Gen.
6:2-4
Since
there is much conflict at times over who the Nephilim were, and the sons of
God, these verses will be examined together. It’s one of those cases where it’s
not vital to doctrine, though, so even before I start, it’s important to
remember to be of one mind in the Lord, as Paul was inspired to write in Phil
4:2-3. When it’s not an issue that is vital for doctrine – and the wording
there shows it wasn’t – then we must simply accept that we can’t know all the
answers, but God does, and he will bring out the truth int ime.
Sons
of God
Whole books
have probably been written about this topic. Whenever there is a dispute , the
first place to look is Scripture so we can interpret Scripture with Scripture
and not with the ideas of people, who are fallible.
When we look
for this phrase elsewhere, we see it always refers to angels. Yes, Jesus is the
Son of God, as the second person of the God head He is God. When we see the
plural sons, though, in the Old Testament, Job in particular, the meaning is
clearly angels.(Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7)
One place where
it clearly means people is John 1:12, but as we shall
see, that actually works counter to those who argue that these sins of God are
people.
Another clue is
that it contrasts them with the daughters of men. Here, let us begin to examine
the counter argument, that they could be people.
The opponents
of the concept that they could be fallen angels point out that they are likely
descended from Cain, as opposed to the Godly Seth it line. But, as noted, in
John 1:12 the sons of God are those who have put their
trust in Jesus Christ to save them by faith. This is the opposite of the
rebellious Cainites. They would not be trusting God for anything as a group,
though of course individuals might have been saved. And, we can from the verses
they don't behave in a way that honors God, anyway. So, they go to the
daughters of Cainites and take them, either, it is almost certain.
Of course,
verse 5 tells how evil was everywhere, so it is possible. Perhaps Noah
waited so long to have children because his family, like the Cainites, we're
filled with lust. That is quite plausible.
However, the
main argument used to oppose the belief in fallen angels is twofold.
First, they
claim God forbade the branches to interrmarry. This is never said, however,
until Abraham was told not to marry his son, Isaac, to a woman of Canaan.
It is possible He told Seth this, but if so, it would seem that God would want
us to know it. More likely, either it stems from not realizing the difference
between God's chosen people and Gentiles, or given how I can confuse things,
maybe something as simple as confusing Cain with Canaan.
The other
reason given is that angels don't marry in Heaven. Well, first, 2 Peter and
Jude both speak of angels leaving their first estate, so disobedience angels
might have married even if obedient ones don't,. Second, nowhere does it say
they married the daughters of men, only that they took them. While it's quite
likely angels have no reproductive organs, and their looking like men could be
just on the outside, it is possible they do, too. Finally, even without
such organs, artificially placing seeds in them is at least possible.
This leads to one of the big problems
some have with the idea of fallen angels creating offspring with women - the
emphasis some place on aliens.
But first,
before we examine the facts and fallacies about that spiritual warfare,
something else bears mention in verse 3.
My spirit shall
not always strive with man
God had given
mankind many chances. It's easy to see how one could argue that just the
evil of these people was enough to bring judgment. God shows elsewhere
that He has lots of patience and gives time to repent, but eventually He must
judge sin. Thankfully, that judgement happened on the cross, so all
who call upon the name of the Lord are saved when they trust Jesus by
faith to do so, ss Jesus took all our sin upon Himself.
However, when
God says man's days shall be 120 years, He still was providing time for people
to repent, yet He said nothing about combining the Seth it's and Cainites. If
that had been His purpose, it seem that would be worth noting,
especially since it would provide a model for the Jews later.
However, the
command for them was because they had been set apart, chosen by God and
following Him while the other people worshipped idols, including such
horrors as human sacrifice. This is not clear from what happens to Cain
and his descents. Sure, they were prideful and downright evil, but while there
would clearly be a desire for the Seth it's to marry only those who worshipped
God alone, the implication seems to be something far worse took place when
these sons of God went and took as many of the daughters of men as they
pleased.
God then says
man's days shall be 120 years. This could mean that the life span would be shortened
to that, but while that did eventually happen, it took much longer to get
down there.
So, this almost
surely means that long and if repentance didn't come, He would destroy the
corrupt world.
This leads back
into the giants, the men renown.
This is yet
another clue these Nephilim, as the word giants is in the original Hebrew,
we're more than just Cainites. If they were merely Cainites, they would
probably not have gained such huge notoriety. They also would not have been
around after that - that is, after the Flood - if the Flood was to wipe them
out.
Instead, taking
away talk of aliens and space, it's quite plausible to presume fallen
angels acted in a way that may not seem natural to us, but in the massive
spiritual warfare which surrounded the world, just as it does now, these fallen
angels were able to interact with women this way. It may not be conclusive, but
it seems to me the most likely explanation. Spiritual warfare is intense, after
all.
However,
whichever it was, let us be of one mind in this; that God kept showing His
mercy despite this problem. There are good, dedicated Christians on both sides
of the question. Personally, the amount of spiritual warfare in our
world boggles my mind. Something could have happened in another dimension quite
easily. The ancient Greek stories, for instance, could have risen
from these creatures. I'm skeptical of the notion that these special men of
renown could have arisen just because they were Cainites; Nimrod, for instance,
was a “mighty hunter before the Lord” but he was not even called a giant.(Gen.
10:9) However, reasonable minds could differ.
But, that
doesn't mean some demon will come pretending to be an alien to get people to
worship it when what they would be doing is worshipping the devil instead. The
devil can inhabit someone without having them take on alien form. Revelation 13
shows this. The devil himself put into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus.(John
13:2) Could the antichrist be an alien? Yes. But, it’s much more likely that
spiritual warfare will remain of the type seen in many places today. Which is
supernatural and scary enough at times without the alien stuff.
