The Genesis 6:3 Problem?

Contradiction #5

Genesis 6:3

“Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans [man] forever, for they are mortal [flesh]; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

Now if you ask the majority of Christians about this passage, they would say this passage is in reference to a persons lifespan. That this scripture says Man is not live longer than 120 years. (I was one to believe this samething, that Genesis 6:3 was about a physical lifespan.) However not all Christians believe that.  There is a small, but growing group who believe that this passage is either referencing a spiritual lifetime or a timeframe to man’s destruction til the Great Flood. However there are some questionable things about this scripture, that needs to be answered.  (Here some are TWO Examples 1 and Example 2 of people trying to answer this same question, but not doing the same amount of critique.)

All together there are three running apologetic assumptions in regards to this scripture:

1. Assumption/Theory 1- It is a Reference to a Natural Lifespan
2. Assumption/Theory 2- It is countdown to the Flood and Noah’s Ark
3. Assumption/Theory 3- It is a Reference to a Spiritual Lifespan

Assumption 1: Lifespan
Now in this assumption, Christians believe Gen 6:3 is a reference to the lifespan that God allowed a person to live.   That No man shall live longer than 120 years. Even though this is the most common interpretation of this scripture; it is the one with the most glaring contradictions.

1. Let’s start in Ps 90:10 that “Our days may come to seventy years or eighty, if our strength endures; …” So s it 70,80 or 120?

Well to some this is still not a contradiction because, Psalm 90:10 reference to an average approximation lifespan. Which makes sense cause it does imply if we stay spiritually/physically strong then our lifespan can be up to 70 or 80 years of age. So in this theory, to justify the two scriptures, Psalm 90:10 does not say the lifespan is 120, but that it’s an average lifespan up to 70-80 years.

2. Secondly even after Genesis 6:3 there were people who lived past 120 years of age. In chapter 11 of Genesis there’s a long genealogy between Shem and Abram where almost every person mentioned lives longer than 120 years, Shem lived to be 500, and several lived to be older than 400.

Maybe this curse in Genesis 6:3 wasn’t meant for the few descentdents after Noah.  Maybe it was an exception , to the few after the flood.  One interpretation of this was that that when God declares something it is not always immediate, maybe it was a form of exponential decay.  And it doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen starting with the very next person born. Yes this exception does make sense, but it may be too big of an exception to consider and the bible makes no direct mention of an exception like

this.

3. And lastly, the most obvious contradiction to this theory is Jeanne Calumet who lived to the age 122. (February 21, 1875 – August 4, 1997).  And she probably won’t be the last to reach 120 years.

There are just too many inconsistencies for Genesis 6:3 to possibly be a reference to life span. Even if poiSo we know that this interpretation ofnt 1 & 2, were the exception, no apologetics could explain or justify point 3 of the longevity of Jeanne Calumet.

Assumption 2: The Flood

This assumption takes the stance that Genesis 6:3 was a reference to a count-down to the Flood and Noah’s Ark.  And that the flood was to occur in 120 years.  However the problem is that it should have taken nearly 120 yers to build the ark, but in actually in took under 100 years. And some think it may have taken much less than that. This would make the prediction off by atleast 20 years, which is as significant amount of time. We do know that up to 100 years may have passed between the time Noah has his children (Gen. 5:32) and the time the flood begins on the earth (Gen. 7:6). Additionally it seems plausible that God’s proclamation in this verse could have taken place 20 years prior to the birth of Noah’s children, as Genesis 5 is essentially a listing of descendants and does not necessarily come before Genesis 6 chronologically. If so, this could account for the 120 years, but this is really stretching it.  Noah would have needed some time to build the ark of course; though at some point his three sons could assist.  Furthermore, we read nothing in the text of repentance of others, nor even of Noah or his family calling others to repent with the flood coming.

Assumption 3: Spiritual Lifespan

Dennis McKinsey claims the reference is to God’s “spirit” and, his protective power & preservation (as in the spirit of God or Holy Spirit not soul).  And that this verse has nothing to do with “abiding” in man in the sense of an actual lifespan. But more over that the spirit of God remains with us ONLY the duration of 120 years. That this is meant to say that man would not be so led any longer; “for that he is flesh,” signifies because he had become corporeal & without God’s Spirit.  This even supports the notion that Psalm 90:10 & Genesis 6:3 neither are designed to be a reference to a finite lifespan. That it’s a poetical reference to lifespan & longsufering.

Now the Lord said ‘My spirit will not contend with humans[man] forever, and the definition of Spirit in Geneisis 6:3 means ‘breath; breath of air.’  So even though this brings into question the true context of this scripture {Cause one could interpret God’s Spirit as lose of breath or life} and this does pose as a possible contradtiction.  It still makes assumption #3 PLAUSIBLE.

However my biggest problem with this assumption is that its mostly not because it makes the most sense, but that it’s more chosen out of technical default, cause all the other assumptions have to many contradications.  I mean think about it – -this would would become corporeal creatures at the age of 120 years.  In my opinion this seems like a twisted and warped conclusion even in spite of no glaring contradictions.