Question Card Night 12/29/24
Notes
Transcript
Turn to Genesis chapter six.
Tonight we are going to consider a question card that I received:
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Question: What is the meaning of Genesis 6:4?
Read Genesis 6:1-4.
This is a fascinating passage, isn’t it?
One resource that I referenced said, “Genesis 6:4 is one of the more enigmatic and debated verses in the Bible.” - ChatGPT
That may be true. If you were to ask five independent Baptist pastors about this passage, you might get five different answers. However, that is true of Jewish interpretations also, as I’ll show you in a few moments.
Personally, several years ago, my interest in Genesis chapter six increased tremendously because this is the context for Genesis chapter nine where God permits mankind to self-rule and to practice human government. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by this chapter and by the details about early human history that it shares.
Here’s the roadmap for how I’ll answer this question tonight:
An overview of the different interpretations
A study of the passage and an interpretation
Genesis 6:1-4 has several interesting terms that call for our attention:
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Sons of God
Daughters of men
Strive
Giants/Nephilim/mighty men of old, men of renown
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An overview of the most common interpretations:
Angelic beings
Sethite-Cainite lines
Human rulers
Demon possessed rulers
“Angelic beings” interpretation:
The "sons of God" were fallen angels/demons who took on human form and intermarried with human women, creating the Nephilim, a race of giants or mighty beings.
“Sethite-Cainite” interpretation:
The "sons of God" were the [godly] descendants of Seth, and the Nephilim are the offspring of their unions with the [ungodly] descendants of Cain.
“Human rulers” interpretation:
The "sons of God" were powerful kings or rulers who married many women, leading to the rise of mighty but corrupt men (the Nephilim). (I’m not sure how there could have been powerful rulers when human government didn’t exist yet - Genesis 9).
“Demon possessed rulers” interpretation: The “sons of God” were powerful human rulers who were indwelt by fallen angels. These supernaturally empowered rulers then produced children with superhuman abilities.
Based on my study, those are the most common interpretations. You take your pick!
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A study of the passage and interpretation
Obviously, the term that brings the most debate is the term, “sons of God.” According to my study, the traditional (not universal) but the traditional Jewish interpretation is that the sons of God are fallen angels.
Sons of God: This phrase appears five times in the Old Testament, with the clearest usage being in Job 1, when the angels (or, at the very least, spirit beings/non humans) present themselves before the Lord.
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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.
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Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.
These are the clearest uses of the term “sons of God” in the Old Testament. Obviously, the sons of God in Job were not human beings. They were spirit beings, most likely what we would call “angels.” In my opinion, this is the strongest evidence to help direct us concerning what the sons of God were in this passage.
Before we get to more details, let’s put these verses in context of the bigger picture:
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Genesis six shows the utter wickedness of mankind and proves that God was just in sending a flood to destroy the earth.
We won’t take the time right now, but sometime go through Genesis six and mark all of the words that describe the wickedness of mankind before the flood. We live in a wicked world, but I don’t think that it is anything like the world before the flood. Keep in mind, there was no human government, no human laws to keep the sinfulness of mankind in check.
Our text tells us of one authority that was judging mankind.
Read Genesis 6:3.
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Strive: to judge, to rule (to requite, to compensate, to govern)
In the pre-flood era, God the Spirit judged or ruled mankind. How He did this is not entirely clear in Scripture, but there may be several examples.
Cain: Genesis 4:9-15.
Judah’s sons, Er and Onan: Genesis 38:7, 10
Review of Genesis 6 data:
The entire world was grossly wicked
The Spirit of God personally judged man’s wickedness on an individual basis
The writer of Genesis six describes the activities of the sons of God as an activity of unusual wickedness. Scholars may debate what the activity was, but there is agreement that it is pointed out as being a very wicked crime.
The term “sons of God” has the clearest meaning in Job to refer to angelic beings.
Interpretation: the context of Genesis chapter six leads me to believe that the traditional Jewish interpretation is correct and that the sons of God were fallen angels who took on human form or who indwelt human men. However they took on human form, they had children with human women. These children would grow up and possess superhuman strength, becoming superhuman warriors that would be leaders among men both in war and in wickedness.
“As an aside, it is also interesting to note that this interpretation of this passage helps to account for the ancient legends behind Greek Mythology of the unions of "the gods" with "mortals." - Pastor Nathan Deatrick, article on Sons of God.
Some writers believe that this was Satan’s plot to corrupt the seed of a woman so that the Messiah could not be born to redeem mankind.
Read Genesis 6:4 - “and also after that…”
This may explain why Israel encountered giants in Canaan even after the worldwide flood.
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And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
New Testament considerations:
Matthew 22:30 is often referenced in objection to this interpretation.
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For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Jesus was saying that angels don’t marry and reproduce themselves and in heaven, neither will human beings, but his statement doesn’t discredit the interpretation. The normal existence of angels is that they cannot reproduce themselves. However, these fallen angels took on human bodies - whether by the power of darkness or by indwelling human beings. Thereby, they were able to reproduce superhuman beings.
This interpretation is the only way I am able to make sense of two other New Testament passages:
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And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
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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;
In both passages, Jude and Peter use these angels as illustrations of God’s severe judgement against great wickedness. Based on my study, it seems that these angels have been permanently confined and are being held until the final day of judgment when Satan and his armies of darkness are all cast into the lake of fire.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Whatever interpretation you may reach, God wants us to walk away with some clear realities:
Sin is an awful crime that demands great judgment. It also required great sacrifice. God is holy; any sin is innately against who He is. We must treat it as seriously as He does. We must hate sin as much as He does. We must love righteousness as much as He does. We must forever adore Jesus because He has released us from the chains and penalty of sin and its corruption.
