Genesis 303
Lesson Eight
Now we come to a very controversial portion of Scripture.
First, lets look at the whole context...
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,
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 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
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 bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Gen 6:5 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.
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Genesis 6:1-4 fascinates many Bible readers because of the mysterious identity of both the sons of God and the Nephilim (giants). 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. Lets take a quick look at each.
But before we look at who these “sons of God” are, lets take a quick look at something else. First, we need to recognize that the “giants” in the land during this period of time were NOT a result of the unholy union between the sons of God and the daughters of men like many think. Notice verse four...
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that...
You see, the giants were already there. They were not a result of this unholy union, but they were a part of it. But you might ask, where did the giants come from? We addressed this issue in a previous lesson where God put a mark upon Cain before he went into the land of Nod. The mark was to bring fear upon people when they saw him, and was to protect him from being killed. We stated that this mark was an increase in his size. This would have been about the only thing that could have been done to fulfill the outcome God wanted. Cain then went into the land of Nod with his wife, had children and those children grew up to be giants.
The word giant in the original Hebrew means, properly, a feller, that is, a bully or tyrant, giant: This is also where we get our word, nephilim from.
These larger then normal tyrants would have been the offspring of Cain, and were not a result of the union of the sons of God and daughters of men. However, as we will see shortly, this union between the two is what caused all the wickedness and ultimate destruction of the Earth by the flood.
Now, lets look at who these sons of God are. First and foremost, they are NOT fallen angels as many suggest. Those that think these are fallen angels do so because they think the union between humans and fallen Angels is what caused the giants. But, as we have seen, the giants were already there. There are several reasons why these sons of God can not be fallen Angels.
1) Nowhere in Scripture are the fallen Angels EVER referred to as sons of God. Angels in Heaven are however. Notice the following verse...
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Can you even think of an instant when a fallen Angel would join in and shout for joy with the other inhabitants of heaven? I can't
Can you think for a second that God would call a fallen Angel His son? I can't
There are two other verses in Scripture that mention sons of God and neither of them even slightly suggest that these are fallen Angels.
2) Nowhere in Scripture is it even suggested that Angels, whether fallen or not, are capable of having sexual intercourse. In fact, Mark 12:25 suggest that Angels do not marry at all.
(3) The fallen Angels are bound in darkness.
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Chains of darkness means that they are not able to manifest in light. They are bound within the restrains of darkness. This would not allow them to take on human form and walk among the living as Angels from Heaven can which do not have this restraint. Some of suggested that the method they used was by possessing normal humans. However, even if there were to be the case, the sexual union would still be between two normal humans and would not necessarily produce wicked offspring.
4) Angels, even in a fallen state are spirit beings, they are neither male nor female in the physical sense and thus do not have the necessary physical attributes needed to reproduce.
So, given the fact that the Angels that were kicked out of heaven are spirit beings, bound in darkness, can not have sexual intercourse, and are never referred to as the “sons of God”, Mid State Bible Institute rejects the teaching that the sons of God referred to in Genesis six are Angels.
But, if they are not Angels, who are they? First off, notice that in ever single verse that we read in Genesis six, God uses the word “men” and “man”. There is nothing whatsoever that would indicate that any person talked about in these verses was anything but a human. So, we know it's not Angels, and we know these sons of God are humans. We also know that the children born unto them were also humans. Lets look at the following verse....
“the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (6:4).
Notice that the children became “mighty MEN”, “MEN of renown. They were not some kind of hybrid half human, half spirit being. Notice also that the offspring “became” mighty men. Nowhere does it mention that their fathers were might men, or great powerful men. And, there is no reason to suspect that powerful, mighty, men would be called the sons of God, simply because they might be powerful, mighty, or even rich. So for those reasons, we reject the teaching that the sons of God were mighty, powerful rulers of that day as well.
With Angels, and some kind of mighty, powerful rulers ruled out, we are left with one last suggestion...that these sons of God were offspring from the godly line of Seth, while the daughters of men were from the offspring of the ungodly line of Cain. Consider the following..
(1) The Angels that kept their first estate and stayed in Heaven, as well as anyone who trust in, and follows God are called in Scripture “sons of God”
John 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:
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Seth remained in the will of God, and in fact is found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Luke chapter three....
Luke 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Cain however, as well as his offspring were not of God at all...
1John 3:12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
Jude 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
So, what we see transpiring in Genesis six is that the men from the Godly line of Seth were taking wives from the ungodly line of Cain, and the offspring of these unions because very ungodly whereas God said...
Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
The Giants, had nothing to do with this union, they were already on earth and was a result of the “mark” that God put upon Cain.
So, Mid State Bible Institute stands on the fact that the sons of God were from the Godly line of Seth, while the daughters of men were from the ungodly line of Cain.
Answer the questions below. If you miss a question, go back and study that portion of the class and then retake the test. Once you have received a 100% you may proceed to the next class. You DO NOT have to submit this test for grading. Only the final test will be submitted.