Fastening the Belt of Truth in Spiritual Warfare
Are the Sons' of God in Genesis 6 Fallen Angels?
Since it is God's
light that dispels the darkness, then as part of our
spiritual warfare it is important to work through
even some of the most controversial and difficult
Scriptures, at least to the best of our ability.
Otherwise, we can easily be misled and mislead
others into superstitions and other false beliefs of
spiritual consequence. For example, if we believe
that God sends evil spirits to afflict His people in
order that they may grow spiritually, then why
resist the devil since it is God's will? If we
believe that everything that happens to us is God's
will, then why pray for deliverance since it is
God's will? When we reflect on these ideas we begin
to realize the implications and significance of
fastening the belt of truth, as we know, the devil's
greatest weapon is "deception.
A main reason for publishing this post is to
dispel any fear or sensationalism that fallen angels
have or ever had the power to cohabitate with women
and propagate a freak offspring of part divine and
part human entities, as some believe, the fallen
angels being labeled as "giants" in the book of
Genesis.
A second reason for writing this post is to
avoid chasing the wind in our quest to find answers
as we attempt to gain an understanding of God's
Truth about our world and the problem of good and
evil. God tells us to search the scriptures in order
to prove or disprove doctrine that is taught. In the
book of Acts we read,
Act 17:11 "These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with
all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.
Again in Ephesians Paul writes,
Eph 4:14 "That we henceforth be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive;"
Whatever
experiences or theories we may have that are
seemingly supported by the belief that fallen angels
or devil spirits can or have produced a progeny of
giants in the book of Genesis, and we find that
these are not supported by the Word of God, than we
must seek answers elsewhere in order to resolve the
problems or questions at hand. Let's weigh the
evidence and fasten the "belt of truth" which is an
integral part of spiritual warfare and examine God's
Word regarding the Doctrine of Angels.
The "Sons of God" in Genesis 6: Fallen Angels or
Humans?
The Scripture: Genesis 6:1-5
(KJV)
"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 an 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 bare
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."
There are some who
believe that the "sons of God" in verse 2 are fallen
angels who cohabitated with the daughters of men,
thereby producing an offspring of “giants” or
“Nephilim” that resulted in a human-divine progeny.
Although the angelic position makes for a very
interesting story, as we will see, the arguments
posed in behalf of this view lack strong support and
are founded on speculation, in contrast, identifying
the sons of God as men is logically supported by
Scripture and in all probability involved the people
of God during this era of long ago.
A premise of the
fallen angelic view concerns those Scriptures in
which angels are identified as "sons of God" on
three occasions in the book of Job (1:6, 2:1 and
38:7). Many who hold this view propose that all Old
Testament Scripture using this phrase is exclusively
meant for angels and is therefore applied to the
Genesis account.
First, it should be noted that of the three
verses in Job, chapter 38, verse 7 is the most
convincing reference for identifying angels as "sons
of God" because the occurrence is placed at the time
of creation. However, the other two verses are not
as clearly defined, but the probability that angels
are indicated does exist within the text. On the
other hand, these verses may also be a reference to
the people of God as they presented themselves
before the Lord, in which Satan, being among them,
sought to test Job's faith in God.
Second, other bible accounts negate the idea that
all references to son or sons of God point to
angelic beings in the Old Testament.
Other References to the Son or Sons of God
in the OT
The sons of God not only refer to the angels of
God but also to the people of God.
1. Adam is called a son of God in 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.”
2. Israel was the chosen son of God in which God
testifies, “Israel is my firstborn son” (Ex. 4:22,
Jer. 31:9).
3. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 8, the Revised
Standard Version reads, “according to the number of
the sons of God” instead of “sons of Israel” as it
is translated in the King James Version. The Revised
Standard Version translation is supported by a Dead
Sea Scroll text (New Bible Dict. p. 1133).
4. God allocated sonship to those in covenant with
Him, “you are the sons of the Lord your God” (Dt.
14:1).
5. God also proclaims the personal sonship of David,
“I will proclaim the decree . . . You are my son;
today I have become your Father” (Ps. 2:7).
6. In the prophecies of the book of Isaiah we read,
“I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south,
Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my
daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isa 43:6).
In addition, The New Bible Dictionary explains that
the son of God in Hebrew means “god” or “god-like”
rather than “son of [the] God” or Yahweh. However,
the argument that the sons of God is always a
reference to angels biblically lacks support as
shown in the examples above.
“Giants” Half Human and Half Divine?
The word giant or
giants is used throughout Scripture to describe
humanity and it is never used to describe a race of
divine-human origin. The word giants or Nephilim are
used in both Genesis, chapter 6, verse 4, and
Numbers, chapter 13, verse 33.
In Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary the word Nephilim is
defined as properly meaning, “a feller, that is, a
bully or tyrant” However, elsewhere we are told that
the original meaning of this Hebrew word is unknown
and seems to be used in reference to a group of
people. The author also states that this term and
all the other terms translated giant are not defined
as having that actual meaning. I quote, “Since none
of the terms translated 'giants' has that actual
meaning, we cannot be sure the Nephilim were of
unusual physical stature" (Baker’s Encyl. Vol 1,
861).
In the book of Numbers, the Nephilim are the
inhabitants of Canaan at the time of the Conquest,
“And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak . .
.”(Num. 13:33).
There is a strong possibility that the Anakims were
renowned warrior heroes of large stature, “. . . we
were in our own sight as grasshoppers” (Num. 13:33).
However, from another source, the contrast
between giants and grasshoppers is understood to be
“a strong Orientalism, by which the treacherous
spies gave an exaggerated report of the physical
strength of the people of Canaan” (E-sword:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown).
Others suggest
that some of the angels in the bible appear as men
and could have very well possessed the ability to
engage in sexual activity while in human form.
However, Theissen notes that "the angels are
described as a company or hosts and not as a race."
In Psalms we read, “Praise ye him, all his angels:
praise ye him, all his hosts” (Ps.148: 2). The
angels may have been called the sons of God in the
book of Job, but nowhere in the bible do we read
about the “sons of angels” (Lectures in Systematic
Theology).”
Angels are spirits (Heb. 1:14); Jesus responded
to the question of marriage in heaven in the gospel
of Luke, chapter 20, verses 34-36, with the
following response,
“And Jesus answering said unto them, The children
of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But
they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that
world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither
marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they
die any more: for they are equal unto the angels;
and are the children of God, being the children of
the resurrection.”
Clearly, angels are not of this
world and we may conclude that angels are spirits,
sexless, and do not marry or bear children. Although
angels appear in the likeness of human flesh, they
are spirit and were not created with the ability to
propagate that spirit in which they were created.
Entertaining the idea of a divine-human progeny is
not given to us in Scripture and again is left to a
great deal of speculation.
Secondly, the apostle Paul tells us that our
bodies will be spiritual bodies, “It is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There
is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body”
(1Co 15:44). As already seen in the Gospel of Luke,
these bodies will not be given in marriage. We can
safely assume that the form of an angel appearing as
man is likewise.
Thirdly, in order to validate the fallen angelic
view, God’s law of propagation set forth in Genesis
of bringing forth seed after its own kind becomes
null and void. Therefore the half human and half
divine argument is premature and becomes speculative
because it contradicts the Word of God in several
areas.
In the words of Paul:
1Co 15:38-40 "But God giveth it a body as it hath
pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one
kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds. There are
also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but
the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of
the terrestrial is another."
The Context of Genesis 6: 1-5 is about Humanity
The whole context of this section of
Scripture concerns humanity. The human race
continued to multiply and the “sons of God” took
whatever wives they chose from the daughters of
humanity. This seems to be in line with the
conditions of Noah’s time, wherein the gospel of
Luke chapter 17: 26-27, state the following,
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be
also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat,
they drank, they married wives, they were given in
marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the
ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”
Except for Noah and his family the human race was
eventually destroyed by the flood because human
hearts were thoroughly evil.
The fact that there is absolutely no mention of
any angels strongly supports the idea that the sons
of God were certainly men. In addition, the usage of
the term men represents humanity in four of five
times used in this section. The Hebrew word adam or
“ruddy”, that is, a human being (individuals,
species, mankind, etc.,) with the exception of verse
5, where the offspring became “mighty men” or in
Hebrew gibbor meaning “powerful, warrior, tyrant,
giant” (Strong’s Heb. & Gk. Dict.).
Life in general was lived according to the desires
of the flesh without regard for the righteous ways
of God. However, the emphasis on the “sons of God”
is in all probability significantly tied to the
godly lines that existed during this period of time.
First, the book of Genesis is about God, His
people and not about worldly rulers in general.
Second, it has already been established that the
term son or sons of God pertain to the people of God
or angels in Scripture, and therefore reasonable in
its application here.
Third, although there is no way of knowing for
certain, it may very well be that the sons of God
held powerful positions and conducted business in a
worldly versus godly sense, taking women as it
pleased them and indicative of taking on the ways of
the world. The offspring described as mighty men and
warriors is supportive that this may very well be
the case.
Conclusion
In light of the above, we
discover that by assigning fallen angels as the sons
of God in Genesis, chapter 6, we are fraught with
unresolved problems. In establishing the fact that
the Bible makes reference to angels as sons of God,
we likewise recognize the same phrase is used to
describe the people of God. We are unable to rectify
a divine-human progeny with the Word of God. The
descriptive term “giants” is alluded to man and
primarily in a figurative sense of possessing
extensive characteristics versus gigantic physical
size. The only person having both one-hundred
percent human as well as divine substance is the
Lord Jesus Christ, and was accomplished only through
the power and miracle of God.
We read in the gospel of
Luke, “And the angel answered and said unto her
[Mary], The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born
of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Lu. 1:35).
The Greek word for power is dunamis and is used in a
literal sense, the word specifically refers to God's
miraculous power.
From G1410; force (literally or
figuratively); specifically miraculous power
(usually by implication a miracle itself): -
ability, abundance, meaning, might, (worker of)
miracle, power, strength, violence, mighty
(wonderful) work (Strong's Gk. Dict.).
Although angels
have the capacity to appear in human form, according
to the words of Jesus they cannot reproduce the
spirit in which they were created, nor the soul life
of humanity. The idea of fallen angels cohabiting
with women contradicts God’s natural laws of
propagation of bearing seed after its own kind. The
entire context of this section of Genesis addresses
the wickedness of man and not that of fallen angels,
although their influence is understood. In view of
the evidence, it is most likely that the sons of God
were men, who through the lines of Seth and so forth
were the people of God, who having power on the
earth fashioned their lives according to the course
of this world, rather than the righteous ways of
God, except for Noah and his family.
As presented, the
fallen angelic view presents a weak argument and
leads to questions in its application of the sons of
God, giants of divine and human origin, the
propagation of angels, God’s law of propagation, and
the context of Genesis chapter 6, in which the
wickedness of humanity is exposed. Contrarily, the
"sons of God" identified as men is both logical and
harmonious to Scripture.
We fasten the belt
of truth as a part of wearing the armor of God, and
we speak the truth of God’s Word as our sword of the
spirit and are set free and kept safe from error.
The integrity of God's Word plays a vital role in
spiritual warfare so that we are not tossed to and
fro with every wind of doctrine. By not considering
the whole of Scripture in this matter has lead to
erroneous ideas such as interpreting this portion of
Scripture as some type of alien invasion and
offering solutions that lead some away from the
truth and the power of God. Yes, there are
unexplained mysteries and events that need to be
resolved, and we don't have all the answers. But
perhaps through the process of elimination we can at
least gain some inroads that will lead us closer to
the truth.
more to come . . .
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