The Corruption and Consequence

Genesis 6:11–12 (NASB95) 

11Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 

I appreciate how the flood narrative begins, not with an angry God, but with a heartbroken God. 

The text reveals a world overwhelmed by moral decay. The Lord saw that human wickedness was great and that every thought and intention of the heart was only evil continually. This total corruption extended beyond actions to the very imaginations of humanity. God’s response is deeply emotional; He regretted creating mankind and was grieved in His heart. This grief leads to a decisive action: God declares His intention to blot out that generation of humanity from the earth. 

A clear cause and effect literary structure emerges. Verses 5-7 present the cause: humanity’s pervasive wickedness and violence. The verses that follow describe the effect: God’s judgment through the flood. This structure emphasizes that divine judgment is a measured and just response to human sin. The Hebrew word “šḥt,” meaning corrupt or destroy, appears repeatedly in different forms, linking human corruption directly to God’s act of destruction. This wordplay highlights poetic justice: the punishment fits the crime. 

The earth was full of violence, a condition that echoes into our time. Today, we witness school shootings, attacks on churches, unprovoked murders on trains, and public assassinations. These acts reflect the same moral decay that grieved God in Noah’s day. The Bible makes clear that God disapproves of such violence and corruption. His grief over humanity’s sin calls us to repentance and transformation. 

The church must recognize the seriousness of violence and moral decay in our world. We face a broken society marked by sin and its consequences. Yet God’s judgment is balanced by mercy and the hope of restoration. Believers are called to live holy lives, standing against violence and injustice. The church should be a beacon of peace and righteousness, proclaiming the gospel that brings true change. We must pray for our communities, seek justice, and embody God’s love in a world desperate for healing.