Noah, PERFECT in his generations?
Some teach that the meaning of Genesis 6:9 is that Noah was
RACIALLY perfect.
Let's understand Gen.6:9.
by Keith Hunt
In my old KJV Bible in the margin for the word "perfect" is
"Or upright."
In my NKJV Study Bible we have more. The word for "perfect"
in the margin they give: "blameless or having integrity." In
their commentary below they state: "Not all people were evil.
Noah, who like his predecessor Enoch, walked with God and was
perfect (blameless; see center column and note on 17:1)..."
Going then to Gen.17:1 this same Hebrew word (used for
"perfect" in Gen.6:9) they render as "blameless." God wanted
Abraham to be blameless in character. The NKJV commentary on 17:1
says: "...To be blameless is to walk before God in complete,
unqualified surrender."
What they are saying is that to walk before God in a
complete humble repentant attitude is to be under the grace of
God, under forgiveness, and hence you are blameless. That's why
it could be said of Zacharias and Elizabeth that they were
blameless (see Luke 1:6). Not that they had never sinned or were
not sinners, for only one person has never been a sinner, and you
all know who that person was. But having the heart to walk with
God in His ways, to be surrendered to His will, to be ever in a
humble repentant attitude, is to be under God's grace, and so
forgiven and hence blameless.
Well back to Gen.6:9. Now you want to look up this word in
the "Englishman's Greek Concordance" and you'll see every place
in the OT where it is used. Yes it is used for sacrifices without
blemish but even then that was for that particular animal, and on
the physical body. It had nothing to do with the parent of that
animal, only the animal itself, and only the no physical
deformity or blemish. It had nothing to do with the "race" or
ancestry of the animal.
At best this use could only mean Noah in his body had no
physical blemishes, but nobody ever looks at this as being the
meaning in Gen.6:9.
But it is used in Deut.18:13, Josh.24:14; Judges 9:16, 19;
2 Sam.22:24; Ps.15:2; 119:1; Prov.28:18 and others.
Look at what the "Bible Commentary" by Jamieson, Fausett and
Brown says: "....Noah was a just man and perfect in his
generations - i.e. amongst his wicked contemporaries. (The Hebrew
word is different from that rendered 'generations' in the
previous clause.) He was not absolutely just and perfect; for;
since the fall of Adam, no man has been free from sin except
Jesus Christ. But as living by faith he was just (Gal.3:2;
Heb.11:7) and 'perfeet' - i.e sincere in his desire to do God's
will."
The Hebrew word for "generations" as in "Noah was perfect in
his generations" is not the same Hebrew as "generations" in the
first clause of verse 9.
Here is how the Hebrew scholar J.P.Green renders verse 9 in
his "English/Hebrew Interlinear": "These are the generations of
Noah. Noah, a man righteous, perfected had been among his peers,;
with God Noah walked."
Noah was upright, sincere, blameless, among his peers, among
the generations of his time. And is not that exactly what the
whole context is telling us very clearly. Everyone else around
Noah was evil in their ways, attitude, and way of life, so God
would need destroy them. But Noah found grace in the sight of God
because Noah was a sincerely humble repentant man, who walked
with God by faith (Heb.11) and so was under the grace of God, and
was held by God as blameless.
What a lesson for repentance, faith, and grace ....combined
it SAVES from death. It's the truth of God from beginning to end,
and it has NOTHING to do with race, or the color of your skin.
The Spirit of sincere repentance (which then includes
walking with God in His ways), faith, and grace, gives us LIBERTY
to become the children of God.
That my friends is the truth of the matter concerning
Genesis 6:9
...............
Written June 2000
