In the time of Noah, unrestrained sex and violence revealed that human beings didn’t want to serve God; they wanted to be God. Rather than an angry overreaction, God’s plan to flood the world was a grieving act of uncreation and re-creation, bringing judgment and mercy at the same time. But Noah didn’t earn the right to receive this mercy; as verse 8 emphasizes, he “found favor in the eyes of the LORD” before he is described as righteous. This upside-down order of grace forms the pattern for the whole Bible and a preview of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which continues to make people increasingly righteous in God’s sight.