What does it mean that God will not strive with man forever (Genesis 6:3)?

Translators and commentators differ considerably as to the rendering and scope. Onkelos and Saadiah, the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Vulgate substantially agree in the sense of "remain" for "strive." But the force is moral rather than physical existence, and fairly given in the A.V. Some prefer "in his wandering" instead of "for that," which may well be. So it is said in Isa. 31:3, that Egypt is man and not God, and their horses flesh and not spirit. Man had now proved himself no better. But if Jehovah warn that His Spirit will not always plead, He sets a term of patience. For the hundred and twenty years refer, not to man's span of life, but to the space given for repentance.

He is flesh - mortal man - and not God; "the Egyptians are men, and not God - their horses flesh, and not Spirit." "He is flesh, and so let his days" - this with a slight change of stop, to give emphasis to hu basar, is De Wette's translation. But I apprehend De Wette applies 120 years to the length of life - this I believe to be a total mistake. It is the space allowed for preaching repentance, and the ark; "in their wanderings" would be quite as good as "because of," or better. It would then stand thus: "My Spirit shall not always strive with man (or amongst men) in their wanderings - he is flesh - but his days shall be 120 years."

One passage there is in the Old Testament in which man is characterized as "flesh," in a manner which seems to approach the style of the New. And this passage is found in almost the beginning of Genesis. Before the flood, the Lord says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." Yet even here the declaration seems more to point to the frailty of a creature with whom it would be unseemly for God to be always striving. And the limitation of his days seems to coincide with this interpretation. It is like the appeal to Job, — "What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? and that Thou shouldst set Thine heart upon him? and that Thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every moment?" Or, like that hundred and forty-fourth psalm, so striking a contrast with the eighth, — "Lord, what is man, that Thou takest knowledge of him? or the son of man, that Thou makest account of him? Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away! Bow Thy heavens, O Lord, and come down … Cast forth lightning, and scatter them!"

This interpretation is confirmed (in preference to that which supposes that the Spirit of Christ preached in hades to souls which had been confined there ever since the flood) by the consideration that in Genesis it is said, ‘My spirit shall not always strive with man … yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years’ (6:3). That is to say, His Spirit should strive, in the testimony of Noah, during a hundred and twenty years and no longer. Now it would be an extraordinary thing that with those persons only (for he speaks only of them) the Lord should strive in testimony after their death. Moreover, we may observe that, in considering this expression to mean the Spirit of Christ in Noah, we only use a well-known phrase of Peter’s; for he it is, as we have seen, who said, ‘the Spirit of Christ which was in them’ — that is, the prophets (1 Pet. 1:11).

God had by His Spirit been striving with men against their willful sin, but His patience would come to an end, though He would evidently allow them another 120 years before He would destroy civilization. Genesis 5:32 speaks of Noah being 500 years old, so that it seems that God spoke as He did in verse 3 twenty years before Noah became 500.

It is more probable, therefore, that the 120 years mentioned referred to the time during which the Holy Spirit would continue to strive with men. After that, the longsuffering and patience of God would give place to wrath, and the deluge would come upon the world.

It is an evident and striking reference to Gen. 6:3, "And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for he indeed is flesh; but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." So long would His long-suffering wait; and in result only the patriarch's family were brought safely through. Thus the persons who then perished, and whose spirits are in ward for judgment at the end of all things, are no less clearly defined than the time in question, and the specific sin of insubjection to the Divine Spirit which wrought in Noah's preaching. The more accurately the words are examined, in textual criticism or in grammar, the more certainly it will be found that in strict exegesis they admit only of the meaning here assigned, and this in the full harmony of the New Testament with the Old.

We read, “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Gen. 6:3). How good it is that the Spirit of God strives with men, and how unutterably sad that they can resist until the awful moment comes when the striving ceases.

In spite of all the striving of Him whom, in this connection, we have called the Spirit of restraint, men filled the earth with violence and wickedness. This could not go on for ever, and God declared: "My Spirit shall not always strive with man."

I do not deny that the Holy Spirit strives with sinners today. I have touched on this subject in a previous chapter. But it is not the characteristic activity of the Spirit in these days, as it was before the flood. The flood was the end of the age when the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of restraint, wrought to check the increasing wickedness and strove with men to keep them from carrying out their evil designs.

Some have taken the concluding clause of Genesis 6:3 to mean that man's age was from that point limited to 120 years. But men lived to be older than that for a long time. Noah was 950 when he died. Abraham was 175. Miriam was well over 120. Job lived 140 years after his trial.

But lest His patience should be used by men as an excuse for trifling with Him, one solemn fact is recorded in the Bible by God Himself. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man" (Gen. 6:3).