the use or abuse of others for personal benefit, status, or power. Homosexual behavior is not singled out. All of them reflect the tendnecies we have to abuse our freedom. In all of them we damage relationships and abuse trust. In the end, a life patterned after these things forfeits something beyond value–the opportunity to receive an inheritance in the kingdom of God.