He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.
Elihu describes a broken man's first honest words. Everything turns on whether he owns the truth about himself, and commentators call that the turn toward deliverance.
Confession as uprightness
Admitting "I sinned" looks like weakness. One writer treats it as the opposite:
The Bible Treasury"I have sinned" — this is uprightness. A sinner's uprightness consists in owning his condition. God says he is a sinner, and his uprightness is to own it. This is the way God is going to save souls at this time. The truth must be out, and owned, as to what you are. God will not, as it were, electroplate you over and make you look like silver when you are nothing but dross. The very first step in the conversion of a soul is owning his sins before God. Not to your fellow man, not to a priest, but to God. Sin confessed is sin forgiven.
The words of the confession
The man admits three things: sin, a twisting of what was right, and a loss. One writer ties the "perverting" to Job's own wrong view of God. He also takes the last clause to mean that the sin was never paid back to the man:
Samuel Ridout"I had sinned and perverted what was right." Job will soon admit his sin. He had perverted, that is, misunderstood, the righteous character of God. In the same way the sinner can look back to the time when he was "a blasphemer and injurious." But God has not repaid that iniquity to the one who was once guilty. "It was not recompensed to me" — for so should the last clause of verse 27 read.
Commentators differ over the opening line. One keeps the older reading, "He looks upon men," and hears in it a man who knows God is watching him:
Leslie M. GrantThe wording of verse 27 may be a little uncertain. But the original King James Version seems the most likely to be correct... A real work in the heart of men must begin with God. The person is moved when he realises that God is watching him. He confesses his own sin and perversion, and admits that he has gained nothing by it. So there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
No qualification but sin
Older translations word the verse as a condition: "if any say, I have sinned." One writer points out what that condition does not ask for:
C. StanleyMark those words, "If any say, I have sinned." Is this the language of your heart now? Can you cast yourself at the feet of Christ a confessed sinner? You may take that place without any fear of being a hypocrite. In owning what you are, as a sinner, before God, there is no fear of deceiving yourself, much less of deceiving God... It is not, If any have served me, or If any have not sinned. It is, If any have sinned.
Why the confession is answered
Why can God answer such words? Earlier in the chapter He says He has found a ransom. One writer looks at what that word means:
F. B. HoleThe word translated "ransom" here simply means a "covering," related to the word translated "atonement" in the Old Testament. Before Christ came, God covered the sin of the repentant sinner before His holy eye. He waited for the time when Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice would make full propitiation. This is why Scripture speaks of the passing over of sins done beforehand, through the forbearance of God (Romans 3:25). Those past sins were the sins of believers who lived before Christ — Job's among them.
That ransom was not the sinner's discovery, which is why past failure cannot cancel it:
C. StanleyIt is not you who found the ransom; God found it. Satan may tell Him of all your sins. He may point above all to your deep ingratitude and failure since you were a child of God. God's reply is, "I have found a ransom."
The same honesty in daily life
The verse is not only for a first conversion. It sets a pattern for how a believer handles his own failures:
Leslie M. GrantTake sides fully with your true Master against the sin which is both His enemy and yours. This means you must not excuse yourself in the least degree for giving way to sin, nor blame it on anything or anyone else, but blame yourself fully for it. Let it be stressed that this is a vitally important matter, for far too many defeat themselves by not honestly taking the full blame for their failures.
Summary
- Owned — a sinner's uprightness is to agree with God about himself. God will not plate over dross to make it look like silver.
- Worded — the confession names the sin, the twisting of what was right, and the loss. Writers differ over the last clause: "it profited me not" or "it was not repaid to me."
- Unqualified — the condition is not "if any have served me" but "if any say, I have sinned," so no one can be too guilty to use it.
- Ransomed — God can answer such words because He Himself found the covering. It pointed on to the sacrifice of Christ.
- Sung — the forgiven man does not stay silent. He has a new song, and many will hear it and turn to the Lord.