The Escalation of Sin from to (Gen 5.1-6.8) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella October 19, 2014 5.1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him . 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. 6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. 9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered . 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. 12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered . 13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. 15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered . 16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. 18 When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered . 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered . 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. 25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered . 26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. 28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands." 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. 32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered , Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:1-32 ESV) 6.1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5 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. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 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." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:1-8 ESV) Introduction Genealogies can be difficult to read, but there are important truths to draw from them. You will recall from last time that the genealogy of , the firstborn of Adam and , gives us insight into the Lord’s purpose to allow the development of human sin at the same time that mankind advances culturally. So, the murderer Cain lives and has many descendants who, though living in separation from God, still reflect God’s wisdom in the development of livestock, tents, cities, instruments of music, and instruments of bronze and iron (4.17-21). By His common grace, have among them people gifted in playing musical instruments such as the lyre and pipe (v. 21). God intends that the lost human family remain on earth and develop culturally both as city dwellers and as tent dwellers. However, sin abounds at the same time that culture develops. That fact is epitomized by the boast of Lamech that he killed a man for a mere wound and that he killed a youth for a mere bruise. Therefore, to live in separation from God does not mean that a person ceases to be the image of God. He continues to reflect God, but in rebellion against being His image bearer. Thus, estranged and lost, man becomes a threat to his neighbor. Bleak as this sketch may be about the advancement of family and culture, there is nonetheless a note of hope in a third son of Eve. Through Seth and his son, Enosh, true worship in the pattern of is revived (4.25-26) because the Lord God keeps His covenant of Genesis 3.15. However, our text for this morning continues theme of sin’s escalation in human history in the time from Seth to Noah. We have two !main things to cover: the reality of sin to the time of Noah and God’s response to it. I. The reality of sin to the time of Noah To appreciate how sin escalates in this period, we need to deal with the genealogy of !2 Genesis 5 and then tackle the challenging content of Genesis 6.1-4. A. Regarding Genesis 5, the text presents the fact of death (and sin) within Sethite history Let’s consider how this fact is brought to our attention and what we learn from it. The text reaches back to original creation of man in the image of God, but with a twist: This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created (5.1-2). As God’s image bearer, man, created male and female, has the duty to populate the earth. What then does the writer give us by his reading cue in the phrase the book of the generations of Adam? This is the second toledoth of the book and it makes us ask, “what came forth from Adam?” In a basic sense, what comes forth is the genealogy; the family history of Adam, his posterity. But at a deeper level, the answer is in verse 3, which makes a subtle shift from man as God’s image to Seth as Adam’s image: When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. It is subtle in that the time in which this all occurs is after the fall (after Adam’s disobedience, after the huge turning point in history away from the garden to the wilderness) but temptation, fall, verdict, sentence with a gospel ingredient are not mentioned. We are told how old Adam was when Seth was born (he was 130 years old when he became Seth’s father) and how long he lived after Seth’s birth (another 800 years). We are also told that in these years Adam had other sons and daughters. Then, we have the pungent refrain that will stand out in the genealogy like a sore thumb: it is the event that occurred when Adam was 930 years old: “and he died”: Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died (5.5). Here the pronouncement about returning to the dust became a reality: dust you are and to dust you shall return (3.19). The genealogy from Adam through Seth to Noah speaks of ten generations. Eight of them have this refrain, and he died. Noah’s death is listed in the next section of the . That leaves a single exception, Enoch whose years on earth are tallied, but he was taken by God without death. He stands out as a man of faith (Heb 11.5-6) who walked with God and pleased God. In strong contrast to the genealogy of Cain in which there is no mention of death (4.17-24), the genealogy of Seth accents the fact of death and therefore the fact that the descendants of Adam through Seth are like him as covenant breakers who are warned, you shall surely die. Notably, these are the ones who began to call on the name of the Lord (seed of Eve to replace Abel) but that theme is not developed. Instead, the connection to Noah is traced with the remarkable refrain: and he died. Adam lived 930 years and he died and his son Seth died, and his son Enosh died, and his son Kenan died, and his son Mahalalel died, and his son Jared died, and his son Enoch was taken, and Enoch’s son Methuselah died, and his son Lamech died, and his son was Noah who fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Death is the consequence of sin; they die because they are sinners in the likeness of Adam. The descendants of Adam through Eve and Seth and from whom will come the special offspring who will crush the head of the serpent are sinners over whom death reigns. As Paul classically puts it: just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Rom 5.12). Thus, the reality of death and sin are put before us with emphasis. B. Now, Genesis 6.1-4 documents the escalation of sin by the time of Noah. There is a picture here of human depravity in a story about the sons of God, their wives, and children. Consideration of three main interpretations of this story allows us to paint this picture in broad but bold strokes. The interpretations may be called mythical-symbolic, Cainite- Sethite, and sons-kings. Let’s go through each in order. 1. Mythical-symbolic On one hand, it was once a prevalent view among critics of Scripture that this text is an !3 example of pure mythology in which heavenly beings were enticed by the beauty of earthly women, entered into unholy unions with them, and so gave birth to a race of giants with super- human strength. On the other hand, some interpreters understand that the story is deeply symbolic. There is nothing real or historical: the writer is trying to depict man’s demonic side, that he has gigantic potential for evil. On the first view, it is said that the textual tradition is an attempt to explain profound events of the past in a pre-modern and therefore mythical way. On the second view, the textual tradition is taken as a comment on human nature through the vehicle of a symbolic fictional account. Notably, these views have their counterparts in Christian theology. One famous proponent of the sons of God as angels is Merrill Unger (Biblical Demonology, 45-55; main reason: the phrase sons of God “appears restricted to angels” in the OT, p. 47, 54; they could cohabit with women by leaving their proper realm and invading the bodies of men; to thus work abominable confusion). Also, some manuscripts of the Greek OT have “angels of God” instead of sons of God. There are significant problems with these views. Uppermost is the fact that the judgment pronounced in verse 3 on man pertains to the activity of the sons of God cited in verse 2: the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” They are identified as men of flesh who took as their wives any they chose [being polygamous]. According to Peter, this refers to the preaching of the gospel by Christ through the Spirit “when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah” [waiting during the 120 years] (1 Pet 3.18-20). 2. Cainite-Sethite A very common orthodox position (as held by J. Murray, Principles of Conduct) is that the text speaks of humans from the line of Seth (the sons of God in the covenantal posterity of Eve) who intermarry with Cainites (the daughters of man). A central problem for this view is that the offspring of these marriages are Nephilim (giants, KJV) identified as Gibborim (mighty men): The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown (Gen 6.4). Why would giants be born to religiously mixed marriages? It makes no sense to seek some odd genetic result due to the marriage of Cainites with Sethites. 3. Sons-kings Others (as Kline, WTJ, 1962) are able to preserve the human and historical aspects of the text and avoid the problem of the Nephilim-Gibborim (mighty giants) by emphasizing the usage of “sons of God” for kings (and nowhere else in the Mosaic writings for the children of God). For example, according to Psalm 82.1-8, God comes into the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment (v. 1) and calls the leaders of Israel to cease judging unjustly and showing partiality to the wicked (v. 2); they are to rescue the weak and needy (v. 4), and they are warned that though You are gods, sons of the Most High nonetheless like men you shall die, and fall like any prince (v. 7). They may think of themselves as god-like but like any man they will die. By this process of elimination concerning the views of this text, it seems best to agree with Kline that the passage refers to arrogant men who thought of themselves as sons of the gods and are thus identified as powerful kings. Their sin is that of lust, polygamy, and tyranny on a gigantic scale. The large picture in the flow of the context indicates what happened over time among the descendants of Cain and Seth, the offspring of the devil and the offspring of Eve. The corruption spread widely so that all mankind continued in the spirit of murderous Cain and arrogant Lamech having city development, kingship, and weapons for vengeance on a massive scale that is god- like (if God reeks sevenfold vengeance, Lamech boasts of seventy-sevenfold vengeance). The picture of human depravity prior to the Flood is such that both Cainites and Sethites !4 are marked by the wickedness described in Genesis 6.5: 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. This text reveals the profound depth of man’s wickedness: it is intensive being great in the earth; inward given that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was…evil; absolute in the exclusion of everything good for his thoughts were only evil; and literally “every day” (all day long) or continually (Vos, BT, 62). This description reveals the escalation of sin not only among the Cainites but also among the Sethites by the time of Noah. In turn, this reveals God’s “purpose of !showing the necessary outcome of sin, when left to work itself out freely” (Vos, BT, 59). II. God’s response to the escalation of sin in the time of Noah The response of the Lord to this massive and intensive development of sin is threefold: in three words: grief, judgment, and grace. A. Grief about man’s sin Given what He saw (v. 5), the Lord has regrets: the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart (5.6). Is the Holy Spirit telling us that the Lord God repented, that He changed His mind? Are we to understand the text to be saying that He did this because He was grieved to His heart? Calvin, like many reformed writers in train with him, so emphasizes the immutable perfection of God that therefore the things this text ascribes to God do not “properly belong to him” but have “reference to our understanding of him.” He explains why “repentance cannot take place in God”: it is because “nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen.” He applies the same reasoning to the idea that God is grieved: “Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad; but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose: yet because it could not otherwise be known how great is God’s hatred…of sin, therefore the Spirit accommodates himself to our capacity.” For Calvin this language “represents God as transferring to himself what is peculiar to human nature…and clothes himself with our affections” (Commentary on Gen 6.6) even though he is “beyond all disturbance of mind,” so in these pronouncements of judgment God “exhibits the appearance of one kindled and angered” (Institutes, 1.17.13). But Calvin’s way of denying ascription to God is on the edge of, and opens the door to, a reading of the text that does not deny God’s essential and immutable being at the same time that it affirms that God truly experiences human emotions and a change of mind. It involves the fact that God takes to Himself the qualities and attributes of human nature to communicate with us. Thus, in terms of this temporary appropriation of human nature (prior to the permanent appropriation of human nature by Christ and analogous to it), the divine person who has the immutable properties of deity added to Himself properties of humanity and thus of mutability. So, in this way, God really experiences things that cause Him real grief and regret. That occurred when the stench of sin penetrated His nostrils in the time of Noah. Therefore, we do better justice to these passages when we acknowledge (guardedly) that the emotions ascribed to God do belong to Him, not essentially but contingently by His free decision to enter human experience and so transfer to Himself these feelings that are peculiar to human nature. He enters the world of His creation and communicates what He sees and feels so that in this case (of 6.5) we can understand His displeasure with sin. B. Judgment for man’s sin The judgment on the entire human race and all living creatures of the earth is announced in 6.3 and 6.7. In 6.3 the Lord said: My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years. The verdict is that the Spirit’s work in man will be curtailed because he is but dust and frail, so, the idea here is that the Spirit will only sustain the life of mankind for 120 years when the judgment of the flood will overwhelm the world that then was (so, Vos, Biblical !5 Theology, 61, given that the Spirit is the source of man’s natural life). Accordingly, 6.7 announces universal destruction: 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.” Because man is an appointed sovereign over the earth to rule and subdue it, his sin brings all living things on the earth under God’s curse along with him. Man’s sin deeply disturbs and offends the Creator, So, extensive judgment accords with the massive evil of man. C. Grace despite man’s sin In the midst of gigantic sin and total destruction of the human race for its sin, the section closes with a word about grace: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD (Gen 6.8). Therefore, there will be a remnant delivered from the great flood. We get the full impact here by thinking carefully about the word “found,” about Noah finding favor with God. Clearly, the favor is in the eyes of the covenant Lord, which tells us that God remembers His promise to man of eternal Sabbath rest that will be attained by His gracious working in the offspring of Eve through Seth. So, for perspective on Noah, a son of Eve through Seth, let’s ask and answer this question: Is Noah granted grace, does God favor Him, because he sought the grace of God and found it? This is a very literal way of reading the text with Noah as the subject about whom the finding is predicated. So, let’s go down that road to see where it leads. If you think that Noah received grace because He sought the Lord, then you may cite Genesis 7.1 as proof. Look what the Lord said to him later: the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.” Thus, in 6.9, in the shift to another toledoth, the Spirit tells us that Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. However, the farther we go down this road of thought the worse it gets. The problem is that grace is dispensed because of the good works of Noah. On this view, he is not justified by faith but by works. Therefore, this is the wrong path to truth about Noah, and it needs to be refuted. Two considerations point to another way to understand the idea of finding grace. First, we cannot view Noah to be a man who received grace from God by his righteous seeking of God because he was a sinner among the Sethites. About him, the truth applies that every imagination of his heart was only evil, and he too was subject to judgment but for the grace of God. Therefore, he too was about to perish and he would have perished in his unrighteousness except for the fact that God looked upon him with favor. God bestowed grace upon him and that is what explains how a man of this world that universally departed from God could be a righteous man. Second, God tells what it means to find favor in His sight in His reply to Moses who enquired about this very thing saying, how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? (Ex 33.16). In the same verse, Moses answers his own question with a question: Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” Finding favor in God’s eyes means that God is with us and has made us distinct from every other people on the face of the earth. That is what happened regarding Noah; it is not that he sought and found God, but that God sought him and made him distinct from every other evil person on the face of the earth. Furthermore, the Lord explains to Moses that He shows His favor and grants His grace as covenant Lord according to His sovereign will: I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy (33.19). Therefore, we must conclude that the reason that Noah was a righteous man as a sinner among sinners is because God showered His favor upon him and made him distinct from the unrighteous of his day. Noah found something that he did not seek; he discovered the blessing of fellowship with God and the joy of walking with God because God found him out there lost in the wilderness of sin, and finding him, God made him different from the masses of an unholy population that flooded the earth with wickedness. The wonder of sovereign grace is manifested in the preservation of the offspring of through Seth. Despite the escalation of sin and the announcement of !6 the universal destruction of the human race, an offspring of Seth, Noah, found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Applications Where can we go with concluding thoughts and applications of this unique text about family genealogical history, sons of God, daughters of men, total sin, and total destruction? Surely, our eyes soberly fall on amazing grace. Let me speak to that grace in a few ways. 1. First, grace overcomes death The first mention of death is in an eightfold refrain that strikes the ear pungently: and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died; even with longevity: and he died. However, a man named Enoch walked with God by faith according to the book of Hebrews: By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb 11.5-6). Within the sobering refrain about death, God gives a pledge of life by faith. In Genesis, we already have implications regarding the resurrection of the body: chapter one presents the Creator’s determination to have a family of image bearers at the end of the six and one unfolding of history; chapter 3 presents the promise of restoration from all the effects of the fall by the seed of Eve, which includes restoration of the whole person from a living death. Now, in the face of sin and death, Enoch is God’s pledge of our victory over death for he did not die but continued to walk with God when his days on this earth ended. That is your promise: you walk with God by faith in Christ now and through death you will continue to walk with God, for Jesus said, He who believes in me shall not die. 2. Second, grace overcomes sin We have hope regarding the worse and hardest of sinners because salvation from sin does not depend on man in anyway; if it did then there would be no hope for the evil of the heart is deep and wide. But God shows favor to such sinners: He will be gracious to whom He chooses to be gracious according to His sovereign good will. Thus, He will keep His promises; He will have a family of image-bearers with Him in His eternal rest, restored and redeemed. This must drive us to our knees with tears of gratitude for the power of grace to unworthy sinners that we are. The marvel of grace here is that the Creator God of the covenant graciously condescends to communicate His goodwill toward us in Christ and to comfort us with His fatherly love. He thus enters the world of His creation and communicates what He sees and feels so that in this case (of 6.5) we can understand His displeasure with sin. Then, as Calvin notes, by this He reveals His “paternal goodness and tenderness” and that ought “to pierce our hearts to !subdue the love of sin in us” (Commentary on Genesis 6.6). May we fall down before the majesty of God who shows us His great displeasure with sin, the reality of His just judgment of sinners, but who also chooses to bestow His grace upon the unworthy; may the Holy Spirit enable us to grasp the marvel of saving grace so that we are always thankful; to the glory of the triune God, now and forever, amen.