The first lesson God would have us learn involves the "great controversy" between Christ and Satan. Satan charged God with being unfair because He demands obedience to His law. He then says it is impossible to keep God's law. God allows Satan to attend the meeting in heaven because He is going to present before Satan and the universe (the Adams of all the unfallen worlds) the evidence that man can perfectly keep His law. "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." Job 1:1.
This truth has been perverted to say that Job was not perfect. That none but Christ are perfect. Amazing that most of Christianity rejects the power of grace to keep from sinning. Then, Satan has not quit there. He then takes the opposite side of truth and perverts it. Even though he would have us believe Job was not perfectly keep the law, he then has twisted the truth in the Book of Job to say that Job did not sin after being attacked by his three friends. He is so clever that many, even when reading God's Words directed to Job, rebuking his sin of condemning God and being self righteous, believe Job did not sin.
I must confess I find the above a little confusing.
My first question is -- what actually was Satan's charge when he addressed the situation put before him?
I don't see it being about how perfectly Job obeyed -- rather it was concerning MOTIVE.
Why was Job serving God, forsaking evil and living an upright life?
Job was living an upright life, but I do not believe he was perfectly sinless.
The word translated as "perfect" here is is "tam"#H8552 and occurs 13 times in scripture.
It means morally upright, pious, undefiled, basically a good, person.
Genesis 25:27 "Jacob was a perfect #G8552 man dwelling in tents" (KJV translates it as "plain man")
But Jacob obviously was not sinless, he had a conniving personality that God had to change over many years.
Songs of Solomon speak of the "perfect" #H8552 sweetheart as "undefiled" in SS 5:2 and 6:9.
No, Job was not perfectly sinless. He was an upright, pious man, but God still had some changing to do in his character.
The issue isn't primarily about perfectly keeping the law, but WHY and how one serves God.
Satan is saying -- Job doesn't serve you out of love, or because he believes its the best way to live, Job is serving you because you are bribing him to do so, he's doing it only because of the perks you give him -- take those away and he will have no more reason to serve and obey You.
The fact is -- Satan was partially right, though Job had much more faith in God than Satan gave him credit for having, yet Job's dialog shows he did believe he deserved God's blessings because of his upright living. God owed him better, God wasn't fair. Job showed he felt this way very strongly in fact, he felt God wasn't being fair in taking the "perks" away from him.
This wasn't just "falling into a sin", this was a defect in his character coming to the surface. That's one thing about calamity and trials -- it exposes the hidden defects in our characters, and once exposed, if we are people of faith, we take them to God to deal with them.
God in His mercy was lifting Job to a higher level of "perfection" trust in Him through this experience.
The rebuke to Job makes it plain that "ignorance" was part of the problem. Ignorance of just how much Job needed to depend on God, and how helpless he really was, and how powerful and mighty his Redeemer really was.
Yes, Job was serving God as best as he knew prior to the experience.
And yes, God accepts that --
For like the immature plant has "perfection" even though it still has a lot of growing to do, so was Job.
But Job still needed to grow.
God allows trials and tribulations to --- 1)expose our hidden defects 2)help us grow in grace when we repent and look to Him, in enabling us to grow. 3)and most important to realize our absolute need of our Redeemer.