Grace in a World Gone Wrong

A devotional commentary on Genesis 6

Following God is not always easy when the world around us is unraveling. That is the tension we encounter in Genesis 6. Noah is introduced as a righteous man living within a deeply corrupted culture. This chapter paints a stark contrast between Noah’s righteousness and the unrighteousness that surrounded him.

At the beginning of the chapter, the “sons of God,” the “daughters of men,” and the Nephilim are mentioned. Faithful Bible teachers have approached these verses in different ways. What follows reflects an interpretive approach that seeks to remain as close as possible to the most basic understanding of the text. When navigating difficult passages, we are guided by the old saying, “Where the Bible is silent, we should be silent.”

Scripture provides helpful clarity as we seek to understand this passage. In Luke’s genealogy, Adam is called “the son of God” (Luke 3:38). He had no human parents, received life directly from God (Genesis 2:7), and from him all humanity descends. Read this way, Genesis 6 does not require us to move toward speculation about supernatural beings or hidden bloodlines. Rather, it continues the broader story of Scripture—people created by God, bearing His image, yet increasingly shaped by rebellion against Him. The “sons of God, ” then, are best understood as human descendants of Adam: created by God, yet drifting from their Creator.

Within that context, the Nephilim are presented as powerful and deeply sinful men. Their presence on earth reflects the tragic trajectory of human life when it drifts from God—marked by corruption, violence, and moral collapse. Scripture consistently reminds us that human rebellion does not occur in isolation, but within a larger spiritual reality shaped by deception and disorder. In many ways, the darkness of Noah’s world feels uncomfortably familiar.

Into that broken world steps Noah—not a perfect man, but a man who walked with God. Scripture tells us, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). Favor is grace—God’s undeserved kindness. Grace comes first. Peace flows from grace.

Genesis records that “Noah did all that God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22), and the New Testament echoes this truth, saying that Noah “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Noah did not obey because he possessed unusual strength or moral superiority; he obeyed because he trusted the God who had already shown him grace. From the beginning we see faith in Scripture unfold in this pattern: Abel worshiped, Enoch walked, Noah obeyed—each one demonstrating a lived-out relationship with God.

When the flood came, Noah had no means of steering or anchoring the ark. His calling was not control, but participation—a life of trust in the midst of uncertainty. What God commanded Noah to do, He also empowered him to do. Noah obeyed, and God carried him.

The ark was sealed inside and out with pitch (Genesis 6:14), providing protection through the waters of judgment. That sealing serves as a biblical picture—one that the New Testament later clarifies more fully—of God’s preserving work in the lives of His people. Believers are told they are “sealed with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13–14; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Ephesians 4:30).Just as the ark was preserved through the flood, the Spirit guards our salvation through everystorm. We are invited to rest not in our ability to hold on to God, but in His faithfulness to hold on to us. Because we are sealed, we are free to walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

Like the world of Noah, our own age is often driven by appetite, ego, and resistance to God’s authority. Yet Noah’s life reminds us that faith does not have to mirror the culture around it. Scripture tells us that Noah was a righteous man—and Peter later calls him a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). Against the backdrop of a world marked by corruption, his life bore witness to God’s truth.

To put it another way—when others followed self-desire, Noah trusted God’s Word. When others were shaped by corruption, Noah was sustained by grace. When others grasped for control, Noah entrusted himself to God. Living in a culture drifting toward spiritual darkness, he chose to walk with God. “By faith… Noah… prepared an ark for the saving of his household” (Hebrews 11:7). His obedience shaped not only his own life, but the spiritual future of his family.

From this chapter, we learn that peace with God—as Noah’s life demonstrates—is not the absence of chaos in the world around us, but the presence of God’s steady and preserving hand. God calls us in the same way to trust His Word and walk with Him in our homes, marriages, friendships, and families—especially in the quiet faithfulness that often goes unnoticed.

The search for peace eludes many because, before we can experience the peace of God, we must first have peace with God. Peace does not come from managing our circumstances, but from surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ and receiving His grace. Paul writes, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). From that foundation flows the peace of God that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

Just as Noah devoted himself to the work God entrusted to him, we too are called to live faithfully—not drifting, not coasting, but walking in obedience as we await Christ’s return. Jesus reminds us, “Just as it was in the days of Noah… so will be the coming of the Son of Man,” when people are “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, ” unaware of God’s timing and the certainty of His action (Matthew 24:37–39).

God’s grace was sufficient to preserve Noah in a world that had gone wrong—and that same grace remains sufficient today: to steady us, to sustain us, and to send us as witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ.