The Sons of God & the Daughters of Men (Genesis 6:1-8)

A. Who are the “sons of God”? There are several competing theories. 1. Fallen Angel Interpretation. 2. Despot (Evil Men In Authority) Interpretation. 3. Merging of Ungodly Cainites with Godly Sethites. [Let’s ignore the 2nd theory & begin by addressing the 1st theory.]

I.

FALLEN ANGELS VIEW A. Some suggest that fallen angels or demons intermarried with human women. 1. According to this view, the “sons of God” are fallen angels, which took the form of men. 2. These angels married women & the resulting offspring were called “Nephilim”. a. The “Nephilim” were giants with physical superiority & established themselves as men of renown for their physical prowess & military might. b. This (supposed) race of half human creatures would have been wiped out by the flood, along with mankind in general, who were sinners in their own right (6:11, 12). B. How do they try to prove this theory? 1. Angels were called the “sons of God” in the OT (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7, cf. Psa 89:6; Dan 3:25). 2. Angels have appeared in human form as males, never as females (Gen 19:1, 5: Heb 13:2). 3. They arrive at their conclusion on the basis of two NT passages primarily (2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6; cf. Gen 3:15). a. They say these verses indicate that some angels who fell with Satan began to live on the earth as men.

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b. Then they say that God’s judgment on them was to place them in bonds so they could no longer promote Satan’s purposes on earth in this manner. c. But before God did that, the fallen angels married women & produced a race of super-humans. d. They would say that Satan was attempting to thwart God promise in Genesis 3:15, which was to produce a Savior for man through the seed of a woman. e. They would say that Genesis 6 describes a desperate attempt on the part of Satan to attack the godly remnant named in chapter 5. f. Because as long as the righteous seed was preserved, God’s promise of human salvation & the crushing of Satan’s power hung over his head, threatening his impending doom. g. Finally, they would say that the “daughters of men” simply chose their husbands “the sons of God” (fallen angels) on the basis of physical appeal. [Now if you were an eligible woman in those days, what kind of man would you choose? If you knew what God had promised in the Garden (Gen 3:15), that He would save man from his sins, & defeat Satan once & for all, by the seed of a woman - what kind of husband would you look for? •

You might be tempted to look for man with physical features to back up his reputation for his strength & accomplishments.

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You might be tempted to look for a man who claimed to be immortal, so that your children could be immortal - never die.

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If you could create a race of people who could never die, then God’s promise would be fulfilled (by you!).

[It’s an intriguing theory, isn’t it?]

II.

ANSWER FALLEN ANGELS VIEW -- MERGING TWO SPIRITUAL RACES VIEW A. The “Fallen Angels” view really has no evidence to support it other than conjecture from difficult passages, but more importantly the theory runs counter to numerous biblical facts.

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1. Angels are spirit beings (Heb 1:7, 13-14). a. They don’t consist of flesh (Luke 24:39), so they are incapable of a physical relationship. b. Yes, they have taken human form (Gen 19:1, 5: Heb 13:2). 1) But those angels were sent by God to warn a godly man of the wrath of God & to tell him what he must do to escape it. 2) Those angels were NOT sent (or allowed) to intermarry with the human race. 2. The Lord plainly said that angels do not marry (Matt 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:34-35). 3. The “Nephilim” (this supposed race started by fallen angels) are mentioned as living after the Flood, but remember only eight souls were saved (Num 13:31-34; 1 Pet 3:20). a. The word “nephilim” is simply a Hebrew word that means a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant (Goliath was one). Genesis 6:4 - There were giants on the earth in those days, & also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men & they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. ESV - The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, & also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man & they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. After the Flood Num 13:31-34 (ESV) - Then the men who had gone up with him [Caleb had just given his “go ahead” speech] said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, & all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim [the giants] (the sons of Anak [a Canaanite], who come from the Nephilim), & we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, & so we seemed to them.” B. What is the most reasonable view of Genesis 6:1-4?

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1. Some men, from the godly lineage of Seth, called “sons of God” began to pursue fleshly rather than spiritual interests, & they took wives of “the daughters of men” (men who lived in open rebellion to God). a. This is not to say that all of Seth’s descendents were godly, but for the most part they were a holy race. b. The expression “sons of God” denote those who are in covenant relationship with God (Deut 14:1; 32:5). Deut 14:1 (ESV) - You are the sons of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. Deut 32:5 - They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked & twisted generation. 2. The subsequent context of Genesis 6 would suggest that it was this carnal trend that ultimately brought the Flood. C. When we consider the context of Genesis 6 we can better understand what Moses is explaining. 1. In previous chapters we’re given a glimpse of two incompatible lineages, the godly line (Seth) & the wicked line (Cain). 2. But before the children were even born, just after the first sin, God said there would be a constant struggle between these two lineages (the head of Satan & those who do His sinful bidding) would bruise the heal of the seed of the woman (Christ & those who follow righteousness). 3. In Genesis four we see Seth’s line calling on the name of the LORD (which means that they were acknowledging His authority & power to lead them). 4. But from Cain’s line we see revenge, murder, multiple wives, craftsmen given to satisfying human demands & desires (Gen 4:16-24). 5. WHAT CREATED THE GREAT DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF HUMANITY ON THE EARTH? The two lines finally came together as one. 6. The godly line of Seth (the sons of God), lusting after the beauty of the daughters of men (the wicked line of Cain), decided to take them as wives. 7. The result was not two morally lukewarm races, but one evil race that was spreading & growing deeper into sin. 4

8. The drama builds toward the great crisis of Noah’s flood in Genesis 6 where God took the matter in hand. 9. This shouldn’t surprise as one man said, “If you drop a white glove in the mud, the mud doesn’t get all glovey. The glove gets all muddy” (1 Cor 15:33; 5:6; 2 Tim 2:1618; Heb 12:15; 2 Pet 2:2, 18-20; Prov 13:20).

CLOSING A. What we see in Genesis 6, is the salt losing its savor (Matt 5:13; Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34). 1. We see what becomes of intermarrying with people of a different faith. 2. What we see is what happens when Christians seek to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14). 3. Nothing has changed over the years. When the children of God find the world attractive, when they yoke themselves to it, calamity always follows (Jas 4:4). 4. When there is an unholy alliance, the world does not get any better, & the church doesn’t get any stronger; it just ceases to be that city set on a hill, and darkness falls on the land. 5. God’s race, then, is no longer useful for anything but to be cast out & trampled under foot by men.

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