The Summation of All Things in Christ

Studies in Ephesians with a Local Church Emphasis

Lesson 82 : Excursus – Who Are the Sons of God in Gen 6?

Gen 6 and 1 Pet 3:19 rise or fall together, the interpretation of each depends upon the other  –  No one can be overly dogmatic in their understanding of this passage  –  The main theories surrounding Gen 6: the ‘sons of Elohim’ were sons of kings and nobles; the ‘sons of Elohim’ were angels; and the ‘sons of Elohim’ were the pious (the line of Seth) in contrast with the line of Cain  –  Reasons why 1 Peter and Genesis 6 to be referring to men, not fallen angels: the reasons given for the flood is the sins of men, not angels  –  1 Peter speaks of God waiting for repentance, but no where in Scripture does God offer repentance to angels  –  The ‘sons of God’ are used other places in the OT to refer to men  –  The relationships between the ‘sons of God’ and ‘the daughters of men’ were not rape nor fornication but marriages  –  Genesis already divides the lines of Seth and Cain  –  While not culminating in another flood, the sin which brought on the flood is not unique to Israel in the OT  –  There were ‘nephilim’ before the ‘sons of God’ cohabited with the ‘women of men’  –  If the ‘nephilim’ were spawns of the illegitimate unions of demons and women, how are there ‘nephilim’ after the flood?  –  The sin described was taking women indiscriminately without regard for morality  –  While the Book of Enoch ascribes the flood to the sins of fallen angels, there are also apocryphal works ascribing the flood to the sin of men alone