Misapplied Scriptures: Genesis 6:3

Introduction: There is any number of Scriptures that have been used out of context or simply misapplied over the years. A Christian magazine listed about a dozen of these back in the early 1980’s and, I must say, some of the author’s insights were something I had never thought of before. Maybe I too had misunderstood or misapplied some of these Scriptures, too!

The first one in this mini-series of illustrations comes from the book of Genesis. Here’s the verse, in its context:

Text: Genesis 6:1-8, KJV: 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4 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.

5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

A How it’s been misapplied:

I’ve heard the verse, or portion, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man”, used by several preachers, especially during the invitation time. My hope is that each of these men was always genuinely concerned about the souls of every person they knew. This verse was, I think, used as a reminder that if the Lord is dealing with anyone now, there was no guarantee that would always be the case.

One such example is that of Judas Iscariot. Jesus knew, being God in flesh, that Judas was never born again, was “the son of perdition (John 17:12)”. Jesus kept Judas as a disciple, sent him out with the others, and even reached out to Judas one last time in the Upper Room (John 13). But after that final rejection, the Lord never again reached out to Judas/

Paul also mentioned the horrible, downward spiral of the human race in Romans 1:18-32. It’s true that after the Flood of Noah’s day, eight people who had believed the Lord GOD’s warning to either get in the boat or die in the flood began to repopulate the earth. But there came a time when the vast majority of the human race rejected God and worshiped some of the most incredible things there was.

They gave up on God, and three times Paul said,’ God gave them up” or similar words. Here is another proof that the Lord and the Spirit would not and did not always strive with man.

B How the verse should be applied

In the context, the verse, where God says “My Spirit shall not always strive with man”, has an immediate application. The Lord is speaking of the evil conditions of the pre-Flood earth and how the human race had gone down the tubes, to use a figure of speech. This was a warning to the people of Noah’s day but, sadly, nobody except Noah and his family paid attention.

There’s another thing that was and is easy to miss: the second part of the verse states that God would be giving mankind another 120 years to repent! Now imagine an invitation or altar call where the preacher says, “Now, God says ‘My Spirit will not always strive with man’—but He will give you 120 more years to repent!”

Not exactly the same effect, is it?

And that’s one of the problems with misapplying Scripture. It’s true there are several verses speaking to the need of repenting and receiving salvation—NOW—such as 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Now is the day of salvation”. Genesis 6:3, though, is not one of them.

May we always be careful in how we use the Word! I hope none of us will ever choose to misapply any Scripture at any time!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).