May 25, 2025 • 15 mins
Did divine beings really take human wives and father giants? In this episode, we explore the mysterious “sons of God” from Genesis 6. Many link this passage to ancient myths and angelic rebellion—but does the biblical context support that? Join us as we examine Scripture carefully, challenge popular assumptions, and uncover a more grounded understanding of this controversial text.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(Music)
Welcome to the Ready for Eternity
podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to
inquisitive Bible students exploring
biblical truths that might not be fully
explored in typical sermons or Bible
studies. My name is Eddie Lawrence. What
(00:23):
really happened before the flood? Who
were the sons of God in Genesis 6? Some
say angels made it with humans, but does
the Bible actually teach that? Let's
unpack the context
and challenge the myth.
(Music)
(00:45):
Imagine a time in the distant past, not
long after the creation of mankind, when
humans began to multiply across the
surface of the earth. It was during these
times that the lesser gods began to take
notice of human women. These divine
beings burned in their lusts for the
beautiful daughters of mankind. The
(01:07):
leader of these lesser gods said, "Come,
let us choose us wives from among the
children of men, and beget us children."
Two hundred of these gods, in defiance of
Yahweh, bound themselves together with an
oath to journey to earth and take human
wives. They descended to the top of Mount
(01:27):
Hermon, and there took human form. They
all took human wives, each one as he
chose, and went into them, defiling both
themselves and the wives they had taken.
The gods taught their women the secret
knowledge of charms and enchantments, and
how to beautify the eyelids and adorn
(01:47):
themselves with jewelry and precious
stones. Their wives became pregnant and
bore offspring who became great giants.
They taught men about the metals of the
earth and how to form them into weapons
of swords, knives, and spears, and how to
make breastplates and shields. In this
(02:08):
way did the gods spread violence upon the
earth and corrupt the ways of mankind.
The giants also turned against mankind
when humans could no longer sustain them,
for they had devoured all
which the humans possessed.
Thus evil and the cries of
perishing men filled the earth.
(02:31):
If you're thinking this sounds like
something straight out of pagan
mythology, you're not wrong. Yet there
are those who believe that the story
above is the explanation of the events
leading up to the flood of Noah. They say
that the sons of God in Genesis chapter 6
verses 1 through 4 were angelic beings
(02:53):
aka the lesser gods, and the Nephilim
were the hybrid offspring of these angels
and human women. This is a very old idea
which has seen a
resurgence in recent years.
There are three main arguments the
supporters of this view
based their conclusion on.
(03:13):
Number one, they claim that the phrase
"sons of God" always refers to spiritual
beings everywhere it is used in the
Bible. Number two, Jewish literature from
the Second Temple period contains origin
stories about demons, giants, and angels
who left heaven which purports to explain
(03:37):
Genesis 6 verses 1 through 4. And number
three, Peter and Jude endorsed the
veracity of the Second Temple period
literature by quoting from it. Based on
these things, there is a perception that
intermarriage between divine beings and
humans explain the origins of the
(03:59):
Nephilim and the great evil on the earth
which caused God to send the flood. Let's
examine these arguments to see if there's
any scriptural support for this fantastic
tale. When man began to multiply on the
face of the land and daughters were born
to them, the sons of God saw that the
(04:20):
daughters of man were attractive, and
they took as their wives any they chose.
Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not
abide in man forever, for he is flesh.
His days shall be 120 years." The
Nephilim were on the earth in those days,
(04:41):
and also afterward when the sons of God
came into the daughters of man and they
bore children to them. These were the
mighty men who were of old, the men of
renown. Genesis 6, 1 through 4. The
phrase "the sons of God" comes from the
Hebrew, "b'nei ha elohim."
(05:04):
Those who affirm that the sons of God in
Genesis 6, 2 were spiritual beings claim
that everywhere else the phrase appears
it always refers to angelic beings.
Therefore, they conclude that the sons of
God in Genesis 6, 2 must mean the same
thing. This is a little bit of a
(05:26):
misleading claim since the exact wording
only appears in two other verses in the
entire Old Testament.
Job chapter 1 verse 6 and chapter 2 verse
1. The phrase "sons of God" without the
definite article also appears in Job
38.7. The context in Job clearly shows
(05:50):
that the phrase describes angelic beings,
but is that enough evidence to conclude
that the sons of God in Genesis 6 means
the same thing? Context is the overriding
consideration when determining what a
word or phrase means. We all know from
everyday experience that a single word or
(06:11):
phrase can have a very different meaning
depending on how someone uses it in
context. Aside from these verses I just
mentioned, everywhere else in the Bible
where "sons of God" appears, it's
referring to humans.
Therefore, "sons of God" isn't a
(06:32):
technical phrase referring to the same
beings everywhere the biblical writers
use it. It's one of several phrases the
Bible uses to describe a group of humans
and or angels depending on the context.
Listen to these verses.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
(06:52):
shall be called sons of God." Matthew 5,
9. "For they cannot die anymore, because
they are equal to angels and are sons of
God, being sons of the resurrection."
Luke 20, 36. "For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God." Romans 8,
(07:13):
14. "For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of
God." Romans 8, 19. "For in Christ Jesus
you are all sons of God, through faith."
Galatians 3, 26. There are also
variations of wording which describe the
(07:33):
same relationship and status. "You are
the sons of the Lord your God. You shall
not cut yourselves, or make any baldness
on your foreheads for the dead."
Deuteronomy 14, 1. "Yet the number of the
sons of Israel will be like the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured or
(07:55):
numbered. And in the place where it is
said to them, You are not my people, it
will be said to them, You are the sons of
the living God." Hosea 1, 10. "But love
your enemies, and do good, and lend,
expecting nothing in return, and your
reward will be great, and you will be
(08:17):
sons of the most high, for he himself is
kind to ungrateful and
evil men." Luke 6, 35.
You see, the context defines who the sons
of God are. We shouldn't get hung up on
an exact phrase when what the text is
(08:38):
trying to communicate is relationship or
status. The equivalent terms that
Deuteronomy and Hosea and Luke use, that
is, "the sons of the Lord your God," "the
sons of the living God," "the sons of the
most high," these show and communicate
that the idea of being a son of God is
(08:59):
about status or relationship. These
passages make quite clear that the phrase
includes humans, and this continues right
into the New Testament. Jesus now grants
His followers this status. And what is
this status? To be a son of God is to
(09:21):
have membership in a class or a group of
beings, whether humans or angels, who
have pledged loyalty to God, whom God has
accepted, and whom God has assigned a
role or responsibility to fulfill. As the
Bible uses the phrase, "a son of God may
be either a spiritual being or a human,"
(09:43):
the context in which we find the phrase
will allow us to determine whom the text
is discussing. This Hebrew phrase isn't a
technical expression, which only refers
to divine beings, as the verses that we
listen to demonstrate.
Another argument used by supporters of
this view is that Genesis 6, verses 1-4,
(10:06):
creates a contrast between two classes of
beings. Proponents of this divine human
marriage interpretation say that humans,
that is, the daughters of men in Genesis
6,1, are contrasted with a group that is
not human, the sons of God, in verse 2.
It is true that the author expresses a
(10:28):
contrast, but nothing in this text forces
us to conclude that any beings other than
humans are under discussion. How can we
know for sure who or what the Bible is
discussing? Well, we can know by
observing the surrounding context. Many
(10:48):
people assume that Genesis 6, verses 1-4
is the introduction to the flood story.
However, the context reveals this is not
really the case, and these verses instead
comprise an epilogue of chapters 4 and 5.
The two prior chapters document two
separate lines of people. Chapter 4
(11:11):
documents the descendants of Cain, and
chapter 5 documents the descendants of
Seth. The Bible establishes a clear
contrast between these two branches of
Adam and Eve's family. Seth's branch
describes the line God chose which would
ultimately produce the seed of the woman
(11:32):
that we read about in Genesis 3.15, who
would defeat the serpent and the
serpent's offspring. The genealogies
pause to give us a glimpse of the kind of
people that each of these two lines of
descent from Adam produced. We are
introduced to a man named Lamech in
(11:53):
Genesis chapter 4, verses 19-24, who was
descended from Cain. In Genesis 5, verses
21-24, tell us about a man named Enoch,
who was descended from Seth. The author
of Genesis is highlighting these two men
as representatives of their respective
(12:15):
branches of the family. By comparing the
character traits of these two
representatives, the text is subtly
suggesting that Seth's line was the more
godly of the two. The objection that the
sons of God cannot be human since Genesis
6.2 contrasts them with humans, that is,
(12:37):
the daughters of men, ignores the
immediate context of
chapters 4 and 5 entirely.
Similar contrasts comparing different
groups of humans are evident in other Old
Testament passages. For example, Judges
20, verse 3 contrasts the
Benjamites with the Israelites.
Does this mean that the sons of Benjamin
(12:59):
were not Israelites? Of course not. The
contrast is between the tribe of Benjamin
and the rest of Israel. Likewise,
Jeremiah 32, 20 contrasts Israel with all
mankind. Were the citizens of Israel not
part of all mankind? Or should we
understand that Israel is being compared
(13:20):
to the rest of humanity?
Obviously, the latter is correct. A
little closer to home is Noah, right here
in Genesis 6, verses 5 through 8. God saw
that the wickedness of humankind was
great, but God found Noah righteous. Does
this mean that Noah wasn't human? Other
(13:41):
examples could be given, but the point is
clear. When groups are contrasted, one
group is often a subset of a larger
group. The sons of God in Genesis 6 were
followers of God, who were contrasted
with the remainder of Adam's offspring,
who were not followers of God. The
(14:02):
context of chapters 4, 5, and 6 give us
all the information we need to identify
who these two groups are. There is ample
Biblical evidence to show that the sons
of God is a description used of both
humans and spiritual beings. In fact,
this phrase and its equivalent refers to
humans far more than it does to angels.
(14:25):
We can't ignore the context in which
words and phrases are found because the
meaning of words is heavily influenced by
the context in which they are spoken or
written. In the next episode in this Sons
of God series, we'll examine the relevant
stories contained in Jewish Second Temple
(14:46):
period literature that has influenced
some people's view of Genesis 6. (Music)
Thanks for listening to the podcast. We
hope this episode has deepened your
understanding of scripture. If you found
this content valuable, please share it
with your friends. For more Biblical
(15:07):
studies, visit our website at
readyforeternity.com. That's the word
"ready," the number four, and the word
"eternity." Readyforeternity.com. Be sure
and leave a comment on the Ready for
Eternity Facebook page or reach out on
Twitter. That's all for now. Keep
studying your Bible, growing closer to
(15:28):
God, and getting ready for
eternity. See you next time.
(Music)
(15:50):
(Music)
(Music)
Welcome to the Ready for Eternity
podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to
inquisitive Bible students exploring
biblical truths that might not be fully
explored in typical sermons or Bible
studies. My name is Eddie Lawrence. What
(00:23):
really happened before the flood? Who
were the sons of God in Genesis 6? Some
say angels made it with humans, but does
the Bible actually teach that? Let's
unpack the context
and challenge the myth.
(Music)
(00:45):
Imagine a time in the distant past, not
long after the creation of mankind, when
humans began to multiply across the
surface of the earth. It was during these
times that the lesser gods began to take
notice of human women. These divine
beings burned in their lusts for the
beautiful daughters of mankind. The
(01:07):
leader of these lesser gods said, "Come,
let us choose us wives from among the
children of men, and beget us children."
Two hundred of these gods, in defiance of
Yahweh, bound themselves together with an
oath to journey to earth and take human
wives. They descended to the top of Mount
(01:27):
Hermon, and there took human form. They
all took human wives, each one as he
chose, and went into them, defiling both
themselves and the wives they had taken.
The gods taught their women the secret
knowledge of charms and enchantments, and
how to beautify the eyelids and adorn
(01:47):
themselves with jewelry and precious
stones. Their wives became pregnant and
bore offspring who became great giants.
They taught men about the metals of the
earth and how to form them into weapons
of swords, knives, and spears, and how to
make breastplates and shields. In this
(02:08):
way did the gods spread violence upon the
earth and corrupt the ways of mankind.
The giants also turned against mankind
when humans could no longer sustain them,
for they had devoured all
which the humans possessed.
Thus evil and the cries of
perishing men filled the earth.
(02:31):
If you're thinking this sounds like
something straight out of pagan
mythology, you're not wrong. Yet there
are those who believe that the story
above is the explanation of the events
leading up to the flood of Noah. They say
that the sons of God in Genesis chapter 6
verses 1 through 4 were angelic beings
(02:53):
aka the lesser gods, and the Nephilim
were the hybrid offspring of these angels
and human women. This is a very old idea
which has seen a
resurgence in recent years.
There are three main arguments the
supporters of this view
based their conclusion on.
(03:13):
Number one, they claim that the phrase
"sons of God" always refers to spiritual
beings everywhere it is used in the
Bible. Number two, Jewish literature from
the Second Temple period contains origin
stories about demons, giants, and angels
who left heaven which purports to explain
(03:37):
Genesis 6 verses 1 through 4. And number
three, Peter and Jude endorsed the
veracity of the Second Temple period
literature by quoting from it. Based on
these things, there is a perception that
intermarriage between divine beings and
humans explain the origins of the
(03:59):
Nephilim and the great evil on the earth
which caused God to send the flood. Let's
examine these arguments to see if there's
any scriptural support for this fantastic
tale. When man began to multiply on the
face of the land and daughters were born
to them, the sons of God saw that the
(04:20):
daughters of man were attractive, and
they took as their wives any they chose.
Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not
abide in man forever, for he is flesh.
His days shall be 120 years." The
Nephilim were on the earth in those days,
(04:41):
and also afterward when the sons of God
came into the daughters of man and they
bore children to them. These were the
mighty men who were of old, the men of
renown. Genesis 6, 1 through 4. The
phrase "the sons of God" comes from the
Hebrew, "b'nei ha elohim."
(05:04):
Those who affirm that the sons of God in
Genesis 6, 2 were spiritual beings claim
that everywhere else the phrase appears
it always refers to angelic beings.
Therefore, they conclude that the sons of
God in Genesis 6, 2 must mean the same
thing. This is a little bit of a
(05:26):
misleading claim since the exact wording
only appears in two other verses in the
entire Old Testament.
Job chapter 1 verse 6 and chapter 2 verse
1. The phrase "sons of God" without the
definite article also appears in Job
38.7. The context in Job clearly shows
(05:50):
that the phrase describes angelic beings,
but is that enough evidence to conclude
that the sons of God in Genesis 6 means
the same thing? Context is the overriding
consideration when determining what a
word or phrase means. We all know from
everyday experience that a single word or
(06:11):
phrase can have a very different meaning
depending on how someone uses it in
context. Aside from these verses I just
mentioned, everywhere else in the Bible
where "sons of God" appears, it's
referring to humans.
Therefore, "sons of God" isn't a
(06:32):
technical phrase referring to the same
beings everywhere the biblical writers
use it. It's one of several phrases the
Bible uses to describe a group of humans
and or angels depending on the context.
Listen to these verses.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
(06:52):
shall be called sons of God." Matthew 5,
9. "For they cannot die anymore, because
they are equal to angels and are sons of
God, being sons of the resurrection."
Luke 20, 36. "For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God." Romans 8,
(07:13):
14. "For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of
God." Romans 8, 19. "For in Christ Jesus
you are all sons of God, through faith."
Galatians 3, 26. There are also
variations of wording which describe the
(07:33):
same relationship and status. "You are
the sons of the Lord your God. You shall
not cut yourselves, or make any baldness
on your foreheads for the dead."
Deuteronomy 14, 1. "Yet the number of the
sons of Israel will be like the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured or
(07:55):
numbered. And in the place where it is
said to them, You are not my people, it
will be said to them, You are the sons of
the living God." Hosea 1, 10. "But love
your enemies, and do good, and lend,
expecting nothing in return, and your
reward will be great, and you will be
(08:17):
sons of the most high, for he himself is
kind to ungrateful and
evil men." Luke 6, 35.
You see, the context defines who the sons
of God are. We shouldn't get hung up on
an exact phrase when what the text is
(08:38):
trying to communicate is relationship or
status. The equivalent terms that
Deuteronomy and Hosea and Luke use, that
is, "the sons of the Lord your God," "the
sons of the living God," "the sons of the
most high," these show and communicate
that the idea of being a son of God is
(08:59):
about status or relationship. These
passages make quite clear that the phrase
includes humans, and this continues right
into the New Testament. Jesus now grants
His followers this status. And what is
this status? To be a son of God is to
(09:21):
have membership in a class or a group of
beings, whether humans or angels, who
have pledged loyalty to God, whom God has
accepted, and whom God has assigned a
role or responsibility to fulfill. As the
Bible uses the phrase, "a son of God may
be either a spiritual being or a human,"
(09:43):
the context in which we find the phrase
will allow us to determine whom the text
is discussing. This Hebrew phrase isn't a
technical expression, which only refers
to divine beings, as the verses that we
listen to demonstrate.
Another argument used by supporters of
this view is that Genesis 6, verses 1-4,
(10:06):
creates a contrast between two classes of
beings. Proponents of this divine human
marriage interpretation say that humans,
that is, the daughters of men in Genesis
6,1, are contrasted with a group that is
not human, the sons of God, in verse 2.
It is true that the author expresses a
(10:28):
contrast, but nothing in this text forces
us to conclude that any beings other than
humans are under discussion. How can we
know for sure who or what the Bible is
discussing? Well, we can know by
observing the surrounding context. Many
(10:48):
people assume that Genesis 6, verses 1-4
is the introduction to the flood story.
However, the context reveals this is not
really the case, and these verses instead
comprise an epilogue of chapters 4 and 5.
The two prior chapters document two
separate lines of people. Chapter 4
(11:11):
documents the descendants of Cain, and
chapter 5 documents the descendants of
Seth. The Bible establishes a clear
contrast between these two branches of
Adam and Eve's family. Seth's branch
describes the line God chose which would
ultimately produce the seed of the woman
(11:32):
that we read about in Genesis 3.15, who
would defeat the serpent and the
serpent's offspring. The genealogies
pause to give us a glimpse of the kind of
people that each of these two lines of
descent from Adam produced. We are
introduced to a man named Lamech in
(11:53):
Genesis chapter 4, verses 19-24, who was
descended from Cain. In Genesis 5, verses
21-24, tell us about a man named Enoch,
who was descended from Seth. The author
of Genesis is highlighting these two men
as representatives of their respective
(12:15):
branches of the family. By comparing the
character traits of these two
representatives, the text is subtly
suggesting that Seth's line was the more
godly of the two. The objection that the
sons of God cannot be human since Genesis
6.2 contrasts them with humans, that is,
(12:37):
the daughters of men, ignores the
immediate context of
chapters 4 and 5 entirely.
Similar contrasts comparing different
groups of humans are evident in other Old
Testament passages. For example, Judges
20, verse 3 contrasts the
Benjamites with the Israelites.
Does this mean that the sons of Benjamin
(12:59):
were not Israelites? Of course not. The
contrast is between the tribe of Benjamin
and the rest of Israel. Likewise,
Jeremiah 32, 20 contrasts Israel with all
mankind. Were the citizens of Israel not
part of all mankind? Or should we
understand that Israel is being compared
(13:20):
to the rest of humanity?
Obviously, the latter is correct. A
little closer to home is Noah, right here
in Genesis 6, verses 5 through 8. God saw
that the wickedness of humankind was
great, but God found Noah righteous. Does
this mean that Noah wasn't human? Other
(13:41):
examples could be given, but the point is
clear. When groups are contrasted, one
group is often a subset of a larger
group. The sons of God in Genesis 6 were
followers of God, who were contrasted
with the remainder of Adam's offspring,
who were not followers of God. The
(14:02):
context of chapters 4, 5, and 6 give us
all the information we need to identify
who these two groups are. There is ample
Biblical evidence to show that the sons
of God is a description used of both
humans and spiritual beings. In fact,
this phrase and its equivalent refers to
humans far more than it does to angels.
(14:25):
We can't ignore the context in which
words and phrases are found because the
meaning of words is heavily influenced by
the context in which they are spoken or
written. In the next episode in this Sons
of God series, we'll examine the relevant
stories contained in Jewish Second Temple
(14:46):
period literature that has influenced
some people's view of Genesis 6. (Music)
Thanks for listening to the podcast. We
hope this episode has deepened your
understanding of scripture. If you found
this content valuable, please share it
with your friends. For more Biblical
(15:07):
studies, visit our website at
readyforeternity.com. That's the word
"ready," the number four, and the word
"eternity." Readyforeternity.com. Be sure
and leave a comment on the Ready for
Eternity Facebook page or reach out on
Twitter. That's all for now. Keep
studying your Bible, growing closer to
(15:28):
God, and getting ready for
eternity. See you next time.
(Music)
(15:50):
(Music)
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