Chapter V.
The earth was corrupted by the iniquity of men; likewise, all time before the Lord is understood in two ways: and finally, the flesh of every human is taken, by the allurements of which our soul is corrupted.
11. But the earth was corrupted before God, and it was filled, it says, with wickedness (Gen. VI, 11). The cause of the earthly corruption is evident, because the wickedness of men corrupted the earth. Therefore, the Lord God says: The time of every man has come before me, because the earth is filled with its wickedness (Ibid., 13). Indeed, the time of all men is in the sight of God and in his will. For it is not, as people commonly say, bound by a fatal decree: but I think this statement is particularly applicable here; because in the Gospel the Lord, who will redeem mankind by the suffering of his body and cleanse them with his blood and the sacrament of baptism, says: Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you (John XVII, 1). Therefore, because in the flood the remnants of the human race were saved through Noah's ark for the future seed of restoration and renewal, He therefore says here: The time of every man has come, because the earth was filled with its own iniquities. This is in a figure; but in truth he says: The remnants were saved through the beloved grace. (Rom. XI, 5). And so the Apostle exclaims saying: Sin abounded, so that grace might also abound. (Rom. V, 20).
12. He corrupted, he says, all flesh in its way. He placed the flesh here for the earthly man, in whom the allurements of the flesh corrupted his way. If he had understood what gift he had received from God, he would not have allowed the flesh to obstruct the virtues of the soul. Therefore, the flesh was the cause of corrupting even the soul, which is like the origin and place of a certain pleasure, from which flow the rivers of evil desires and passions, and they overflow widely. By whom the soul is submerged, with the helmsman driven away, when the mind itself, overcome by certain tempests and storms, yields its place. But beautifully it is said, because man corrupted the path of his nature. For his path was in paradise, in that pathway of beatitudes, in that flower of virtues, and in that incorruptible grace, which he polluted with earthly footprints. Others have: The way of Himself, that is, of God. This is usually declared by the word of the Lord.