If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
The question belongs to Elihu's discourse, in which he presses Job to see that Job himself is not so very great while God is everything. Job's persistent self-justification in that setting was provoked by his friends' false accusations. Job made no answer to Elihu's plea, and no comment whatever is given upon it before the Lord answers Job, and Elihu's discourse does not seem to help Job much.
The verse asks what a person's righteousness gives to God or what God receives from that person's hand. Human righteousness adds nothing to God, gives Him no benefit, and brings Him no gain. The idea that God profits at people's expense by requiring righteousness is mistaken, since righteousness benefits other people.
God does not need people or gain from their service. Human sin cannot harm Him and human righteousness cannot reach Him or profit Him. Even perfect obedience could not make Him indebted to people or improve His position, nor add to what He possesses.
Even one who did all of God's righteous will and made his ways perfect would still be an unprofitable servant who did not benefit God. Works may justify a person before other people, but they provide no ground for boasting before God. Therefore keeping God's commandments involves no loss that God must repay, and no one can make terms with God or plead his services, trials, and crosses. Every breath makes a person God's debtor, and the true account contains only God's continual mercies on one side and human errors and shortcomings on the other, so mercy through Jesus and His blood is the only plea.
Power with God cannot be meritorious or earned by good conduct, since human righteousness gives God nothing and places Him under no obligation. Prevailing with God does not come from offering God something, but from God's goodness and tenderness toward human sorrow and weakness and from the gracious relation of a father pitying his children, and it is exercised only through faith. God's goodness is inferred from His power and wisdom.
God calls people to serve Him and to give Him a portion of their time for their own good, so they may acknowledge His love and learn to praise Him. The Sabbath is a day set apart for this worship, and keeping it prepares people for the unending day with God.
The question belongs to Elihu's discourse, in which he presses Job to see that Job himself is not so very great while God is everything. Job's persistent self-justification in that setting was provoked by his friends' false accusations. Job made no answer to Elihu's plea, and no comment whatever is given upon it before the Lord answers Job, and Elihu's discourse does not seem to help Job much.
The verse asks what a person's righteousness gives to God or what God receives from that person's hand. Human righteousness adds nothing to God, gives Him no benefit, and brings Him no gain. The idea that God profits at people's expense by requiring righteousness is mistaken, since righteousness benefits other people.
God does not need people or gain from their service. Human sin cannot harm Him and human righteousness cannot reach Him or profit Him. Even perfect obedience could not make Him indebted to people or improve His position, nor add to what He possesses.
Even one who did all of God's righteous will and made his ways perfect would still be an unprofitable servant who did not benefit God. Works may justify a person before other people, but they provide no ground for boasting before God. Therefore keeping God's commandments involves no loss that God must repay, and no one can make terms with God or plead his services, trials, and crosses. Every breath makes a person God's debtor, and the true account contains only God's continual mercies on one side and human errors and shortcomings on the other, so mercy through Jesus and His blood is the only plea.
Power with God cannot be meritorious or earned by good conduct, since human righteousness gives God nothing and places Him under no obligation. Prevailing with God does not come from offering God something, but from God's goodness and tenderness toward human sorrow and weakness and from the gracious relation of a father pitying his children, and it is exercised only through faith. God's goodness is inferred from His power and wisdom.
God calls people to serve Him and to give Him a portion of their time for their own good, so they may acknowledge His love and learn to praise Him. The Sabbath is a day set apart for this worship, and keeping it prepares people for the unending day with God.