"...Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (NIV John 8:31-32) The teaching is the teaching presented to Nicodemus (and the woman at the well). Many, like Nicodemus, had "heard of" the truth, but few if any had "seen" it. "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." At the same time, in keeping with Job's erstwhile friends, Nicodemus asked, "How can this be?" (NIV John 3:5-9) This study and commentary on the book of Job, situates Job at the core of authentic and radical Christian experience, which has God and nothing other than God. The book of Job is amongst the old texts of scripture. From the book, we can know that, unlike his friends, Job know God but not clearly. We learn that despite his friends, Job came to a clear knowledge of God. Long after it was first written, Christ provided a rationale for the book of Job. Within this framework, the book of Job is sensible and intelligible. Reading, studying and understanding the book of Job through the lens of the book of John, the authenticated letters of Paul, and Spinoza's work are all in concert with the book of Job and what it is about. In the amalgam everything is changed. The distilled view is radical. The book of Job is a testament of our being able to 'see' or directly and immediately experience God, God's essence and the things of God. At the same time, the book of Job radically debunks anthropomorphism as an acceptable alternative to personally experiencing and knowing God directly and immediately. This reading, studying and understanding suits a 21st century Radical Christian grasp of God and Christ after the spirit, in keeping with the trends of the radical Protestantism for example that of the 16th and 17th centuries.
