Evil Angels Cohabitating with the Women in Genesis?

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).

Can Angels or Fallen Angels Propagate?

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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