Ryan Gustason’s Blog

Genesis chapter Six verses 1-5 reads in the King James Version:

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Did angelic beings called “Sons of God” come down to earth to have sex with women (Daughters of men)?  Let me try to answer this question.  First, a little fact finding.

Uses of the phrase ‘Sons of God’ in scripture.

Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Phi 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
1Jo 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Uses of the phrase ‘Daughters of men’ in scripture.

Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Gen 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

The fruit of that union:

and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Mighty men-
Gibbo’r gibbo’r
ghib-bore’, ghib-bore’

Intensive from the same as H1397; powerful; by implication warrior, tyrant: - champion, chief, X excel, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man.

Renown-
Shem

pronounced: shame
A primitive word (perhaps rather from H7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; compare H8064); an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character: - + base, [in-] fame [-ous], name (-d), renown, report.

The offspring of the union of the Sons of God and the Daughters of men were apparently strong warriors or tyrants as well as men of renown and report.

I would say sons of God would reference the original line of Seth starting with Enos.

And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. So with the starting of Enos we have men calling upon the name of the Lord, ie seeking the will of God.

Then came on down the line Enoch.

24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Enoch had a special relationship with God.

Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Enoch’s great-great-grandson was Noah, a preacher of righteousness.

29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

So with the arming of all this information, we can conclude that if we have the Spirit of God (John 1:12; Romans 8:14), we will be graffed into (Rom 11:17) that same lineage that produced the heroes of the faith that we find in Hebrews chapter 11.

Also, we can deduct from further analysis of Genesis chapter 6 that if you mingle righteousness (Lineage of Seth) with unrighteousness (Lineage of Cain) you get pride and arrogance which is what I believe mighty men and men of renown mean.

If not pride and arrogance, then something equally sinful in nature, at least nothing righteous because in the next verses after Genesis 6:1-4 we have our righteous judge (the Spirit of God) proclaiming judgment and salvation through the flood.

Warning! Sidebar ahead!

It is also interesting to note that when Cain was kicked out of the Garden of Eden, he saw kicked out eastward. He was placed in the land of Nod which being rendered literally means wandering. (Brown-Driver-Briggs)

Eastward is a type and shadow of Sin (Tabernacle door eastward). The priest would enter from the east, walk west into the Holy of Holies face back eastward where the people awaited and sprinkle the redemption blood eastward.

Sidebar finished!

To compare this with today’s doctrines of men (unrighteousness) and doctrine’s of God (righteousness) is not an unfair comparison.
Most have an argument stating that the phrase ‘Sons of God’ talks about angels in other passages of the O.T. such as in Job, but I still state the context of the scripture clues us in that it is talking of Seth’s lineage.

All that being said, It’s just an interesting piece of scripture with no salvation impact IMHO.

In regards to the Giants… There were Giants in those days, but their descendents were not men of renoun. Notice the break in thought of Moses. He is trying to place this in context in time. It says ‘and after that’. Then the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and produced men of renoun…who were evil and wicked in the site of God and He destroyed them….reminicent of the church of Laodecea Where the Hot and Cold mixed and God was so upset that he spewed them out of His mouth.

The union of the two did not produce Giants. Don’t read something into the text that is not there.

As to the giants or Nephilim in the Hebrew, Strong’s definition is as follows:
H5303
nephi’yl nephil
nef-eel’, nef-eel’
From H5307; properly, a feller, that is, a bully or tyrant: - giant.

I think this nails it. There were tyrants and bullies. Not nice people

I don’t think it was really tall people, because all were destroyed in the flood except Noah and his family… but the Nephilim pop up again after the flood.

See Num 13:33 (And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.)

Everywhere else translated as Giants used the hebrew word rapha, which closer describes big guys.

H7497
ra’pha;’ ra’pha
raw-faw’, raw-faw’
From H7495 in the sense of invigorating; a giant: - giant, Rapha, Rephaim (-s). See also H1051.

Others have used the following texts, out of context, to support the angel sex doctrine.

The parallels between 2Peter 2:1-17 and Jude 3-12 are very interesting. Both authors are using the same story to illustrate their message. One of the first sermon notes swappings! That message is: Do not follow them who would lead you into error, who do not rightly divide the Word of truth, but rather make doctrines of men in vain glory.

This is what the passages mean. I will use Jude for this explanation, although the same can be applied to Peter’s message.

v3. Don’t get led astray. Believe what was originally taught by the Apostles.

v4. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Don’t listen to them.

v5. Sermon illustration point 1. God delivered you from Egypt. Some doubted their salvation and were destroyed. Don’t let this be you! First warning.

v6. Angels left their 1st estate. Estate is the English translation of the word arche. Arche means the beginning. The same word is used in John 1:1 En arche en ho Logos. In the beginning was the Word. The next word I will define is habitation. Some interpret this and estate to mean they left from reproducing with their own kind to have sexual relations with human females. This cannot be for two reasons. 1. arche and oike’te’rion have nothing to do with this. Oike’te’rion means a dwelling place or habitation. In other words, their home. Their home was heaven. We know that Satan rebelled and took a third of the angels with him. Rev 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. This is also related in Isaiah 14:12,15 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. This was related twice for our verification and as a witness. It is related in other parts of scripture as well. This was the second illustration to his written sermon if you will. Do good, or judgment will come like it did to your forefathers after they left Egypt, and like they did with the angels who rebelled and did not follow God’s plan. Rebellion to God’s plan was the sin committed by the way.

v7 Example #3. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? They disobeyed, did not follow after God’s will, but rather turned to their own devices. They were led astray by a false witness and a spirit of deception. Judgment came. Example #3 to illustrate their point.

v8 Do you want to be example #4 for generations that will come after you!?!?! Get with it. Do not be deceived! Don’t become example #4.

v9-10 Do not speak evil of these false teachers. Don’t use profanity or accusations. Instead, show the truth of God’s Word to them. Love them and show mercy to them. (There is a sermon in that all by itself)!

v 11 Gone the way of Cain. They have disobeyed. Gone the way of Balaam, when he was told by God what to do, he still chose to be led by sin and greed. In short he disobeyed God. Gone the way of Core (Korah) who spoke evil of the man of God and disobeyed. He too was judged and them that followed him.

v12 If you keep these false teachers in your midst, you have spots on your love. God is love, and he does not accept blemishes in His bride. If you keep pretending everything is ok and except their false testimony and teaching, it will amount to nothing in the end. They are like clouds without water. Sure it looks good, but they don’t produce anything. It is like a tree without fruit. Sure it looks good, but they don’t produce anything.

I could go on, but you get the point. These were examples of disobedience found in times past that the writers (Peter and Jude) were using to illustrate the need for turning away from disobedience and following after God. In no way do these passages of scripture show that the sons of God in Genesis 6 were angels.

Hope this helps to answer any questions you may have had about Genesis chapter 6.

The Lord multiply blessing upon blessing to you and yours in Jesus Name!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 12:30 am and is filed under Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.