John Calvin Commentary Genesis 8:21

"And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man`s sake, for that the imagination of man`s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done." — Genesis 8:21 (ASV)

And the Lord smelled a sweet savor. Moses calls that by which God was appeased an odor of rest, as if he were saying the sacrifice had been rightly offered. Yet nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that God would have been appeased by the foul smoke of entrails and of flesh.

But Moses here, according to his custom, invests God with human characteristics to adapt his language to the understanding of simple people. For it is not even to be supposed that the rite of sacrifice, in itself, was pleasing to God as a meritorious act; rather, we must consider the purpose of the work and not limit ourselves to the external form.

For what else did Noah intend than to acknowledge that he had received his own life, and that of the animals, as the gift of God’s mercy alone? This piety breathed a good and sweet odor before God, as it is said (Psalms 116:12):

“What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? I will take the cup of salvation, and will call upon the name of the Lord.”

And the Lord said in his heart. The meaning of the passage is that God had decreed He would not in the future curse the earth again. This form of expression carries great weight, for although God never retracts what He has openly spoken, we are more deeply affected when we hear that He has resolved something in His own mind, because an inward decree of this kind in no way depends on creatures.

To sum up, God certainly determined that He would never again destroy the world by a flood. Yet the expression, ‘I will not curse,’ is to be understood in a general sense, because we know how much the earth has lost of its fertility since it has been corrupted by human sin, and we daily feel that it is cursed in various ways.

And He explains Himself a little later, saying, ‘I will not smite anymore every thing living.’ For in these words He does not allude to every kind of vengeance, but only to that which would destroy the world and bring ruin to both humankind and the rest of the animals. It is as if He were saying that He restored the earth with this stipulation: that it should not later perish by a flood.

So when the Lord declares (Isaiah 54:9) that He will be satisfied with one captivity of His people, He compares it with the waters of Noah, by which He had resolved that the world should only once be overwhelmed.

For the imagination of man’s heart. This reasoning seems inconsistent, for if human wickedness is so great that it does not cease to provoke God’s anger, it must necessarily bring destruction upon the world. Indeed, God seems to contradict Himself by having previously declared that the world must be destroyed because its iniquity was desperate.

But here we should more deeply consider His design, for it was God’s will that there should be some society of humans to inhabit the earth. If, however, they were to be dealt with according to what they deserve, a daily flood would be necessary.

Therefore, He declares that in inflicting punishment upon the post-flood world, He will do so in such a way as to preserve the external appearance of the earth and not again sweep away the creatures with which He has adorned it. Indeed, we ourselves can perceive that such moderation has been used, both in the public and special judgments of God, that the world still stands in its completeness, and nature still retains its course.

Moreover, since God here declares what the character of humans would be until the end of the world, it is evident that the whole human race is under a sentence of condemnation because of its depravity and wickedness. Nor does the sentence refer only to corrupt morals; rather, their iniquity is said to be an innate iniquity, from which nothing but evils can arise.

I wonder, however, from where that false interpretation of this passage has arisen—that the thought is prone to evil—except, as is probable, that the passage was corrupted in this way by those who dispute too philosophically concerning the corruption of human nature. It seemed harsh to them that humans should be subjected to sin as slaves of the devil.

Therefore, as a mitigation, they have said that humans have a propensity to vices. But when the celestial Judge thunders from heaven that their thoughts themselves are evil, what good does it do to soften that which, nevertheless, remains unalterable? Let people therefore acknowledge that, because they are born of Adam, they are depraved creatures and therefore can conceive only sinful thoughts until they become the new creation of Christ and are formed by His Spirit to a new life.

And undoubtedly, the Lord declares the very mind of humans to be depraved and altogether infected with sin, so that all the thoughts which proceed from it are evil. If such is the defect in the fountain itself, it follows that all human affections are evil, and their works are covered with the same pollution, since they must necessarily reflect their origin.

For God does not merely say that people sometimes think evil; rather, the language is unlimited, comprising the tree with its fruits. Nor is it any proof to the contrary that worldly and ungodly people often excel in generosity of disposition, undertake designs that are apparently honorable, and exhibit certain evidences of virtue.

For since their mind is corrupted with contempt of God, with pride, self-love, ambitious hypocrisy, and fraud, it must be that all their thoughts are contaminated with the same vices. Again, they cannot tend towards a right end, which is why it happens that they are judged to be what they really are: crooked and perverse.

For all things in such people, which impress us with an appearance of virtue, are like wine spoiled by the odor of the cask. For (as was said before) the very affections of nature, which in themselves are praiseworthy, are nevertheless corrupted by original sin and, on account of their irregularity, have degenerated from their proper nature; such are the mutual love of married persons, the love of parents towards their children, and the like.

And the clause which is added, “from youth,” more fully declares that humans are born evil, in order to show that as soon as they are of an age to begin to form thoughts, they have a radical corruption of mind. Philosophers, by transferring to habit what God here ascribes to nature, betray their own ignorance.

And it is no wonder, for we please and flatter ourselves to such an extent that we do not perceive how fatal the contagion of sin is, and what depravity pervades all our senses. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the judgment of God, which pronounces humans to be so enslaved by sin that they can produce nothing sound and sincere.

Yet, at the same time, we must remember that no blame is to be placed upon God for that which has its origin in the defection of the first man, by which the order of creation was subverted. And furthermore, it must be noted that humans are not exempted from guilt and condemnation by the pretext of this bondage, because, although all rush to evil, they are not impelled by any external force but by the direct inclination of their own hearts; and, lastly, they sin only voluntarily.