The Sons of God & Daughters of Men in Genesis 6:4-5
Two Important Terms
- Nephilim
o Seems to literally means something along the lines of The Fallen
o The KJV translation Giants comes from a much later Greek version (the Septuagint/LXX),
not from the original Hebrew (though in Numbers 13:33 the Nephilim are connected
with big/tall giants by those too cowardly to enter the promised land). - The exact phrase Sons of God – appears only 7 times in the OT (5 times outside this passage).
o It can also be translated “sons of the gods” or “sons of the mighty.”
o In Job 1:6, 2:1, & 38:6-7 it clearly refers to angels.
o In Psalm 29:1 & 89:6 it refers to mighty ones who are inferior to God and must give him
praise (given the surrounding context of the heavens, 89:6 at least refers to angels).
o There are numerous passages where God calls chosen people his sons without using the
exact phrase sons of God: e.g. Deuteronomy 14:1, 2 Samuel 7:14, Psalm 82:6, etc.
Three Major Views on What Is Going on Here
Option #1 – Godly male descendants of Seth are marrying evil female descendants Cain
- The offspring of these ungodly marriages became famous and powerful men who had a major
part in leading mankind into incredible wickedness. - The main strengths of this view are its simplicity, consideration of context, & lack of speculation.
o There is no need to try to connect it to difficult-to-interpret verses from the NT.
o The previous chapters have clearly set up the idea of a godly line and an ungodly line. - The main weaknesses:
o There does appear to be something supernatural going on in these verses (Nephilim).
Could be explained merely as the name given to mankind’s wicked heroes.
Could be explained as something separate happening alongside the Sethite-
Cainite intermarriage since the Nephilim are said to be on the earth both before
and after this time (i.e. there is widespread, highly visible, demonic activity).
o “Daughters of men” seems like an odd way to say “wicked women.”
Option #2 – Powerful men who claimed divine descent married indiscriminately
- If this is the case, there is a possibility that these powerful “divine” men of Noah’s day were
possessed and/or heavily demon-influenced as the source of their power.
o This would give the “fallen ones” a physical presence in the world.
o Cf. Ezekiel 28:11-19, Daniel 10:13 seem to indicate demonic influence of world leaders. - i.e. there is widespread demonic activity, sexual immorality and false religion as the leaders and
heroes of mankind in Noah’s day are demon-empowered, sexually immoral, blasphemers. - This view lines up well with the beliefs and practices of many ancient pagan cultures:
o It was common in the ancient world for heroes and rulers to be spoken of as divine, half-
divine, demigods, or sons of gods (e.g. Pharaoh as the son of Re or the god Horus
incarnate, Hercules son of the god Zeus, Achilles son of the goddess Thetis).
o Canaanite and other religions involved “divine marriage” or “sacred prostitution” where
a sexual relationship with someone dedicated to the god/goddess was part of worship.
o You could even see this as Moses making the argument against the Canaanite religions:
“look, these titans or ‘demigods’ in your mythology were nothing more than part of the
earth’s corruption that was swept away and destroyed in the flood.” - One weakness of this view is that you do not find the phrase sons of God used this way in the OT
(though Psalm 82:6 where unjust rulers and judges are rebuked comes pretty close).
Option #3 – Fallen angels had sex with women & produced evil human-angelic hybrids - The idea is that this brought about genetic and spiritual corruption of the human race:
o Possibly just because of the sin of lust or may have included a deliberate attempt to
corrupt “the seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15) so the Savior cannot be born.
o Nephilim could refer either to the fallen angels or to the human-angelic hybrids. - Traditionally, this is probably the most widely held view (with some variations).
o The hybrids are wiped out in the flood, removing that corruption from the earth.
o The fallen angels that fathered the Nephilim are currently imprisoned unlike other fallen
angels who have some degree of freedom.
o Some claim that the disembodied spirits of the half-human Nephilim continue to inhabit
the earth as demons.
This is by far the most problematic claim (discussed separately at the end).
This claim is probably most common in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles. - Main strength of this view: it allows “sons of God” to mean the same thing that it means in the
book of Job and “daughters of men” to have a fairly natural meaning of “human women.” - Main weaknesses of this view (discussed in more detail below):
o In Matthew 22:30, Jesus says that angels do not marry.
o Angels are by nature spirit beings, not physical beings (Hebrews 1:14).
They can take on visible forms and interact with matter (e.g. Acts 12:7)…
…but that isn’t the same as having DNA compatible with human reproduction.
o This whole view is rooted in Jewish mythology (mostly from the non-biblical book of 1
Enoch), which is an unacceptable basis on which to build sound doctrine (Titus 1:13-14).
Passages That Might Have Some Bearing on the Issue
Matthew 22:30 – Angels do not marry
- Taken at face value this seems to rule out the human-angel hybrid view (as does angels’ nature
as spirit beings rather than physical beings – Hebrews 1:14). - Those who hold the human-angel hybrid view have proposed various ways that this can be
explained away. For example:
o “This is only about holy angels in heaven, not fallen angels.”
o “This is only about marriage, not reproduction.”
o “This is only about angel’s inability to reproduce with other angels, not about a
complete inability to reproduce. Angelic reproduction is possible with a human woman.” - These “work arounds” seem like a stretch (special pleading) to me, but there are many
intelligent, doctrinally conservative people who think that these objections are valid.
Jude 5-7 – Some fallen angels are currently imprisoned and awaiting judgment. - In context: God’s punishment is coming upon the ungodly false teachers for their blasphemy,
rebellion, and sexual immorality just as it came upon faithless Israel, the rebellious fallen angels,
and sexually immoral Sodom and Gomorrah. - Some argue that the angels “leaving their original authority & dwelling” refers to them engaging
in sexual acts and/or widespread demonic possession in the days of Noah and that is the reason
that some are punished more harshly now.
o The fact that the next example is about Sodom & Gomorrah is then interpreted as
saying that these angels’ sins were like the sexual sins of those cities.
o Personally, I think this sounds more like it is simply intended as a series of three
illustrations about God’s wrath rather than a specific commentary on the kind of sins for
which some fallen angels are already bound.
o If this is a reference to extra punishment for angels from Noah’s day, it can fit into any
of the three views.
2 Peter 2:4 – Some fallen angels are already imprisoned awaiting judgment
- (2:3-10) In context: almost exactly the same as Jude…God’s punishment is coming upon false
teachers for their rebellion, blasphemy, and sexual immorality just as it came upon fallen angels,
the people of Noah’s day, and Sodom & Gomorrah. - Basically the same argument as in Jude but the judgment of Noah’s day is mentioned instead of
the judgment on faithless Israel. - Even more than in Jude, I think this sounds like a list of three illustrations of God’s wrath against
sin rather than a description of a specific kind of sin committed by angels in Noah’s day.
1 Peter 3:18-20 – Jesus made a proclamation to some spirits currently imprisoned.
- The sin of these imprisoned spirits is in some way connected to the wickedness of Noah’s days.
- Option 1 – Between his death and resurrection Jesus made a victory proclamation to the spirits
imprisoned in hades for their sin during Noah’s day.
o It could refer to the spirits of dead humans who failed to repent and/or…
o It could refer to the angels involved in the sins of Noah’s day (without specifying
whether that sin was possession/empowerment of heroes, sexual immorality, or just
general encouragement of humans to greater and greater wickedness). - Option 2 – This has nothing to do with what happened between Jesus’ death and resurrection
o Through the Holy Spirit Jesus preached through Noah to the people of his day who failed
to repent and are now awaiting judgment in hades.
o Contextual support for this view: 1 Peter 1:10-11 (a mere 2 chapters before his passage)
speaks of the Spirit of Jesus speaking through the prophets in the OT time.
Preliminary Conclusion from these verses
- These are all passages where good, intelligent, doctrinally conservative Christians differ on how
they should be interpreted and whether or not they even relate to Genesis 6:1-5.
o That does not mean that everyone is right (truth is objective, after all), but it does mean
that this is not something worth breaking fellowship over
o We should recognize the highly debatable nature of this topic and be very cautious
about building any major doctrines off of our attempt to understand Genesis 6:1-5. - My personal understanding of the issue.
o I think that a face-value reading of Matthew 22:30 & the spiritual nature of angels pretty
much rules out angels directly marrying humans and spawning human-angel hybrids.
o I cannot decide which of the other two views I prefer as both make good sense of
Scripture… right now I lean slightly toward the godly/ungodly line intermarriage view
since it easily fits in with the immediately preceding context of the genealogies.
The view that half-human Nephilim spirits became demons: - This is a sub-category of the human-angelic hybrid view that I am treating separately because it
is so extremely speculative and lacking in biblical support.
o It says that since their spirit is only half-human it doesn’t go immediately to judgment
like the spirit of a normal human so when they were wiped out in the flood their spirits
continued to live in the physical world rather than going to hades.
o According to this view, that is why demons are seeking to possess people, animals, or
objects: they are longing for a physical body since they once had one. - Problem #1 – The original source of this view is 1 Enoch 15:8-10
o This is a book that is not Scripture and as such has no authority
This book was written thousands of years after Enoch was taken to heaven
(dated around 150BC by most scholars) – i.e. it is written under a false name!
Jude 14-15 does mention a quotation from Enoch that probably comes from this
book, but that does not mean the whole book is inspired any more than Paul
quoting pagan poets (e.g. Titus 1:12) makes them or their writings inspired
Titus 1:13-14 makes it very clear that Jewish mythology (of which this is clearly
an example) should be rejected as a source for sound doctrine
o It is highly unlikely someone would come up with this idea just by reading the Bible
They either got it from 1 Enoch or from a source heavily influenced by 1 Enoch
This is a case of taking a spiritual teaching from outside the Bible and then trying
to find blank spaces and grammatical ambiguities to wedge it into the Bible
- Problem #2 – The Bible never draws a distinction between fallen angels and demons
o You will not find a passage where they are listed as two distinct groups
o You will simply find a wide variety of terms/titles for evil spirit beings
E.g. evil spirit (Acts 19:15), unclean spirit (Matthew 12:43), demon
(Deuteronomy 32:17, Matthew 9:34), the devil’s angels (Matthew 25:41), the
dragon’s angels (Revelation 12:7), rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark
world, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12), etc.
There is no Scriptural reason to take any one of those titles and make it a
completely different kind of being with a different origin and nature
Evil spirits seem to have various levels of authority or focus on various evil
activities, but that does not make them different kinds of beings any more than
two humans having different levels of authority, different jobs, and different
interests makes them different kinds of beings - Problem #3 – Logically speaking, the whole position involves multiple logical fallacies:
o Special pleading: coming up with convenient but unverifiable exceptions to the rule for
the sake of your argument
E.g. “In Matthew 22:30 Jesus’ teaches that angels in heaven do not marry, but
that doesn’t apply to fallen angels marrying human women”
E.g. “Hebrews 9:27 teaches that humans face judgment after death, but half-
human souls get to linger in the physical world after death”
o Overgeneralization: drawing a universal conclusion from very limited evidence. E.g…
“Matthew 8:31-32 & Matthew 12:43-45 talk about demons wanting to possess
people and things therefore all demons want to possess people or things”
“Any evil spirit not seeking to possess a person must not be a demon but some
completely different kind of evil spirit having a completely different origin”
o Often includes various Red Herrings: arguments that distract from the actual issue
Appeal to tradition: “This view has been around since at least 150BC”
Appeal to authority: “This view was held by [insert name]”
Jumping on the bandwagon: “Everyone who has really taken the time to study
what the Bible has to say about this knows that this view is correct”
The above also includes the ad hominem fallacy (personal attack) as it implies
that the individual who disagrees with you hasn’t really studied the issue or
doesn’t really take the Bible seriously.
Conclusion: 2 Timothy 2:14-18
- (14-15) It is important to understand God’s word as accurately as possible, but bickering over
minor points is spiritually unhealthy:
o The identity of the “sons of God and daughters of men” is an interesting but minor issue
that should not cause us to break fellowship with believers.
o To be honest, I regard it as so unimportant that nearly skipped over it, but I am aware
that some people have turned this into a big deal so I wanted to give you all the
relevant information so you could make informed decisions about what to believe.
o The main point of the passage is that the earth was thoroughly wicked, but God saved
Noah and his family as he judged and destroyed everyone else.
It teaches us about God’s holiness and absolute hatred for sin.
It teaches us about God’s grace and faithfulness to those who trust in Him. - (16-18) Rampant speculation about spiritual matters from outside the Bible easily leads to
contradicting what God has in fact revealed, which is both dangerous and destructive.
o Recognize the difference between someone drawing valid applications from Scripture
and someone grabbing bits and pieces of obscure verses to prop up their own pet
theories (context is king!).
o Some people turn the angel-human hybrid view into a major part of their theology and
use it as a foundation on which they build all kinds of doctrines about demons and how
to oppose them.
Many of the doctrines developed from this foundation have far more in
common with black magic and shamanism than they do with biblical truth.
The focus of their spiritual life becomes “how do I protect myself from the
powers of darkness?” and/or “how do I attack the powers that are behind every
bad thing that happens in the world?”
They tend to become very fearful, superstitious people because their focus is in
the wrong place.
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