I was speaking with a Christian woman who was going through some terrible suffering. ″What have I done wrong?″ she asked. ″I must have done something wrong and God must be punishing me.″ Job's comforters would have agreed with her. ″Yes,″ they would have said, ″you must have. And now you need to repent.″

In this second of Eliphaz's speeches, he has dropped the kind tone that ran through much of his first speech (Job 4 and 5). In 15:1-16, he is very angry with Job. At the heart of his anger is the accusation that Job's words ″undermine piety and hinder devotion to God″ (v. 4).

Let us explore this. How would Job's words stop people from worshipping God as they ought? Answer (and this is the answer of all religions without the gospel): if we break the connection between virtue and reward, and between sin and punishment, then there is no incentive left to be good. Why be good, why fear God, if it doesn't necessarily lead to blessing? Why not be bad, if you may not be punished for it? This is the objection that people made to the gospel of grace when Paul preached it many years later: ″Let us do evil that good may result″ (Romans 3:8).

In Job 15:17-35, Eliphaz paints for Job a vivid picture of what happens to the wicked. As he does so, we cannot avoid the conclusion that the man whose picture he is painting looks and feels very much like Job himself! This man is tormented by terrible fears (vv. 20-24), just as Job is. He challenges God (vv. 25-26), just as Job is doing. His riches end in bankruptcy (vv. 27-29), just like Job. He will die before his time (v. 32), much as Job looks like may be doing.

The conclusion is obvious: if this is what happens to the wicked man, and this is what is happening to Job, then Job must be this wicked man! You must have done something terribly wrong, Job. If only you would admit it, repent, turn back, and seek God, then you might be restored.

How wrong Eliphaz is! Job is not sinless. But he is blameless, upright, God-fearing, and repentant. He is not suffering because he has sinned.