John Calvin Commentary Genesis 6:3

"And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years." — Genesis 6:3 (ASV)

My Spirit shall not always strive. Although Moses had previously shown that the world had reached such a degree of wickedness and impiety that it ought no longer to be borne, yet to prove more certainly that the vengeance by which the whole world was drowned was no less just than severe, he introduces God Himself as the speaker.

For a declaration from God’s own mouth carries greater weight, stating that humanity’s wickedness was so deplorable as to leave no apparent hope of remedy; therefore, there was no reason He should spare them. Moreover, since this would be a terrifying example of divine anger—the mere hearing of which still makes us afraid—it was necessary to declare that God had not been driven by the heat of His anger into hasty action, nor had He been more severe than was right. Instead, He was almost compelled by necessity to utterly destroy the whole world, except for one single family.

For people commonly do not refrain from accusing God of excessive haste; indeed, they will even consider Him cruel for taking vengeance on the sins of humanity. Therefore, so that no one may complain, Moses here, speaking for God, pronounces the world's depravity to have been intolerable and stubbornly incurable by any remedy.

This passage, however, is interpreted in various ways. First, some of the Hebrews derive the word Moses uses from the root נדן(nadan), which signifies a scabbard. From this, they derive the meaning that God was unwilling for His Spirit to be held captive any longer in a human body, as if enclosed like a sword in its scabbard.

But because this interpretation is distorted and smacks of the delirium of the Manichees (as if the human soul were a portion of the Divine Spirit), it is to be rejected by us. Even among the Jews, it is a more commonly accepted opinion that the word in question is from the root דון (doon). But since it often means to judge, and sometimes to litigate, different interpretations also arise from this.

For some explain the passage to mean that God will no longer condescend to govern humanity by His Spirit, because the Spirit of God acts as a judge within us when He enlightens us with reason so that we pursue what is right. Luther, according to his custom, applies the term to the external jurisdiction that God exercises through the ministry of the prophets, as if one of the patriarchs had said in an assembly, ‘We must stop crying aloud, because it is unfitting that the Spirit of God, who speaks through us, should any longer exhaust Himself in reproving the world.’ This is indeed ingeniously spoken; but because we must not seek the meaning of Scripture in uncertain conjectures, I interpret the words simply to mean that the Lord, as if weary of the world's stubborn perverseness, declares that vengeance to be at hand, which He had until now deferred.

For as long as the Lord suspends punishment, He, in a certain sense, strives with people, especially if He invites them to repentance either by threats or by examples of gentle correction. In this way, He had already striven for some centuries with the world, which, nevertheless, was continually becoming worse.

And now, as if worn out, He declares that He has no intention to contend any longer. For when God, by inviting unbelievers to repentance, had long striven with them, the deluge put an end to the controversy. However, I do not entirely reject Luther's opinion that God, having seen the deplorable wickedness of humanity, would not allow His prophets to labor in vain. But the general declaration is not to be restricted to that particular case.

When the Lord says, ‘I will not contend forever,’ He utters His censure on an excessive and incurable stubbornness and, at the same time, gives proof of divine long-suffering. It is as if He would say, 'There will never be an end to contentions unless some unprecedented act of vengeance removes the cause for it.' The Greek interpreters, deceived by the similarity of one letter to another, have incorrectly read, ‘shall not remain.’ This has commonly been explained as if people were then deprived of sound and correct judgment, but this has nothing to do with the present passage.

For that he also is flesh. The reason is added why no advantage is to be expected from further contention. The Lord here seems to place His Spirit in opposition to the carnal nature of humanity. In this way, Paul declares that the natural man does not receive those things which belong to the Spirit, and that they are foolishness unto him, (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The meaning of the passage, therefore, is that it is futile for the Spirit of God to dispute with the flesh, which is incapable of reason. God gives the name 'flesh' as a mark of disgrace to humanity, whom He, nevertheless, had formed in His own image. And this is a way of speaking common in Scripture.

Those who restrict this term to the inferior part of the soul are greatly mistaken. For since the human soul is corrupted in every part, and human reason is no less blind than its affections are perverse, the whole is properly called carnal. Therefore, let us understand that the whole person is naturally flesh until, by the grace of regeneration, they begin to be spiritual.

Now, regarding the words of Moses, there is no doubt that they contain a serious complaint along with a reproof from God. Humans ought to have excelled all other creatures because of the mind with which they were endowed; but now, alienated from right reason, they are almost like the cattle of the field.

Therefore, God speaks out against the degenerate and corrupt nature of humanity because, by their own fault, they have fallen to such a degree of foolishness that they now more closely resemble beasts than true human beings, such as they ought to be as a consequence of their creation. He intimates, however, that this is an acquired fault: that humanity has a taste only for the earth and that, the light of intelligence being extinguished, they follow their own desires.

I am surprised that the emphasis contained in the particle בשגם (beshagam), has been overlooked by commentators, for the words mean, ‘on this account, because he also is flesh.’ In this language, God complains that the order He appointed has been so greatly disturbed that His own image has been transformed into flesh.

Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. Certain ancient writers, such as Lactantius and others, have blundered too badly in thinking that the term of human life was limited to this period. However, it is evident that the language used here refers not to anyone's private life, but to a time of repentance to be granted to the whole world.

Moreover, here also the admirable kindness of God is apparent, in that He, though weary of human wickedness, still postpones the execution of extreme vengeance for more than a century. But here an apparent discrepancy arises. For Noah departed this life when he had completed nine hundred and fifty years.

However, it is said that he lived three hundred and fifty years from the time of the deluge. Therefore, on the day he entered the ark, he was six hundred years old. Where then will the twenty years be found? The Jews answer that these years were cut off as a consequence of the increasing wickedness of humanity.

But there is no need for that subterfuge. When Scripture speaks of the five hundredth year of his age, it does not affirm that he had actually reached that point. And this way of speaking, which considers the beginning of a period as well as its end, is very common. Therefore, since the greater part of the fifth century of his life had passed, so that he was nearly five hundred years old, he is said to have been of that age.