Grace Seeking Righteousness

Scripture: Genesis 6:11-22

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God saw that the earth was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. ¹³ And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. ¹⁵ This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. ¹⁶ Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷ For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰ Of the birds according to their kinds and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. ²¹ Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up, and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” ²² Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Questions

1. Why does the Bible say the earth was corrupt and not simply that humanity was corrupt, and why is the destruction not limited to corrupt people, but includes all living animals?
2. What does it mean that Noah alone was righteous and why is it that his entire family and animals were saved if he alone was righteous?
3. In what way is the Flood God’s judgment what are God’s motives and reactions to the Flood?

Background

Related Scriptures: Isaiah 54:9–10; Psalm 1; James 2:17–22 ; 1 Peter 3:8-22; 2 Peter 2:5

While the passage frequently uses the term “all”, this is meant as hyperbole meant to help us see the totality and finality of the events described rather than a literal term.

The term for corruption in verse 12 refers to a disregard for the sanctity of human life.

The term translated “an end” means “a set time” it is God saying “I am not going to allow humanity any more time” or “the experiment is over” not that God is bringing death or destruction. The destruction is humanity’s doing.

Reflection

One of the most common objections I hear to the Bible is, “how could God kill all the innocent children in the Flood and still be good?” When I see Christians respond to this question it is often something like, “The Bible says all were corrupt that means there were no innocent people, thus God was completely justified in killing people.” This answer fails for me because it simply provides “justification” for what would be a cruel action in other standards. Now if you have ever asked that question or thrown out such an answer give me a minute to explain why I think the question is fair, but it and that response completely miss the mark in interpreting the passage. I understand the difficulties with this passage because in it God is going to “bring an end” and “destroy” all flesh and in English these are synonyms for killing. A native English speaker might be forgiven for seeing in these statements a harsh vindictive God who is ready to punish and destroy rebellious people. But that is not what is going on in these verses at all. First, God is never angry in this story, God is sorrowful, but never mad at humanity. This is an important point because so many seem to see an angry and vengeful God in this passage but the truth is God is grieved for humanity. Second the phrase “bring an end to” does not mean actively destroy it is more like “call a wrap to”. We are not provided a picture of God angrily wanting to destroy, rather it is God sorrowfully calling an end to the party because it has gotten out of control. But wait what about the next line where God says, “I’m going to destroy…”? Good point, and this line is extremely hard to translate because it is hard in a word or two to convey the message. But the word is the same word translated “corrupt” in verses 11-12. What God is saying in verse 13 is “I am not going to allow humanity any more time because they are completely corrupted, and now I am going to allow their corruption to truly overcome them.”

The picture of God is not one of a vengeful deity looking to punish people for messing up or even for rejecting God. Rather, the picture is of God who is saddened by the corruption of a good creation sadly turning off the lights on all creation because it is contaminated and allowing the consequences of humanity’s choices to finally take over. It is in the midst of this where we encounter Noah and we see a little more of God’s character. We are told that even though humanity as a whole is corrupt, Noah is righteous. Until the point that Noah is introduced we see God is planning to wipe out all flesh, presumably including animals. The reason is twofold, human corruption has contaminated all creation. And wiping out humans would mean God has no representative to take care of creation. God wants to rule Earth through humanity but if human corruption is going to completely contaminate creation God is going to allow humanity to be destroyed and if there are no humans then with no one to govern God is going to call an end to the whole thing. But with Noah, the righteous representative, God is able to show grace to creation. Because Noah is trying to live in right relationship to God and creation God can gift creation second life. The plan of the Ark is about a God who laments the destruction of the goodness of creation and wants to give grace to creation. What God needs for this plan of grace to be implemented is a human willing to partner with God. Because God has—by God’s good design—determined to partner with humanity for the good of all creation.

Noah is not meant to be read as a story of a vindictive God who wants to destroy, nor even of angry God bringing just punishment. The story is one of God trying to maintain a good creation and graciously doing everything possible to preserve creation. Noah is the one person who sees God’s vision and accepts it. Noah is the one person who is committed to living like God and so hears God’s voice. The story does not say God only spoke to Noah, simply that it was only Noah who heard. Noah was the only one who had developed God’s character and so the only one to hear and to work with God to protect creation. The same holds true for us today, God is speaking to the world asking us to care for creation, care for one another, live righteously. God is asking us to partner with God in helping creation flourish. Are we committed to hearing God, living in righteousness, and caring for the world the way God wants? Or are we going to continue down the path of our own destruction until the point when our corruption consumes us? This is the point of the story, to help us see that it is possible to grieve God, to reject God and that the consequence of human corruption is destruction.