Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
Job has asked how anyone can be right with God. In this verse he tests the answer most people reach for first: pleading his own case. It defeats itself. Speaking in his own defence would only supply the evidence against him.
Just among men, or just with God
The question driving the chapter is not whether Job is a decent man. One writer, quoting verse 2 in an older translation, points out that the weight of Job's question falls on its last two words.
J. N. DarbyThere is more emphasis in this chapter than we often realise. "How should a man be just with God?" The emphasis falls on "with God." A man may be just in a certain sense. He may not fail in any way that troubles his conscience in his dealings with other people. But to be just with God is another thing altogether… How to be just with God is a wholly different question, and this is what Job's inner struggles brought him to.
An option raised only to be dropped
The idea in verse 20 has an obvious appeal, and Job gives it only a moment.
F. B. HoleAt verse 20, Job suggested another possible answer. How could he be just with God? Well, could he justify himself? That would at least mean giving up his defiant attitude. It would be a quiet admission that he was wrong and needed to be justified. Self-justification is a very attractive proposition. Yet Job only stated it to dismiss it as unworkable. He knew he had only to open his mouth to condemn himself.
Standing before God as Judge
Job is now standing before God as Judge. One writer turns that same position on the reader.
Charles StanleyHe gets before God as Judge, and his perplexity is very great. He cannot answer God one question in a thousand… How can he, or you, be just before God? Would not one sin out of a thousand utterly condemn you? Yet this is the desperate struggle of Job, and of every human heart — to be just before God.
Why the claim to be perfect backfires
The second half of the verse says the claim to be blameless would expose the opposite. A claim that passes easily among people collapses in God's presence.
J. N. DarbyOur consciences may be quite at ease while we are far from God and not yet awake to Him. But the moment we have to face what we are in God's presence, we see that our case is desperate. We all know more or less what self-righteousness is. We can carry on with it well enough until God's eye is upon us… A man may have an excellent character, and deserve it too, but he has not a perfect conscience. But the moment we recognise God's presence, the veil is off. We see God, and His word searches the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Whose verdict is in view
Commentators differ on who would prove Job perverse. One takes it as God's own verdict on the claim.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHow can Job confront such a One? If he tried to justify himself, his own mouth and lips would condemn him at once. And if he said he was perfect and blameless, God would only prove his perverseness.
Another reads it as Job's despair over the men sitting in front of him: they will never believe him.
Leslie M. GrantIf he were allowed his day in court to plead his case, he felt that just opening his mouth would ruin him, righteous though he was. Even though blameless, his mouth would prove him perverse (v.20). What does he mean? Is he not saying that no matter how blameless he is, his very speaking proves to his friends that he must be dishonest and perverse?
The way out that Job has not yet seen
The dead end of verse 20 is not the end of the matter. Giving up the case is what opens the door.
C. H. MackintoshNothing matters more morally than to see this: whenever we justify ourselves, we condemn God. And when we condemn ourselves, we justify God… The moment true self-judgment breaks the soul down, God rises before it in all the majesty of His grace as a Justifier. But as long as a spirit of self-defence or self-satisfaction rules us, we stay complete strangers to a deep blessing — the blessing of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. The greatest folly anyone can be guilty of is to justify himself, since God must then impute sin. But the truest wisdom is to condemn oneself utterly, for in that case God becomes the Justifier.
Summary
- The question. Job is not asking whether he is respectable among men. He is asking how anyone can be just with God.
- The attempt. Self-justification is "a very attractive proposition." Job raises it, then drops it as unworkable.
- The collapse. He needs only to open his mouth to convict himself. One sin out of a thousand is enough. A claim to be perfect proves the opposite.
- The disagreement. Commentators differ over whether it is God or Job's friends who would prove him perverse.
- The reversal. Justify yourself, and God must impute sin. Condemn yourself utterly, and God becomes the Justifier.