Corruption: What's Wrong With the World?

Introduction

When we get to , we once again come across that very intentional phrase that we were first introduced to back in chapter two (2:4). It is the phrase, “These are the generations of _____.” This phrase is meant to be an introduction to the next section and provides us with a link that connects this section to everything that has already come before it. And so connects us from Adam to Noah and from the beginning of creation to a new beginning for creation. But as we see when we keep reading, this new beginning is still corrupted by the human rebellion that took place in .

This next section () demonstrates how the downward spiral of darkness that began in continues until we get to a place where we are told that, “the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth” (6:6). The Sovereign God over all of Creation who was resting in the satisfaction of a world that he had made good is now seen full of regret and sorrow over what his good creation has become. We are only six chapters into the Bible, and we already see God suffering on account of the sins of man.

It is also in this section () that we come face to face with the judgement of God. Not only do we read about the account of the great flood, but also the genealogy of chapter five shows us over and over and over again the outworking of God’s original warning to the man and the woman, “You shall surely die” (2:17). The reality of human death is on full display in chapter five. We are introduced to ten different characters, and eight of the ten introductions end with the phrase, “and he died.” (Enoch walked with God and was not; Noah was still alive at the time but would die later.)

This teaches us something profound about death that stands in stark contrast to the evolutionary worldview of modern science. Modern science has no choice but to conclude that death is just a natural part of the human experience — the strong eat the weak, life gives way to death and the circle of life just continues on as it always has.

But when we look at Genesis, we are actually given a sensible explanation for why we feel deep convictions about evil, and we are also given hope that these convictions are rational and can be resolved. It is in the Genesis account that we are assured that our suspicions about this world are right — evil is not natural and there is in fact something that can be done about it.

But according to what we are told in Genesis, death is actually something that is entirely unnatural. It was never intended to be part of the human experience. And perhaps that is why we all have this deep instinct that seems to tell us that death is wrong and that it really shouldn’t be part of the human experience. Genesis actually affirms our deepest feelings about death. Genesis reveals that our instincts are telling us something about who we really are because “death is not part of the creation which was ‘very good’.” (Atkinson, 126)

So continues to reveal more about our deep convictions that tell us things ought to be different in this world. We live in a good world that we have made bad, and we feel this tension. One big thing that stands out in this particular section is even when we are given a fresh start and are living in a right relationship with God, we quickly come to realize that we are still living with corrupted hearts that will still end up corrupting this world in some way.

And so, it is here that we learn a big point that tries to teach us. And that is the fact that:

God patiently and graciously keeps giving human beings a chance to do the right thing with his world, but human beings keep ruining it.

God graciously gives us a fresh start and desires for us to fulfill our responsibilities, but we will struggle because our hearts and our home continue to experience the corruption of rebellion.

Even when we are given a fresh start and are living in a right relationship with God, we still live

The corruption continues and it grieves the heart of the Creator. But he will not give up on his original plan and purpose for his creation. This good God will continue to partner with not-so-good humans to bring beauty, order, life, blessing and peace to a world gone bad. But the Creator’s commitment to his creation will cost him dearly.

And so, in looking at this particular section that follows the rebellion, we will examine the suffering of God, the judgement of God and the corruption that continues to plague life in this world.

Adam died

In this particular section, we the suffering of God, the judgement of God and the corruption that continues to plague life in this world.

The Suffering of God

In our last study, we declared that human beings were created to live in a relationship with God and to rule the world on behalf of God, but we chose to rebel against God and began to ruin everything. At the end of that study, we pointed out that even though there seems to be a glimmer of hope for humanity in , the downward spiral of darkness continues. And so by the time that we get to chapter six, we see the level of corruption reach a level that seems unimaginable. God’s boundaries are being crossed in a bizarre new way, and human wickedness is multiplying steadily throughout the earth.

In , we are told a mysterious story about the “sons of God” who were taking as many wives as they wanted and producing some of the giant warriors of ancient history. Whether these “sons of God” were rebellious angelic beings or ancient kings who claimed to be the descendents of the gods, the point being made is that “a new stage has been reached in the progress of evil.” (Kidner, 89)

Seth died

been reached in the progress of evil, with God’s bounds overstepped in yet another realm.

Enosh died

And as

And as the Creator looks upon the condition of his creation, we read this devastating and intense description of what he sees.

Kenan died

Mahalalel died

Jared died

Enoch

Methuselah died

Lamech died

Noah

Kidner, D. (1967). Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 89). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

In , we read:

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

It is hard to even imagine a more damning diagnosis of the human condition than these three sentences in . Every intention of man’s heart and mind was only evil continually. The intimately created creatures made in the Creator’s own image are ruining their lives and everything around them. And God like a loving Father who sees his own children self-destruct right in front of him is grieved to the point of regretting that he had made them.

7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

‘A more emphatic statement of the wickedness of the human heart is hardly conceivable.’

Th. C. Vriezen, An Outline of Old Testament Theology (Blackwell, 1960), p. 210

Th. C. Vriezen, An Outline of Old Testament Theology (Blackwell, 1960), p. 210

Perhaps there is nothing that we overlook more than how much our bad decisions hurt the heart of God. In , we see that God is suffering on account of the sins of man.

The Creator’s heart is broken as we watches humanity ruin his good world and ruin one another. And so, it is out of a passion to protect the goodness of his world that God decides to wash it clean and give humanity a fresh start. We often look at the great flood that comes next as an act of God’s judgement against humanity (which it is), but we must not overlook the grieved heart of God that takes no pleasure in this kind of destruction.

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said… I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.” (6:11-12, 17)

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.

12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Death is not part of the creation which was ‘very good’.

The Judgement of God

We are only six chapters into the Bible, and we already see God suffering on account of the sins of man.

We often think of the flood story as being a result of God’s anger, but as we have seen, this story actually begins with God’s sadness and grief over the condition of his good world. And so as we continue on in , we read God’s decision based on the level of corruption that has now ruined his creation:

Starting in , we read:

we read:

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said… I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.” (6:11-12, 17)

Now, many people struggle with this story and the whole idea of a God who would wipe out humanity and animals with a great flood. But unfortunately many people tend to view this story with little or no consideration of the three sentences we just mentioned in 6:5-7.

Now, many people struggle with this story and the whole idea of a God who would wipe out humanity and animals with a great flood. But unfortunately many people tend to view this story with little or no consideration of the three sentences we just mentioned in 6:5-7.

When we truly read the flood story in it’s proper context, we come to see that it is actually okay for us to not like the idea of God wiping people out because it is God himself who hates it more than we do. God later declares through his prophet Ezekiel that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (). God feels sorrow and great grief over the death of creatures created in his own image. And nothing proves his displeasure in the death of human beings more than the fact that one day he would become human himself and die for us.

Atkinson, D. (1990). The Message of : The Dawn of Creation. (J. A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.) (p. 126). England: Inter-Varsity Press.

It might also help us to notice that this judgement of God is portrayed as God taking his hands off the world more so than him striking the world with powerful force. The great flood is portrayed as a releasing of the waters that were previously being held back by God so that life could flourish.

When God created the world in , we are told that God separated the deep dark waters that covered the earth so that there would be a space in between the water above the sky and below the sky. Then God pushed the waters below the sky back so that the dry land would surface. And so when God’s judgement leads him to flood the earth with water, we read that “the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” (7:11).

Derek Kidner puts it this way:

“We can infer from the statement about the great deep and the windows of heaven a vast upheaval of the sea-bed, and torrential rain; but the expressions are deliberately evocative of chapter 1: the waters above and below the firmament are, in token, merged again, as if to reverse the very work of creation and bring back the featureless waste of waters.” (Kidner, 97)

We can infer from the statement about the great deep and the windows of heaven a vast upheaval of the sea-bed, and torrential rain; but the expressions are deliberately evocative of chapter 1: the waters above and below the firmament are, in token, merged again, as if to reverse the very work of creation and bring back the featureless waste of waters.

For many of us who have pictured God flooding the earth in anger, this ought to change our perspective towards the judgement of God. It was an act of God’s goodness and grace to create and sustain order and life to what was previously a wild watery wasteland. The flood was an act of God removing these restraints and letting the world once again return to being this wild watery wasteland. In essence, God was giving human beings exactly what they wanted — a world without him.

But in the midst of this story about the judgement of God, we learn about the salvation of God as well. Somewhere along the way, a man named Noah had found the grace of God or we might say that the grace of God had found Noah. Either way, God’s grace towards Noah had made him different from everyone else around him — Noah was experiencing a right relationship of trusting obedience towards God. And so God declared how Noah and his family might be saved from his judgement, and Noah believed God and did everything that God commanded him to do (6:22 & 7:5).

Kidner, D. (1967). Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 97). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

In the midst of increasing corruption and a return to cosmic chaos, we see God still partnering with human beings and giving them the chance to rule over his creation on his behalf. The creation has been wiped clean, and human beings are about to get a second chance and a new beginning. But as we soon find out, human beings can’t seem to shake their impulse to define good and evil for themselves, and so the corruption continues.

The Corruption of the Human Heart

After what we might call the de-creation of the world, a type of new creation begins. We read that the spirit of God blew over the earth and the waters retreated back. The windows of the sky were closed, the rain from the sky was restrained and the waters receded once again until the dry land surfaced (8:1-4).

God speaks and brings forth every living thing from the ark so that they may be fruitful and multiply on the earth. And then God blessed Noah and his family and gave them authority over the animals and commanded them to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth (8:15-9:2).

Life after the rebellion still has the same purpose for humanity. Human beings are still commissioned to be the resident caretakers of the creation who work like God and who work with God to fill the earth with his image and his glory. We are still made to live in loving fellowship with one another and trusting obedience towards God.

This new beginning for Noah and his family shows us that our original identity and purpose in life are still in effect, and that we are not too weak or sinful to attempt them. We still have a responsibility to be who we were made to be and to do what we were made to do.

As David Atkinson writes:

“Even in the wickedness which we cause, and through which we suffer, God still accords us the dignity of his image, and still blesses us with the responsibility of being his ‘estate manager’.” (Atkinson, 155)

Even in the wickedness which we cause, and through which we suffer, God still accords us the dignity of his image, and still blesses us with the responsibility of being his ‘estate manager’.

And this is the reality that is being revealed in . God still gives human beings the chance to do the right things with his world even though the intention of man’s heart is now evil. The flood was a fresh restart, but it was not the final restoration.

Before the flood we read that “every intention of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually” (6:5). But even after the flood we still read that “the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth” (8:21). The flood cleansed the world of wickedness gone wild, but man’s heart was still full of corruption.

And this becomes apparent almost immediately when just like Adam, Noah too is brought down by the fruit of his own garden. By the end of a story that had so much hope and potential, we see Noah naked and ashamed, and the downward spiral continues.

The flood was NOT God’s attempt to make everything right again. It was not intended to be a solution to the problem of man’s rebellion. It was an act of judgment, cleansing and mysterious grace. Noah’s failure was not a new fall for humanity; it was an honest glimpse into the human condition.

We are awkward creatures with the capacity to produce goodness or evil at any given moment. As we began to point out in our last study, human beings were created to live in a relationship with God and to rule the world on behalf of God, but we chose to rebel against God and began to ruin everything. We have stained the image of God and violated our partnership with God. And so trusting obedience towards God and loving fellowship with one another continue to be fractured because of the corruption of our hearts and minds.

But fortunately for us, the flood story has shown us that God patiently and graciously chooses to not to give up on us. In spite of our rebellion, God continues to care deeply about his creation and continues to partner with humanity. He has proven that he is willing to suffer for his creation, and he has even promised to never let his creation be destroyed like this again (9:11).

And so there is still hope here in the beginning of the human story that in spite of the corruption that we have caused in creation, God is willing to suffer for the sins of man, and as we will soon find out, he has a solution.

And so there is still hope here in the beginning of the human story that in spite of the corruption that we have caused in creation, God has a solution.

Human beings were created to live in a relationship with God and to rule the world on behalf of God, but we chose to rebel against God and began to ruin everything. We have stained the image of God and violated our partnership with God. Trusting obedience towards God and loving fellowship with one another have been fractured

Things (for now) will still not be what they should be and could be. There is fear and dread among the creation towards human beings . There are now rules concerning killing, blood and capital punishment that are used to sustain order. We must realize that we are now living in an abnormal and sometimes awkward state between God’s creation intention and his now provisional will.

Although here in chapter five