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Genesis 9:1-6 - Don't Be Dour

  • Writer: Chad Werkhoven
    Chad Werkhoven
  • Sep 15
  • 4 min read

People will frustrate you this week, but remember who & what they are!



Genesis 9:1–6 (LSB)


CONTEXT: Noah and his family and all the animals have just exited the ark after being preserved from God's judgment upon mankind in the flood.


9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 “And the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.

3 “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; as with the green plant, I give all to you.

4 “However, flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.

5 “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every living thing I will require it. And from every man, from each man’s brother I will require the life of man.

6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,

By man his blood shall be shed,

For in the image of God

He made man.

Canons of Dordt

Point 4 - Irresistible Grace


Article 16: Regeneration’s Effect


  1. However, 

    1. just as by the fall 

      1. humans did not cease to be human, 

      2. endowed with intellect and will, 

    2. and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, 

      1. did not abolish the nature of the human race 

      2. but distorted and spiritually killed it, 

    3. so also this divine grace of regeneration 

      1. does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; 

      2. nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, 

      3. but 

        1. spiritually revives, heals, reforms, 

        2. and—in a manner at once pleasing and powerful—bends it back.

  2. As a result, 

    1. a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail 

    2. where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. 

    3. In this the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists. 

      1. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, 

        1. we would have no hope of getting up from our fall by our own free choice, 

        2. by which we plunged ourselves into ruin when still standing upright.


Summary


Those of us who eagerly espouse and teach these doctrines of grace that we've been working through this year (sometimes also referred to as Calvinism) are often derided by fellow Christians as being perennially dour and downcast. It's not hard to understand why so many think this way of us, when one of our primary claims is that we live in a world that's totally depraved, in which everything is predisposed to sin and evil.


But we're not always dour and downcast (and when we are, it's not because of our theology!). We maintain a very high view of humanity; not just for those whom God in His grace has chosen for salvation, but all people - both believers and those who reject God's truth.


The covenant that God establishes with Noah here in Genesis 9 after the flood is a big reason why we hold all people in high honor. In other words, we value mankind because our God values mankind. Isn't it amazing that the first thing the LORD does after recognizing man's utter sinfulness (Genesis 6:5) and justly destroying all but a tiny remnant in the flood is to re-establish our value, placing its basis in the fact that He created us in His image.


It's for this reason that many Christians, who value mercy and forgiveness also understand the need for capital punishment, which God mandates here as He resets society. For more on this, see our post on this passage from 2023 as we studied the Heidelberg Catechism.



  Dig Deeper  


We're looking at this passage from a slightly different angle today. Notice the tension that the Canons hold us in as they summarize scripture. On one hand, sin has spread through the whole human race. It's ubiquitous, having infected every aspect of our life and even our entire society. The fear and terror of us experienced by every beast of the earth is a continual reminder of sin's pervasive and continual effects. Things are not the way they're supposed to be.


But on the other hand, the Canons remind us that humans did not cease to be human, endowed with intellect and will and that our sin did not abolish the nature of the human race, but distorted and spiritually killed it.


Vestiges of God's image remain present in all people. This means that all people retain the ability to know right from wrong; enough so that society can and must continue to be ordered according to God's design in all communities - not just 'Christian' ones. Notice that God will demand an accounting from every living thing - man and beast. As the old hymn puts it,


And though the wrong is oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.



  • ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who despite our sinful and fallen condition, still calls us to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth;

  • ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will treat all people with the dignity they deserve as image bearers of God;

  • ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Timothy 4

 
 
 

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