Transcript
Job 38:3 says, "Dress for action like a man and I will question you, and you make it known to me." What are God's explanations for a man or for manhood? What does it look like to dress for action? Well, I'm going to disappoint you. This passage has nothing to do with what it means to be a man in the gender sense of that. Here's what Job 38 is doing. It's drawing the line of distinction between a creature and a Creator because look where he goes next.
Where Were You When I Laid the Foundations of the Earth?
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined the measurements? You surely know." God's mocking his smallness as a creature. That's all creatures. "Man" here actually means "mankind". It actually means "person".
God is saying, "Don't you understand, Job? You're a person. You don't know what I know. You didn't create what I create. You don't have the power I have. There's a firm line between you and Me that you can never cross." That's what the passage is about.
So here's what this means. You can't do this to scripture. You can't take a verse out of its context and then build a whole theology because it happens to use a word that you're excited about. Not only have you taken the passage out of its context, you've taken the word out of the verse.
And God - if it had been Job's wife - God would have the same conversation because He's saying, "Dear, you're a creature." To Job, He says, "Get a grip. You're a person. Put on your person pants. Here we go and I'm going to draw for you a broad line of glorious distinction that you'll never be able to cross." What is that conversation meant to do? It's meant to produce awe and worship in this man.
