How does Job 15:16 connect with Romans 3:23 on human sinfulness? Shared testimony of Job and Paul Job 15:16 — “how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water!” Romans 3:23 — “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” What Job 15:16 declares • Humanity is “vile and corrupt” in nature. • Sin is as instinctive as drinking water; we take it in continuously. • Eliphaz’s words echo earlier statements in Job 14:4 and Job 25:4 about the impossibility of a naturally pure human being. What Romans 3:23 confirms • Paul universalizes the charge: “all” have sinned. • The standard missed is nothing less than “the glory of God” (cf. Isaiah 6:3). • Romans 3:10-18, quoting Psalms and Isaiah, underlines the same diagnosis. Points of connection • Same verdict, different eras: Job (patriarchal period) and Paul (apostolic age) agree that every person is morally ruined. • Depth of corruption: Job pictures inward pollution; Paul speaks of active transgression. Both reject any notion that sin is superficial. • Need for outside rescue: Job longs for a mediator (Job 9:32-33; 19:25-27). Paul unveils that Mediator in the very next verse (Romans 3:24). Broader biblical chorus • Psalm 51:5 — conceived in sin. • Jeremiah 17:9 — the heart is deceitful above all things. • Isaiah 64:6 — our righteous acts are filthy rags. • Ephesians 2:1-3 — dead in trespasses, by nature children of wrath. These passages harmonize with Job 15:16 and Romans 3:23, forming a consistent scriptural doctrine of universal sinfulness. Why this matters • It humbles every person before God (James 4:6). • It highlights the necessity of grace, not self-reform (Titus 3:5). • It prepares the heart to rejoice in Christ’s redemption, foretold in Job’s longing and fulfilled in Romans 3:24-26. |
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