Question: "Who were the sons of God and daughters of men in Genesis 6:1-4?"
Answer: Genesis 6:1-4 refers to the sons of God and the daughters of men. There have been several suggestions as to who the sons of God were and why the children they had with daughters of men grew into a race of giants (that is what the word Nephilim seems to indicate).
The three primary views on the identity of the sons of God are 1) they were fallen angels, 2) they were powerful human rulers, or 3) they were godly descendants of Seth intermarrying with wicked descendants of Cain. Giving weight to the first theory is the fact that in the Old Testament the phrase �sons of God� always refers to angels (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). A potential problem with this is in Matthew 22:30, which indicates that angels do not marry. The Bible gives us no reason to believe that angels have a gender or are able to reproduce. The other two views do not present this problem.
The weakness of views 2) and 3) is that ordinary human males marrying ordinary human females does not account for why the offspring were �giants� or �heroes of old, men of renown.� Further, why would God decide to bring the flood on the earth (Genesis 6:5-7) when God had never forbade powerful human males or descendants of Seth to marry ordinary human females or descendants of Cain? The oncoming judgment of Genesis 6:5-7 is linked to what took place in Genesis 6:1-4. Only the obscene, perverse marriage of fallen angels with human females would seem to justify such a harsh judgment.
As previously noted, the weakness of the first view is that Matthew 22:30 declares, �At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.� However, the text does not say �angels are not able to marry.� Rather, it indicates only that angels do not marry. Second, Matthew 22:30 is referring to the �angels in heaven.� It is not referring to fallen angels, who do not care about God�s created order and actively seek ways to disrupt God�s plan. The fact that God�s holy angels do not marry or engage in sexual relations does not mean the same is true of Satan and his demons.
View 1) is the most likely position. Yes, it is an interesting �contradiction� to say that angels are sexless and then to say that the �sons of God� were fallen angels who procreated with human females. However, while angels are spiritual beings (Hebrews 1:14), they can appear in human, physical form (Mark 16:5). The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to have sex with the two angels who were with Lot (Genesis 19:1-5). It is plausible that angels are capable of taking on human form, even to the point of replicating human sexuality and possibly even reproduction. Why do the fallen angels not do this more often? It seems that God imprisoned the fallen angels who committed this evil sin, so that the other fallen angels would not do the same (as described in Jude 6). Earlier Hebrew interpreters and apocryphal and pseudopigraphal writings are unanimous in holding to the view that fallen angels are the �sons of God� mentioned in Genesis 6:1-4. This by no means closes the debate. However, the view that Genesis 6:1-4 involves fallen angels mating with human females has a strong contextual, grammatical, and historical basis.
Glad you posted this Jude. Here is a Biblcal Commentary by Adam Clarke... so who is Adam Clarke you ask?..
Adam Clarke (1760 or 1762�1832) was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar, born in the townland of Moybeg Kirley near Tobermore in present-day Northern Ireland[1]. He is chiefly remembered for writing a commentary on the Bible which took him 40 years to complete and which was a primary Methodist theological resource for two centuries.
Genesis Chapter 6 Commentary
The children of God, among whom the true religion was at first preserved, corrupt it by forming matrimonial connections with irreligious women, 1,2. God, displeased with these connections and their consequences, limits the continuance of the old world to one hundred and twenty years, 3. The issue of those improper connections termed giants, 4. An affecting description of the depravity of the world, 5,6. God threatens the destruction of every living creature, 7. Noah and his family find grace in his sight, 8. The character and family of Noah, 9,10. And a farther description of the corruption of man, 11,12. Noah is forewarned of the approaching destruction of the human race.
Verse 1. When men began to multiply
It was not at this time that men began to multiply, but the inspired penman speaks now of a fact which had taken place long before. As there is a distinction made here between men and those called the sons of God, it is generally supposed that the immediate posterity of Cain and that of Seth are intended. The first were mere men, such as fallen nature may produce, degenerate sons of a degenerate father, governed by the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life. The others were sons of God, not angels, as some have dreamed, but such as were, according to our Lord's doctrine, born again, born from above, John 3:3,5,6 and made children of God by the influence of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:6. The former were apostates from the true religion, the latter were those among whom it was preserved and cultivated.
Dr. Wall supposes the first verses of this chapter should be paraphrased thus: "When men began to multiply on the earth, the chief men took wives of all the handsome poor women they chose. There were tyrants in the earth in those days; and also after the antediluvian days powerful men had unlawful connections with the inferior women, and the children which sprang from this illicit commerce were the renowned heroes of antiquity, of whom the heathens made their gods."
Verse 3. My spirit shall not always strive
It is only by the influence of the Spirit of God that the carnal mind can be subdued and destroyed; but those who wilfully resist and grieve that Spirit must be ultimately left to the hardness and blindness of their own hearts, if they do not repent and turn to God. God delights in mercy, and therefore a gracious warning is given. Even at this time the earth was ripe for destruction; but God promised them one hundred and twenty years' respite: if they repented in that interim, well; if not, they should be destroyed by a flood. See note on "Ge 6:5"
Verse 4. There were giants in the earth
nephilim, from naphal, "he fell." Those who had apostatized or fallen from the true religion. The Septuagint translate the original word by γιγαντες, which literally signifies earth-born, and which we, following them, term giants, without having any reference to the meaning of the word, which we generally conceive to signify persons of enormous stature. But the word when properly understood makes a very just distinction between the sons of men and the sons of God; those were the nephilim, the fallen earth-born men, with the animal and devilish mind. These were the sons of God, who were born from above; children of the kingdom, because children of God. Hence we may suppose originated the different appellatives given to sinners and saints; the former were termed γιγαντες, earth-born, and the latter, αγιοι, i.e. saints, persons not of the earth, or separated from the earth.
The same became mighty men-men of renown.
gibborim, which we render mighty men, signifies properly conquerors, heroes, from gabar, "he prevailed, was victorious." and anshey hashshem, "men of the name," ανθρωποιονομαστπι, Septuagint; the same as we render men of renown, renominati, twice named, as the word implies, having one name which they derived from their fathers, and another which they acquired by their daring exploits and enterprises.
It may be necessary to remark here that our translators have rendered seven different Hebrew words by the one term giants, viz., nephilim, gibborim, enachim, rephaim, emim, and zamzummim; by which appellatives are probably meant in general persons of great knowledge, piety, courage, wickedness, enormous stature, as is generally conjectured.
Verse 5. The wickedness of man was great
What an awful character does God give of the inhabitants of the antediluvian world!
1. They were flesh, 6:3,) wholly sensual, the desires of the mind overwhelmed and lost in the desires of the flesh, their souls no longer discerning their high destiny, but ever minding earthly things, so that they were sensualized, brutalized, and become flesh; incarnated so as not to retain God in their knowledge, and they lived, seeking their portion in this life.
2. They were in a state of wickedness. All was corrupt within, and all unrighteous without; neither the science nor practice of religion existed. Piety was gone, and every form of sound words had disappeared.
3. This wickedness was great rabbah, "was multiplied;" it was continually increasing and multiplying increase by increase, so that the whole earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with violence, 6:11;) profligacy among the lower, and cruelty and oppression among the higher classes, being only predominant.
4. All the imaginations of their thoughts were evil-the very first embryo of every idea, the figment of every thought, the very materials out of which perception, conception, and ideas were formed, were all evil; the fountain which produced them, with every thought, purpose, wish, desire, and motive, was incurably poisoned.
5. All these were evil without any mixture of good-the Spirit of God which strove with them was continually resisted, so that evil had its sovereign sway.
6. They were evil continually-there was no interval of good, no moment allowed for serious reflection, no holy purpose, no righteous act. What a finished picture of a fallen soul! Such a picture as God alone, who searches the heart and tries the spirit, could possibly give.
7. To complete the whole, God represents himself as repenting because he had made them, and as grieved at the heart because of their iniquities! Had not these been voluntary transgressions, crimes which they might have avoided, had they not grieved and quenched the Spirit of God, could he speak of them in the manner he does here?
8. So incensed is the most holy and the most merciful God, that he is determined to destroy the work of his hands: And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created; Genesis 6:7. How great must the evil have been, and how provoking the transgressions, which obliged the most compassionate God, for the vindication of his own glory, to form this awful purpose! Fools make a mock at sin, but none except fools.
Verse 8. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Why? Because he was,
1. A just man, ish tsaddik, a man who gave to all their due; for this is the ideal meaning of the original word.
2. He was perfect in his generation-he was in all things a consistent character, never departing from the truth in principle or practice.
3. He walked with God-he was not only righteous in his conduct, but he was pious, and had continual communion with God. The same word is used here as before in the case of Enoch. See Genesis 5:22.
As I mentioned in my post in Two's thread, I find it difficult to believe that angels can procreate. I have no problem with them taking on a human "form", but they are created beings. God would have had to create them to reproduce. I don't believe angels can create in themselves something [that which is necessary for procreating] that was not created in them by God.
I understand that, Two, not sure about them wanting to create their own race, though.. is that in Scripture? About them wanting to create their own race? My biggest first and foremost question about all this is... did God create angels with the ability to procreate? And why would He? For what purpose if they were created to worship Him?
Angels came and ate lunch with Abraham, Jacob wrestled with a angel, Jesus in His glorified body ate some fish. I totally think angels have the ability to take human form, not fake it, but really in someway manifest as flesh and bone. I see nothing in Scripture to deny it, only religious ideas seem to deny it.
Two, I'm not disputing the Biblical accounts of angels and the capabilities that are written about them. It's still the procreation part that I struggle with, and whether they were created to procreate.
