Presently Perfect

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold firm your integrity? Curse God and die!”  Job 2:9  NASB

Integrity – Does the Bible portray the righteous as sinless?  Were Adam and the woman created perfect?  Are we considered sinless after repentance?  Perhaps we can look at Job to find some answers.  In Hebrew, Job is described as tūmmâ, that is, “completed.”  The root of this word is sometimes rendered as “perfect,” so if there were ever a case where we could examine the “perfect” man, then Job would be it.  But when we look, what do we find?

Scripture’s preeminent example of the tām “perfect” man is Job (Job 1:1). He claimed to be tām (9:21–22) and tāmîm (12:4) and held fast to his tmmâ “integrity” (27:5; 31:6), as recognized not only by his wife (2:9) but also by Yahweh in heaven (1:8; 2:3). In reference to the root meaning of tāmam, he was a “finished product,” well rounded and balanced (IB, III, p. 909). Job, however, prefaced his own assertions by granting, “Though I be perfect, it (marg., he) shall prove me perverse” (9:20 ASV). He admitted his sins (7:20–21; 9:2, 15; 10:6; 14:16–17), even from his youth (13:26), confessed that he could not be held innocent (9:28), and ended by retracting his rash charges against God and by repenting in dust and ashes (42:6). As he explained, “If I have truly erred, my error lodges with me”; i.e., he was not guilty of the accusations made by his “friends” (22:6–9) and was tāmîm, wholehearted in his commitment to the person and requirements of God.^[1]

Payne’s comment in TWOT is important.  Biblical “perfection” is not absolutely perfect.  It is conditionally perfect.  That is to say, at the time the statement is made, the person described as tūmmâ is a “finished product,” complete in his or her relationship with God.  But that does not mean such a person never sinned and never will sin again.  The description is “at the moment.”  As Payne points out, David often proclaims his own completeness, but we all know the larger story of his life.  Integrity, as it is rendered by the NASB, is temporally conditioned.  Job discovers that his initial status needs deeper reflection.  Perhaps our claims about our own character also need conditional awareness.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Job was wrong when he claimed he had done nothing to offend God.  It also doesn’t mean that his friends’ counsel was correct.  What it means is that Job’s spiritual condition at the beginning of this story is an accurate portrayal of his “completeness” before God, as even God admits.  But there is more to be uncovered in the depths of the human heart and the story of Job is a story about personal discovery in those places ordinary illumination can’t reach.

Topical Index:  tūmmâ, complete, integrity, sin, perfection, Job 2:9

IB Interpreter’s Bible

ASV American Standard Version of the Bible

^[1] Payne, J. B. (1999). 2522 תָּמַם. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 974). Moody Press.