"But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the LORD. " (Genesis 6: 8)
By reading the first part of the sixth chapter of Genesis, we can learn why Noah found grace:
"That the sons of God
saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of
all which they chose." (Genesis 6: 2)
The fallen angels slept with the daughters of men and they polluted the earth with the progeny:
"There were giants in
the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto
the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same
became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6: 4)
These "giants" were mutants: half-men, half-fallen angels, incapable of receiving grace or forming a covenant based on faith, for it was man who was made in God's image. (Genesis 1: 27)
Just by being a human being, through no action or direction of his own, Noah, whose name means "rest" received grace from God.
God's grace then translated into righteousness:
"These are the
generations of Noah: Noah was a just [i.e. righteous] man and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6: 9)
Now, while Noah and his family were made righteous, the rest of the world, full of reprobate fallen beings, fared far worse:
"The earth also was
corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
"And
God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth." (Genesis 6: 11-12)
In Christ, we have been saved from the corrupt generation of fallen man, dead in his trespasses:
"And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation." (Acts 2: 40)
Today, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21), and this is a gift that we are invited to keep on receiving (Romans 5: 17)
Righteousness for us has nothing to do with doing, but with resting in Christ, being a child of God (John 1: 12) and part of Abraham's seed (Galatians 3: 29).
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