Zophar the Calvinist

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

“Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
and a man full of talk be judged right?
Should your babble silence men,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure,
and I am clean in God’s eyes.’
But oh, that God would speak
and open his lips to you,
and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in understanding.
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

via Passage: Job 11 (ESV Bible Online).

We constantly hear that Christians, when they suffer, should remember that they are suffering less than their sins deserve.  This is proposed as a real answer.  I’m suffering in great ways but at least I’m not going to eternal Hell, so I ought to feel grateful.

Job didn’t find this to be a reasonable position:

But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.
As for you, you whitewash with lies;
worthless physicians are you all.
Oh that you would keep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?
Will you show partiality toward him?
Will you plead the case for God?
Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.

And God agreed that Zophar the believer in man’s depravity and God’s perfect justice was speaking wrongly:

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

The doctrines of sin and God’s holiness were never intended to be used to construct a theodicy for Christian suffering.  Romans 8 should be used for that purpose.

Interestingly, Job knows he is indeed a sinner and that is part of his accusation against God: that He seems to be taking notice when he shouldn’t be doing so.

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my renewal should come.
You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
For then you would number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;
my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.

Job would be the perfect book for a “calvinist” theodicy.  Instead, it warns us against using the doctrines of sin and God’s holiness in this way.

Could the word of God conceivably be any more clear and direct?

5 thoughts on “Zophar the Calvinist

  1. pentamom

    I call things like that the “pretend God’s only kidding when He says He’s redeemed you” approach. Why are Calvinists so good at thinking that our guilt is more real than our salvation?

    Reply
  2. mark Post author

    That’s exactly it. And, now that I think of it, Romans 8 doesn’t just say that all things work together for good, but also tells us that we groan in frustration in the Spirit. We wouldn’t be frustrated if our experience matched what we should expect from God’s love. So we are supposed to feel a discrepancy, not rationalize that we deserve worse.

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  3. Scott Moonen

    Thanks for posting from Job lately, Mark. I’ve just gone through it and have been mulling over it a bit.

    How would you summarize Job’s friends’ errors, and Job’s own error? Would it be fair to say that 1) Job’s friends said not only that Job was not a son of God, but also that no man could presume to insist he was a son of God; and 2) Job was a true son, yet he began to boast in his sonship rather than his father, at which God corrected him?

    Reply
  4. mark Post author

    I don’t think Job committed an error beyond simply demanding an answer from God. God’s answer was that the answer was simply beyond Job’s grasp and he would have to keep trusting.

    While Job, once being confronted with God, says that he will keep silent, I don’t think that is the same as saying he committed and error or sinned. God asked for no sacrifice from Job, only on behalf of his friends.

    I might be able to say more when I get to the end. I’m still in the middle right now.

    Reply
  5. Scott Moonen

    Ok, thanks. I suppose it’s one thing to know what attitude would cause me to break with (false?) piety and speak as freely as Job does, and another thing entirely to attribute those motives to Job. I definitely have a category for things like Job and Psalm 26, but still a ways to go in knowing how to think and speak of it, and comfortably. God is my Father.

    We’ve started to learn some Psalms to sing in family worship. Just dipping our toes in — this will be a long haul — but it should be good, and not just for this reason.

    Reply

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