Does Genesis chapter six really talk about angels having sex with the daughters of men producing a race of giants upon the land?

 

Here is the first couple of verses from Genesis chapter six:

Gen 6:1 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.

Let’s look at the 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.

In these scriptures, very little if any evidence is forthcoming that these “sons of God” were angels at all. If anything, especially in the New Testament, it appears that this is referring to human men.
Let’s now examine the 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.

Both times this refers to human women.

Examine the context of the scripture. In chapter four we discuss Cain, and his sin. We see that his lineage is spread, and he is allowed to live. He is a type of fallen man. Chapter five then continues to discuss the other remaining son of Adam and Eve. Seth’s line is described including Enoch, the one taken by God and not tasting of death, and Noah, a preacher of righteousness in a dim and dark world.

Chapter four: Cain and sin
Chapter five: Seth and righteousness
Chapter six: The mixing of the two which God abhors and prepares to destroy yet due to His mercy and His love of Noah, He instead puts into action a plan of salvation which included being saved by a flood of water!

The fruit of the union between the daughters of men and the sons of God is found in the following excerpt from Genesis chapter six: “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
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.

Knowing the previously examined definitions. 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 grafted 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 six 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.

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. 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.

In regards to the Giants… There were Giants in those days, but their descendants were not men of renown. Notice the break in the thought patterns 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 renown…who were evil and wicked in the site of God and He destroyed them….reminiscent 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
nephiyl nephil
nef-eel’, nef-eel’
From H5307; properly, a feller, that is, a bully or tyrant: - giant.

I think Strong nails this definition. They were tyrants and bullies. Not nice people  They were not 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
rapha’ raphah
raw-faw’, raw-faw’
From H7495 in the sense of invigorating; a giant: - giant, Rapha, Rephaim (-s). See also H1051.

All in all, I believe that this particular passage of scripture is referencing a mix of the decendents of Cain and Seth, which God abhors.  In Revelation, God spews the lukewarm church out of His mouth.  This symbolizes His disgust with mixing righteous with unrighteous.  This is a replica of our modern day era as well.  We are mixing true with half truths and deceptions. A great example of this is the new Emergent theology being touted by some as the next revival to sweep the Christian church.  They are mixing sound doctrine with wishy-washy weakness.  Defining things once abhorred by mainstream America as an acceptable alternative or another path towards salvation.

Jesus forewarned us of this as well when He told us to watch for sheep in wolves clothing.   Satan will not stop until he has everyone enslaved in chains of darkness.

To many times in the history of man we have been led to destruction by following the mantras of man.  The scriptures declare that the way of a man is right in his own eyes¹… The preacher says: And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.² If we examine the next verse, he states “All is vanity”. Too many times in our sordid history we have failed to examine the words of God for ourselves. Instead we lean on the philosophy of man. Theosophy³ is a perfect example of this misguided application of God’s word. Madame Blavatsky founded a movement known as the Theosophical Society. An example of their beliefs follows:

We can strive to reach our higher self by:

• Listening to our still small voice of conscience.
• Noting the dreams from the higher self.
• Developing our intuition.
• Meditating.
• Studying principles of the Wisdom Religion.
• Aligning ourselves with Nature.
• Engaging in action for the greater good.
• Carefully reading the events of our daily life.

Another example worth examining is the misguided doctrine of “divine flesh”. In this doctrine, Teklemariam Gezehagne⁴ promotes the concept that Jesus Christ was not born of the Virgin Mary, but rather had a divine flesh and thus did not inherit the sin nature of mankind. This doctrine is not knew, and the folly of following cycle is continued from generation to generation. Apollinaris of Laodicea (310-390 AD) promoted this logos homoousios view of Jesus as well. He postulated that Jesus could not have had a human nature.  Apollinarius declared that Perfect God and perfect man is, according to his opinion, a monstrosity, contradicting all laws of reason. In this way would originate a “man-god,” a “horse-deer,” a “goat-stag,”—fabulous beings like the Minotaur.⁵

All of these follys are fascinating to read about, yet we must be careful not to be the blind following the blind. The only way to be truly guided is to follow after the leading of the Holy Ghost and read and study the scripture daily.

There is too much deception and vanity in this world to trust to man’s opinions. Seek God and follow His leading.

 

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1. Proverbs 21:2
2. Ecclesiastes 1:13
3. Theosophy is a doctrine of religious philosophy and metaphysics originating with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
4. Teklemariam Gezehagne is the religious leader of the Ethiopian church and author of Bible Writer’s Theology. An interesting critique of this work can be found on the Glorious Church website.
5. New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I: Aachen - Basilians

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. This is the opening verse of both the Jewish and Christian scriptures.  Just in this one sentence, a wealth of information is revealed about God. In the beginning. The Hebrew word for this is  ראשׁית which transliterated is reshiyth (ray sheeth). Reshiyth comes from the root word Resh.  A pictograph of this is the picture of a head.  It means the head, beginning, or inheritance.

God was before all of this.  He was before the beginning.  Now, how can this be if time has no beginning or end? God is omnipresent, and in fact is absolutely omnipresent.  With this in mind it stands to reason that His presence has extended forever in both directions of our concept of time.  In other words, God would be before the past and after the future. With our current knowledge of the inner working of space and time, we as temporal beings cannot grasp or comprehend the vastness of this concept.  It is however, possible that God exists on another dimension or plane of existence not known to modern science. We can measure time.  We can also measure depth, height, and length.  We use telescopes to search beyond the boarders of our universe.

Another thing we observe in nature is the law of entropy¹.  In a nutshell, this means we can observe that the universe appears to be winding down.  Energy is being expended, and it cannot be replaced as fast as it is used because it requires more energy to produce a given amount of energy.  If God is immutable, never changing, and is absolutely immutable, it would stand to reason that He would exist on a plane that we cannot know or see.  The only other conclusion possible is God is not affected by the laws He created.

Another interesting fact is that God created: בּרא  Bara. In most bibles this Hebrew word is translated as create. Bara has another meaning as well.  Bara can be used as our word select is used.  In other words in the beginning God selected the heaven and the Earth. Another Hebrew word not translated into the English is eth. This word comes from the root word Oth, the definition of which is a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy or evidence.

From this we could see that God selected the Earth, and this was His chosen vessel for humanity to reside upon. I’ll be talking more about these concepts in later posts.

____________________________________________
1. A measure of the amount of energy which is unavailable to do work.
2. From Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions

echad

Brown Driver Briggs Definition:
1) one (number)
1a) one (number)
1b) each, every
1c) a certain
1d) an (indefinite article)
1e) only, once, once for all
1f) one…another, the one…the other, one after another, one by one
1g) first
1h) eleven (in combination), eleventh (ordinal)

Part of Speech: adjective

God is one. The Hebrews understood this.

echad is used elsewhere in the Tanakh:

1Kings 22:8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one (echad) man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Joshua 12:9-24 The king of Jericho, one (echad); the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one (echad); The king of Jerusalem, one (echad); the king of Hebron, one (echad); The king of Jarmuth, one (echad); the king of Lachish, one (echad); The king of Eglon, one (echad); the king of Gezer, one (echad); The king of Debir, one (echad); the king of Geder, one (echad); The king of Hormah, one (echad); the king of Arad, one (echad); The king of Libnah, one (echad); the king of Adullam, one (echad); The king of Makkedah, one (echad); the king of Bethel, one (echad); The king of Tappuah, one (echad); the king of Hepher, one (echad); The king of Aphek, one (echad); the king of Lasharon, one (echad); The king of Madon (echad), one; the king of Hazor, one (echad); The king of Shimronmeron, one (echad); the king of Achshaph, one (echad); The king of Taanach, one (echad); the king of Megiddo, one (echad); The king of Kedesh, one (echad); the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one (echad); The king of Dor in the coast of Dor, one (echad); the king of the nations of Gilgal, one (echad); The king of Tirzah, one (echad): all the kings thirty and one.

Daniel 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one (echad) of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Ezekiel 33:24 Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one (echad), and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

Ezekiel 48:31-34 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one (echad) gate of Reuben, one (echad) gate of Judah, one (echad) gate of Levi. And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one (echad) gate of Joseph, one (echad) gate of Benjamin, one (echad) gate of Dan. And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one (echad) gate of Simeon, one (echad) gate of Issachar, one (echad) gate of Zebulun. At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one (echad) gate of Gad, one (echad) gate of Asher, one (echad) gate of Naphtali.

Are we to assume that the gates were in unity? Or Michael the angel was in unity with himself? Or the kings listed? Or perhaps Abraham was not one man but a unity of man.

Although man will try to take the scripture out of context, God’s truth will always prevail. Trinitarianism is a man ordained doctrine to explain the nature of God in man’s limited thought. It was conceived by men for men.

The concept of three persons in one god is very ancient. The Hindu faith believes this concept of God. The conception most closely linked with Vedism and Brahmanism is that of the Hindu Trinity, the Trimurti. ‘The Absolute manifests himself in three persons, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer’. The syllable we write as om, but which is in reality made up of three words, ‘a’, ‘u’, and ‘m’, (which) is the symbol of this trinity.

The Egyptian triad of the sun god was “one god expressed in three persons”. He was known as the “noonday sun” (Ra), “the evening sun” (Tum), and “the dawning sun” (Khepera). The sun god reportedly said, “Lo! I am Khepera at dawn, Ra at high noon, and Tum at eventide”. He was one god in three distinct persons.

In AD 318 in Alexandria, Egypt, a conflict broke out between a certain presbyter named Arius, and the bishop of Alexandria, Alexander. Arius taught that the Logos was created out of nothing before the beginning of the world, and therefore was not of the same substance of the Father. In fact, He was the first creation of God. Jesus was a demigod of the Father. Both groups agreed that the Son preexisted the incarnation. The central issue was the eternality of the Son of God. Alexander claimed that the Son was coeternal with the Father, but the rallying cry of the Arians was that “there was a time when He was not.”

In AD 321, Alexander held a local synod which condemned Arius’ teachings and excommunicated him and his friends. In turn Arius petitioned support from other bishops to help him in his cause. He gained the support of Eusebius of Nicomedia and a few others. Together they continued to spread the Arian doctrine, and continued to cause dissension among the churches.

This dissension reached the ears of Constantine, who had just become the sole emperor of the Roman Empire in AD 324, after having defeated Licinius in the East. Constantine, who was the first emperor to embrace Christianity, was interested in settling this theological dispute, probably to ensure the unity of the empire. In response, he sent his advisor, Hosius of Cordova, to Alexandria to settle the dispute. When it was apparent that the issue could not be easily solved, Constantine called for a council of all the bishops to meet in Nicea (modern day Isnik, Turkey), twenty miles north of Nicomedia, in Bithynia.

In AD 325, approximately 300 bishops from various cities journeyed to Nicea at the expense of the emperor. This was only about 1/6 of the total number of bishops in Christendom. Each bishop brought others with him, so the total number present was probably upwards of 1500 to 2000 people.43 The majority of these bishops were from the Eastern, Greek-speaking part of the empire. The Council lasted approximately six weeks.

Alexander’s views won out, and Arius was defeated.

Eusebius of Caesarea, the first church historian, suggested a compromise creed which he used for the church in his city which said that Jesus is “the Word of God, God of God, … the first-born of all creatures, begotten of the Father before all time.”45 Most of the bishops were satisfied with this. Even the Arians agreed to adopt it. It was Alexander’s party who strongly opposed it because it did not resolve the issue. Prompted by Hosius, Constantine suggested the inclusion of homoousios to the statement, meaning “of the same substance.” To this the Arians strongly reacted, and those who followed Origen’s teachings, it seemed too much like modalism, which taught that Jesus’ deity was actually the Father Himself. They proposed that homoiousios be used, meaning “of similar substance.” Through Alexander’s eloquence his views prevailed.

During the 1st two centuries A.D. Christianity was strongly in favor of it’s Jewish roots of strict monotheism.

During the decades immediately following the death of the Apostles, gnosticism crept into the church via Simon Magus (Simon the sorcerer spoken of in the 8th chapter of Acts)and later by people such as Origen, Alexander (A Catholic Bishop), and other Greek apologists like Justin Martyr.

As far as the mis-interpretation of Genesis 1:26, this scripture has many possible explanations. Some claim it is a majestic plural such as when kings refer to themselves as ‘we’. Others claim it was God talking to the angels. I personally believe it was describing the many attributes of God. One thing we can be sure of, however is God was not referring to a third person in the trinity. context is an important part of hermeneutics. The very next verse disproves the possibility God was talking of a third ‘co-equal, co-eternal’ person in the God-head.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And finally, the New Testament confirms the Jewish belief in one God.

Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Twenty Truths To Remember

1. Faith is the ability to not panic.
2. If you worry, you didn’t pray. If you pray, don’t worry.
3. As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.
4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still.

God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.
6. Do the math. Count your blessings.
7. God wants spiritual fruit not religious nuts.
8. Dear God: I have a problem. It’s me.
9. Silence is often misinterpreted, not ever misquoted.
10. Laugh every day, it’s like inner jogging.
11. The most important things in your home are the people.
12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.
15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.
16. We do not remember days, but moments.

Life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.
17. Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it’s just hearsay.
18. It’s all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you

are done.
19. Surviving and living your life successfully require courage.

The goals and dreams you’re seeking require courage and risk-taking.

Learn from the turtle, it only makes progress when it sticks out it’s neck.
20. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.

Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think

you are.

Welcome to the new home for my articles and treatises on theology and Christian apologetics.  I’m attempting to keep this website solely scholarly in nature.   Please note that all articles are copyrighted by myself, Ryan Gustason.