English
Korean
Spanish
SPECIAL REPORT: Preaching Genesis 1-11
FORT WORTH—The story of Noah’s Flood in the book of Genesis gives modern-day readers rich insights into a patient judge who rightly punishes sinners but provides safety for those who seek his grace.
The good news, said Allen Ross, professor of Old Testament at Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., is that the safety extended to Noah is also extended today to everyone who by faith trusts in Christ.
Ross, the author of numerous books, including “Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis,” addressed the Advanced Expository Preaching Seminar at Southwestern Seminary on Sept. 26.
The rampant sin portrayed in Genesis 6 is so grotesque that God cannot let it continue, Ross noted. The world is filled with violence, sexual immorality, and a reference, Ross believes, to demonic interference in human reproduction (For Ross’ views on this, see related story).
The resulting judgment, save for Noah and his family, is not pleasant, “but you have to preach it because there is no redemption if there is no judgment.” The God of Genesis “is slow to judge” and such judgment “is unpleasant for God too,” Ross said.
Preaching through the Flood narrative requires a careful, balanced treatment of the theology there. “All this to say, we are not dealing with a 30-minute sermon here.” Instead, Ross urged, do the work to “discover what God is telling us through this material.” A precise treatment of the theology will lead easily to application.
“You can say that the whole world is condemned and awaiting the judgment of God but God has made a way of escape through the obedience of one man. That’s the theological statement out of this portion of Genesis. That fits with what’s going on with Noah. But you can see where I am going with that because it fits with what is going on with Christ. We are in the same situation.”
Obviously, Ross noted, Noah doesn’t call explicitly for faith in Christ. “But the God who revealed this material and is the primary spokesman in the passage, he will say it in a way that prepares everybody for what’s coming later. As we’ve already mentioned today, that is the way progressive revelation works.”
Allen said Genesis 1-11 may be broken into segments beginning in 1:1, 2:4, 5:1, 6:8—where Noah comes into focus—and 10:1. For preaching purposes, Ross said he breaks the flood story into two parts—6:1-8 and then 6:8 onward.
There is a cycle of deterioration throughout Genesis, Ross said, that always begins “with a high point spiritually and ends with a low point.” In Genesis 6 “we have the strongest description of sin in all the Bible” and an eschatological glimpse at the evil prophesied by Christ before his return.
The passage describes a degree of sin that God had to stop, but the preacher must ask, “What kind of sin?” Ross noted.
“How bad does it have to be?” God told Abram he would spare Sodom with 10 righteous men, but there’s no such hope in Noah’s story, Ross observed.
“The wickedness is so bad that it’s going to grieve the heart of God and the only way out of this is grace.”
The creation account is a prelude to the rest of Genesis and Genesis itself is a prelude to the law, Ross stated. The deterioration in the book “begins in the Garden and ends with a coffin in Egypt.”
LOCAL OR GLOBAL FLOOD?
Ross argues strongly for a global Flood, not the local Flood that some old-earth models have proposed.
“I know the arguments on either side but if it’s a local flood you’ve got a lot of questions to answer.”
“[Noah] has 100 years. Why doesn’t he just take the animals and move? There are a lot of problems with that. If it’s a local Flood, why save the animals at all? There are many over in the other countries and other cities. But the biggest problem is if the whole human race is this way and the indictment is about the whole human race, why destroy people in Mesopotamia and nowhere else in the world? That doesn’t make much sense.”
Also, Ross argued, if it’s a local flood, how did the Ark land atop Mount Ararat? Nonetheless, Ross said he doesn’t view the scope of the Flood as an issue to break fellowship over.
By the end of the Flood account, the passage says Noah was extended grace, “which means he is not perfect, he is a sinner…. It means it’s underserved favor,” Ross emphasized.
“[Noah] responds with a faith that obeys, And you say, ‘Why him?’ Well, we don’t know. It’s amazing grace. Why us? It’s one of those issues we really can’t come up with a good answer to…. Some people think they deserve the grace they got, but that’s not right either. That’s self-righteousness.”
So why destroy the world with water? Ross said God is putting it back the way it was in Genesis 1 before the formless creation took form.
“Gradually, the dry land will appear and then there’s growth on the dry land so it’s clearly a new beginning.”
A second reason for water, Ross said, was the ritual of purification in the law.
“It’s a pattern that also comes out of the Exodus” as the Egyptians are destroyed by the Red Sea but the Israelites are saved through the water, “which is why Peter is saying very much that it is corresponding to baptism … There is an element of death in the water and then emerging in a new life afterwards. The pattern is there for Peter for exploit,” Ross observed.
“Also, the Flood shows us to what extent God will go to preserve righteousness in his creation. … There’s only one other comparable event and there it will cost God everything in the death of his son.”
As noted by Southwestern Seminary professor Matthew McKellar in his treatment of the creation account, the Flood when contrasted against pagan flood stories is “like leaving a dark, smoke-filled room and walking out into the bright sunlight.”
For example, in the Babylonian story of Gilgamesh—a story about a quest for immortality that includes a flood story with an ark—polytheism is prevalent and humans are placed in the ark not because of sin but because of noisiness. Salvation is not a part of the story, and the ark “is a monstrosity” that is nine miles long.
The Flood narrative is “a way of affirming the sovereignty and the holiness of God,” Ross said. “Every ancient culture has an account of the Flood, which is kind of hard to understand—if it was a local Flood—why every civilization has records of it and why they all have memory of it. Its moral impact on them was nil.”
In God’s remembrance of Noah in Genesis 8:1, the Hebrew for remember always means to act on what is remembered, Ross noted.
“He made promises to Noah that he would spare the human race through this Ark and he has not forgotten his promises.” This meaning is also in play with the thief’s plea to Christ: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” said Ross, explaining that the thief was not simply asking Jesus to recall their discussion on the cross.
He added, “By the way, this also has repercussions for the Lord’s Supper.”
The judgment, the salvation of Noah and his family, and the renewal of the earth in the Genesis Flood foreshadows what is in store, Ross said.
“Here, Noah is a harbinger of all that and therefore a great eschatological moment as well as a description of God as a holy God, a righteous God, a judging God, but a God of grace and a God of glory. And that’s the balance you have to get when you are dealing with this material.”
RELATED STORIES IN SPECIAL REPORT:
The Nephilim OT scholar gives his perspective
SW dean Babel account rich with theology
Sound biblical interpretation must fuel expository preaching
Genesis 1 foundational for all of biblical theology, prof says
