Genesis 6 v 3 Genesis 6 v 3 reads: Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” I have heard this passage being used many times in Gospel meetings, especially the “My Spirit will not strive with man forever” extract. It is normally used when the service is over and the preacher is looking for people to be saved and telling them that they might not have another chance to get saved and quote this passage “Gods Spirit is not always going to strive with man” or they twist it into making people think that God is not going to convict them anymore and that this may be their last chance. It seems to be used to put people on a guilt trip or a fear trip just to get people saved. While I am certainly not opposed to people being saved, I am opposed to passages of Scripture being misused and taken out of context and what this piece is going to explain this verse in its proper context and show that it has no place in any Gospel or Revival meeting.

The context of the passage is that God was looking at mankind and seeing it was corrupted. Men were multiplying and the fallen angels, in verse 2 called “sons of God” or in the original language “banaha eloheim” had came to earth and had taken themselves of the women and had sexual relationships with them that the women bore children which were half human half angelic. As far out and extreme that this may sound, to those of you reading who have never heard of the “Angelic Conflict” this is what Gods Word tells us in the first few verses of this Chapter 6 in Genesis. And if we are to believe the Word we must believe it all. Angels had relations with womankind and children were born to them. Mighty men of old and renowned. It is my considered opinion that this is where we get our Greek mythical gods from. I do not believe they were myths but real beings. This was part of Satan’s attempt to pollute mankind so Jesus could not be born from a woman, my considered opinion again. So God had been looking at what had been going on that corruption and violence filled the earth and he decided he was going to bring judgement on the earth. The phrase “My Spirit” in the context of this verse can be interpreted as, temper, or anger or impatience. This is an anthropopathism meaning a human emotion or feeling ascribed to God in order to explain His policy. It is not a reference to the Holy Spirit as some would have us believe, hence their misuse of this verse.

There was one man and his family on the planet called Noah who found Gods favour and God told him to build a boat. God was going to destroy the earth but he promised Noah that he would be saved. He gave Noah exact details of how the boat was to be built and what size it was to be and who and what would go into it. From the day God told Noah to build the boat until the day of the flood was 120 years and hence the meaning of the verse in question. 120 years is nothing to do with the lifespan of man either as I have heard this being said also. So to clarify and restate, the meaning of the verse is as follows. God’s anger, impatience temper was only going to strive with man for another 120 years while Noah built the Ark and when the Ark was finished God called time and the floods came and destroyed the earth and all life on it except for Noah and his family and the animals that he took with him.

I hope this has been helpful and any questions you may have feel free to email to me at mark@markkwilliamson.com and I will be glad to reply. I have written this in very simple, easy to understand language, in layman’s terms I would say and I realise that I may have created more questions than answered