Bible Discussion Thread

So Genesis 6:3 , does it mean that there are 120 years until God destroys the earth, or that God has a mercy line and someone who knows the truth can only sin and neglect so great salvation for a set period that God only knows and that a person could find himself unable to repent even if wanting to, does this verse actually mean that there is a limit to which God will allow a person to refuse his calling.

Alec, I believe that Genesis 6:3 applies to the time limit God had set before the Earth would be destroyed by the Great Flood. This is not to say that it took Noah 120 years to have the Ark built as we would have to take into account the birth of his sons, their marriages & the gathering of the animals & their food to be loaded into the Ark. Some who have patiently counted out the passage of time, have concluded that it took Noah approximately 55 to 75 years to build the Ark & the remaining time taken to those other matters I've given above.

However, God has not indicated to us in the Bible the number of our remaining days before He will consume this old Earth, not by flood, but by fire ( 2 Peter 3:7,10). Unlike those in Noah's day who had 120 years to repent but chose to scoff at God's Word, God through His Living Word, Jesus Christ, has given mankind many, many more years to repent before the Age of Grace ends with the burning up of all things stained with corruption. Let us rejoice that the Lord has enlivened our hearts to receive that life saving Word granting us entrance to eternal life.

This is very interesting as I have never looked at this verse the way you two are. I've always thought this was a max time limit (or expiration date, if you will) that God was permanently setting on a human's life there on after. In Genesis Chapter 5 we read about the genealogy of Adam. For generations we see that these people were living hundreds of years. Then we read Genesis 6:1-2. In Genesis 6:3 we see the word strive which means:

Definition of strive

intransitive verb

1: to devote serious effort or energy : ENDEAVOR

strive to finish a project

2: to struggle in opposition : CONTEND

So looking at Genesis 6:3 in that respect, it appears that God was setting a max number of days for all of man-kind from that day forward. People don't live beyond 120 years as we know it.

Thank you Steph for sharing that. I do agree that one could look at that verse in the way you suggest, even citing proof of the ever-decreasing years that each one of us has to live. Also considering Psalm 90:10, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

However, in Genesis 6:1-7, the compelling message here is of God's great displeasure in the ever increasing wickedness of man & that God had subsequently set a time limit when the righteous would escape & the unrepentant sinner would perish. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh", seems to indicate that God's Spirit would no longer contend with man in the flesh, but to deal with his spirit in that appointed day. That is, there needs to be a destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be released for judgement. We can see an allusion to this in the NT: 1 Corinthians 5:5, "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus", as Paul had to deal with fornication in the Church, which the Church failed to do. Destruction of the flesh here certainly meant suffering, possibly death, & that the sinning soul would be excommunicated & face certain personal calamities or else he comes to his senses, repents, be restored into fellowship, that his spirit might yet be saved.

Even though the sinner in 1 Corinthians was given time to repent, though if he refused, his days would be shortened because of suffering & death (also 1 Corinthians 11:29,30). Likewise, God had allotted mankind 120 years of life, under the testimony & preaching of Noah ( 2 Peter 2:5) as God's Anger reached its limit with them, but Noah's testimony was rejected resulting in both the destruction of the flesh & their spirits held captive awaiting judgement.