GP: Unit 1, Session 4

Sin and God’s Grace

and 9 (Noah)

Outline

1. Sin grieves God and brings his judgment ().

2. Sin brings judgment, but God provides his grace (, ).

3. Sin will not halt God’s creative purpose (, )

MP1: Sin grieves God and brings his judgment ().

Read quote from Far as the Curse is Found, p. 85.

The flood as “de-creation.” depicts creation in terms of separation and distinction, in such distinctions are eradicated. “The flood is only the final stage in a process of cosmic disintegration that began in Eden.” (D.J. A Clines, The Theme of the Pentateuch).

Read

Explore: What is going on in ?

Teach: We are not exactly sure what 6:1-4 is referring to, though the context implies it was bad.

- Different options include:

o Angelic beings: the “sons of God” is thus a way to refer to angelic beings (cf. ; ) who intermix with human beings (some of the pseudopigraphic literature takes this approach and uses it to explain why humanity is sinful[1]);

o Earthly kings/rulers (cf. ; ) who abused their power by marrying whomever they chose;

o The line of Seth (who, as the godly line, are here referred to as the “sons of God”), mixing wrongly with the line of Cain (who are simply described as the “daughters of men”).

At the least, we may say that predisposes us to look on 6:1-4 in a negative light. We see that when man is left to their own devices, sin grows like a cancer and there’s nothing that we possess in ourselves to stop it. However, we also see that God is gracious in the way he limits the span of human life . In this, he restrains the spread of sin.

Verse 7 says, “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.’”

- Question: What do you think about the broad-sweeping nature of God’s judgement? Why birds and animals too? Did God go too far? Why did everything have to experience God’s cleansing wrath?

- Answer: First, we have a hard time seeing that our sin affects not only us but others AND the rest of God’s creation. Mankind was meant to steward and have dominion over God’s creation. As man went, so did all of creation.

- Question: In what ways do you see your own sin or sin in general affecting God’s creation?

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

Explain: The Hebrew word for “grieved,” here means “pained” or “hurt.” (Similar to talking about the pain of childbirth).

- Question: What is it like for you to hear that your sin affects God in an emotional sense? That not only does He experience anger over our sin but that he is hurt or pained by our sin?

Explore: Does imply that the Lord made a mistake?

We simply point out that the rest of the verse shows us the way to interpret the Lord being “sorry”: mankind’s sin pained him (cf. and for the verb). It was not sorry in the sense of him making a mistake, but sorry in the sense of seeing what mankind had chosen to do.

The grief in this context is that the ones he has made to reflect his image and spread his kingdom have gone so far astray. The point being made is that those who are called by him to reflect him – and note how Israel would have heard this! – can indeed grieve his Spirit. We see this in both the OT and the NT:

o But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.

o Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Big Idea: Sin is not only transgressing or going against God’s laws, it is also a personal attack against the Creator himself and all the more deserving of his judgment.

MP2: Sin brings judgment, but God provides his grace (, ).

Read ,

Question: What do you think of words like “wrath” and “judgment”? What images do they bring to mind?

Do we see God’s patience in ? God, in his mercy often withholds his judgment of our sin for a time in hopes that we would repent and turn to him (cf. ). God was patient with his down-spiraling creation. He let things get really bad AND he sent Noah as a “herald” of righteousness (cf. ), whose obedience in making the ark stood as a warning to the world of God’s coming wrath. But the people didn’t listen or turn and repent.

- . 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…

- . 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Could explore the question, “Are modern day catastrophic events like hurricanes and tornados also signs of God’s judgment?”

- First, people who experience catastrophic weather are not more sinful than us. This is one of the points that Jesus makes when he speaks of the tower failing on 18 people ().

o Some of the Jews came to a place of thinking that any time something bad happened to someone, it obviously meant they were a very bad sinner. And Jesus says: “You have no right to conclude that! You need to look at this and realize, “That could have been me! I’m a sinner too!”

- Second, Jesus makes clear in another passage that not all suffering is due to specific sin:

o As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ().

· We cannot look at the suffering of others and conclude, “That is because that person committed some specific sin.”

- Third, BUT the Bible also makes clear that some suffering is due to sin, and that the Lord brings his justice to bear against evil.

o 7 From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, "Obey me." 8 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.' " ()

o And note: what must not be missed here is that the text makes very clear: this act of justice comes in response to the great wickedness that existed:

§ “the thought of man’s heart is evil all the time” ()

o And note: it’s not that God delights to do this. The Lord’s grief at what has happened ().

- Fourth,

o Jesus uses the Noah account in to warn: there is a day of judgment coming, when God brings his justice to bear in a full and final way. (Read ).

o In telling this story Jesus leaves us with a question and a solution:

§ The question: when God’s justice is brought to bear against all the evil that has ever been done - have you already repented and turned to God and said, “Please fix this, I cannot! Please pay for this, I cannot! Please cleanse this, I cannot!” Are we ready? Are we in the ark or outside of it?

§ The solution to Jesus’ question: himself! Jesus offers himself so that we might hide in him from God’s wrath. Just as Noah and his family came safely through the waters of judgment, and did so because they looked to God in faith and he saved them, so too those who are baptized, and who in doing so proclaim their faith and allegiance to Jesus, come safely through judgment because Jesus saves them.

Read “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen 6:8)

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Question: How did Noah “find favor in the eyes of the LORD” among all of the people that God had created? Why did God choose him?

Answer: Simply put, God is gracious. There was nothing that God saw in Noah that made him choose him and his family out of all of the people of the earth. God would have been justified if he destroyed the entire creation and didn’t start over – but he didn’t! It was God being faithful to his covenant promise that he made in the Garden.

Read quote: “God remembers his promise in the Garden and preserves the believing seed. Noah and his family are saved so that they could be God’s agents for the fulfillment of his promise” (Curse, 90).

See Noah in the lineage of Jesus: “the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech…”

Big Idea: Our sin deserves God’s righteous judgment, but judgment never gets the last word. God graciously offers salvation, a way out – time and time again! - for all who would receive it. He remains faithful to his covenant promise.

MP3: Sin will not halt God’s creative purposes (; ).

as re-creation. The earth is made inhabitable by the separation of the land from the water (; cf. ). Living creatures are brought out to repopulate the earth (; cf. , ). Days and seasons are reestablished (Williamson, Covenant).

Read ; .

“The essential point here is that nothing of God’s original instructions to Adam and Eve are annulled…God does not give up on his original intention of glorifying himself through man’s caring for and development of the created order” (Curse, 92).

The rainbow as a sign to God (not Noah!) of his promise to preserve the earth (; see as well). The Hebrew word for “rainbow,” is the usual word for an offensive weapon of war; a battle bow. “…the symbolism of the rainbow speaks of the fact that God has laid down his weapon of war and this has put away the wrath that led to the judgment of the flood” (Curse, 97).

Parallels between Noah account and .

So many parallels between the Noahic covenant and the creation story.

Read ; 9-10; .

Decreation (Gen 7)

Re-creation (Gen 8-9)

The creation goes from water (1 :2) to order (1 :3-27)

The creation goes from order to water (7 :17-24)

The creation goes from water (7 :17-24) to order (8 :1-14)

Separations and distinctions are made in the creation (1 :4, 6-7)

The separations and distinctions are undone (7 :11, 17-18)

The separations and distinctions are redone (8 :1-4)

Humanity and animals are to multiply (1 :22, 28)

Humanity and animals are killed (7 :21-23)

Humanity and animals are to multiply (8 :17 ; 9 :1)

Humanity is in the image of God and is to rule on the earth (1 :27)

Humanity is in the image of God (9 :7) and is to rule on the earth (9 :2)

God covenants not just with Noah and his family, but with ALL of creation (cf. ). “The scope of God’s covenant concern is as wide as the material creation…the inclusion of the animals and the very earth within the covenant emphasizes that the scope of God’s redemptive program is as wide as his creational work” (Curse, 93).

The rainbow. Hebrew word for “battle bow,” an offensive weapon of war. “It is quite possible, therefore, that the symbolism of the rainbow speaks of the fact that God has laid down his weapon of war and thus has put away the wrath that had led to the judgment of the flood” (Curse, 97).

“One could say that in the flood, God’s bow was aimed toward the earth in judgment. But once God placed his bow in the sky, the plane of the earth becomes the bowstring and the weapon is now pointed upward toward God, and thus God himself becomes the recipient of threatened covenant curse” (Curse, 98).

See John Walton, “Flood,” in the IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, pp. 315-326.

Later biblical reflections

Story of Noah as story of warning: be ready for coming judgment ()

Noah as model of faith (OT: ; NT: )

An encouragement to those suffering persecution ()

As a picture of baptism and what it represents (; for a helpful overview of approaches to v. 19, see ESV Study Bible)

The historicity of the flood:

“If historicity is our fundamental concern, we will miss the point of the narrative. Not only the event but also the meaning of the event is important.” (Curse, 83).

[1] “How did sin originate? There are two main explanations. One is that Adam and Eve brought evil into the world through their transgression of God’s command (; 2 Bar. 23:4; cf. -10: ‘O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not your alone, but ours also who are your descendants’). The other is that the intercourse of (fallen) angels and women in the time of Noah was so heinous that it changed the moral nature of humanity (cf. 1 Enoch 10:7-9; 64:1-2)” (Hannah Harrington, “Sin,” The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010), pp. 1230-1231, p. 1230).