Wednesday AM Bible Study; September 17, 2025 – Genesis 6:1-8:21
Theme: The story of the worldwide flood teaches us that our God not only judges sin, but also provides grace.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)Click HERE for the audio version of this Bible Study.
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1 The Book of Genesis can be divided by the way its genealogies mark out distinctive transitions in the story. The first section can be called “the history of the heavens and the earth” (2:4). Then comes “the book of the genealogy of Adam” in 5:1. The word ‘genealogy in 5:1 is the same word in the Hebrew for ‘history’ in 2:4; and that second ‘genealogy’ in Chapter 5 tells the story of the lineage of Seth, the third son of Adam, all the way up to the story of Noah. And now, we come to “the genealogy of Noah”. We’re told in Genesis 6:9-10,
This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 6:9-10).A little over 14 centuries had passed between the time that Seth had been born and the time that Noah had sired his three sons at the age of 500. We’re told very little about the story of the first millennium and a half of world history. But we are told that, in the course of that time, humanity had become horrifically and irretrievably corrupt. We’re given the terrible verdict in Genesis 6:11-12,
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth 6:11-12).In Chapter Three, we learned how sin made its entry into humanity. In Chapter Four, we learned that sin had spread throughout all of humanity, and had brought a curse upon all of creation. And in Chapter Five, we learned that—just as God warned in the second chapter—death resulted from that sin so that sin now affected and corrupted all of humanity. And now, as we come to Chapters 6-8, we learn something else about sin that is truly dreadful—that the righteous Creator God, who made all things, judges sin thoroughly. He not only judged sin with respect to the first man and woman; but after a time, He brought dreadful and devastating judgment upon the human family throughout which sin had spread. The whole of humanity—except for only eight people—was completely wiped out. Truly, as the Bible teaches us in Galatians 6:7, “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” But the same story of this horrible judgment for sin Genesis 6-8 also tells us of God’s provision of grace to one family—the family of Noah, whose name meant ‘Rest’ and whose birth brought comfort (5:29). The fact that our God is a God both of judgment and of grace gives us one of the most important characteristics of our biblical view of the world; and it stands as a basis for the message of the gospel we preach.
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Now; the story of Genesis 6-8, can be divided into three movements: (1) the declaration of God that He would bring judgment (6:1-11), (2) the command of God to build the ark (6:12-22), and (3) the destruction of all life outside the ark (7:1-8:21). And it’s important to notice that in each of these three movements in the story, we see both God’s just judgment of sin and His provision of grace for those who trust and obey Him. Consider first how we see these two realities in … 1. THE DECLARATION THAT GOD WOULD BRING JUDGMENT (6:1-11). We’re told in 6:1,Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them … (Genesis 6:1).In fifteen centuries of time, the offspring of Adam and Eve would have populated much of the earth. And given the fact that the typical human lifespan may have been well over ten times what it commonly is today, humankind would have probably been far more technologically advanced than we tend to think they would have been. This may explain—to some degree, at least—the remarkable construction of the ark. But we’re also told, in verse 2, that when daughters were born to them,
“the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (v. 2).Some have interpreted this to mean that the sons of the godly lineage of Adam’s third son, Seth, took daughters for themselves of the ungodly lineage of Cain. But there didn’t seem to be any clear prohibition in Scripture against this. In the New Testament—in 1 Corinthians 7—the apostle Paul urged Christians not to marry non-believers. But it didn’t seem to be necessarily forbidden for members of the offspring of Seth to marry members of the offspring of Cain. It certainly wouldn’t seem to be the kind of sin that would result in any unusual change in the fundamental nature of humankind; and it certainly wouldn’t seem to have required the horrific destruction of almost all of humanity that followed. The promise of the ‘Seed of the woman’ could still have been fulfilled even if the lineage of Cain had been mingled with the lineage of Seth. Whatever the particular sin was that is described at the beginning of Genesis 6, it would have necessitated the almost-complete destruction of humanity, and the starting over of the keeping of the promise through a small remnant that was spared. Others, therefore, see this strange reference in verse 2 as speaking of evil angelic beings—called ‘sons of God’ to distinguish them from humanity—who entered into relations with human women and attempted to corrupt the nature of the human race. Other passages in the Bible seem to suggest this possibility. In Jude 6, we’re told;
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day (Jude 6).For angelic beings to intermarry with human beings—and to, in some way, corrupt the lineage of humanity—would have certainly been a violation of their ‘own abode’. Also, it tells us in 2 Peter 2:4-5 that God
… did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly … (2 Peter 2:4-5).So; whatever this horrible sin was, it caused God to say what He said in verse 3;
And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (6:3);meaning either that human life would now be reduced in lifespan to only 120 years, or that it would be 120 years from the time that this declaration was made that the flood would come and destroy all human life, or both. The nature of this horrible sin would also have to take into account the fact that it resulted in the strange circumstance that we find in verse 5;
There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown (v. 5).The Hebrew word that is used to describe these ‘giants’ is nephalim; which means “Fallen Ones” (in the sense of having fallen from their proper place), or “Fallers” (in the sense of causing humanity to fall). Apparently, they are beings whose exploits became the subject of legends later in history. Although we’re not told this directly, it seems very possible that the first few verses of Genesis 6 are describing an effort on the part of Satan—the serpent of old—to so corrupting the biological nature of humanity that it would have been impossible for the Seed of the woman to be born and thus crush his head (see Genesis 3:15). Some have argued that this couldn’t be possible, since—as the Lord Jesus once explained in His debate with the Sadducees—people in the resurrection wouldn’t marry or be given in marriage, “but are like angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). But this only meant that human marriage as we know it on earth doesn’t happen in heaven—not that evil angelic beings who were cast out of heaven couldn’t have been inspired through lust to enter into relations with women on earth and reproduced some kind of hybrid-creature. Some have argued that angels are spiritual beings who cannot physically procreate with humans. But since we’re told in Isaiah 39:36 that one angel (a spirit being) was able to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night, it may not be wise to limit our understanding of what angels are physically capable of doing. In the end, we can only know so much of this horrible sin as we are told in the Scripture. But it’s clear that the nature of it was so dreadful and irredeemable that it necessitated the almost-complete elimination of the human race. But note how judgment was coupled with grace. In verses 7-8, the Bible tells us,
So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (vv. 7-8).In the prospect of this horrible judgment, humankind would not be completely obliterated. God would show mercy, and preserve one man and his family—and thus preserve humanity and the promise of a Redeemer born as ‘the Seed of the woman’. The Bible makes clear to us that the man through whom God preserved humanity—Noah—was an outstandingly righteous man in his time. He was “a just man”, as it tells us in 6:9; “perfect in his generation” as someone who “walked with God”. He would have been a man who—along with his wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law—had not been corrupted in the contaminating sin by which the rest of humanity had become corrupted. He was God’s chosen instrument by which to preserve the promise of the coming Redeemer. This leads us, then, to the next division in the story … 2. THE COMMAND TO BUILD THE ARK (6:12-22). When God gave the command to Noah to build the ark, He told him,
“The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will destroy them with the earth” (6:13).What a dreadful thing it must have been for Noah to know what was to come! 1 Peter 3:18-20 tells us that some were preached to by the Holy Spirit,
who formerly were disobedient when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved (1 Peter 3:18-20).No doubt Noah—agonizing for souls as he built the ark—would himself have urged others to repentance. But note again the grace of God to Noah. God said, “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood …” (6:14). And thus proceeded the instructions for the building of an ark that would hold Noah and his family—with sufficient room to preserve animal life for both repopulation and for sacrifice. God said,
“And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters 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. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you (vv. 17-18).In doing as God commanded (v. 22), Noah showed himself to be a man of the kind of faith that God responded to with saving grace. As Hebrews 11:6-7 puts it;
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith (Hebrews 11:6-7).And so again, we see that God is just in His judgment toward the wickedness of sin, but—at the same time—also very gracious toward those who are faithful to Him and who trust Him in obedience. This leads us, then, to the final division of this passage … 3. THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL LIFE OUTSIDE THE ARK (7:1-8:22). Judgment finally came. We won’t go into the details at this time. But the dreadfulness of what followed would truly have been beyond comprehension. All life on the surface of the earth was exterminated (7:4)—with the exception of all marine life and that which was in the ark. We’re told that after Noah built the ark, and he and his family and every beast after its kind were safely inside, and after the rains began to pour and the flood waters began to rise, “the LORD shut him in” (7:16). There was a door; but when the time came, it was God—and not Noah—who closed it. As some have pointed out, this may be because Noah himself simply couldn’t have brought himself to close the door on the rest of humanity. Only God—the just Judge of mankind’s sin—could do that. “And all flesh died that moved on the earth” (7:21); and “Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive” (v. 23). But the dreadful judgment of chapter 7 gives way to the words that begin chapter 8—“Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.” The waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat; and soon—one year and ten days after the heavens were opened and the flood waters poured down (compare 7:11 with 8:14)—the Lord spoke to Noah, saying,
“Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth” (8:16-17).It’s no wonder that the first act of Noah was to worship the God who had graciously spared him and his family. As it says in 8:20-21;
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done” (8:20-21).
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So then; God is indeed a God who judges sin. As it tells us in 2 Peter 3:3-7,… knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:3-7).But God is also a God of great grace. As the apostle Peter went on to say;
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (vv. 8-9).Our God is a God who judges sin, but who also shows grace to those who have faith in Him. This is the proclamation that is most fully expressed to the world in the gospel of Jesus Christ …
who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24).
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1Much of the material for this study was adapted from the Bethany Bible Church study, Genesis & A Biblical Worldview (2012), Lesson 14.AE