Sons of God: Genesis 6:1-4
The battle between our flesh and spirit is real. I do not always do the right thing. I do not always make the choice best for me. Sometimes the short-sided desire masters the long-term need.
The Nephilim are one of my favorite curiosities in the book of Genesis. We know so little about them. They are included in the story as if the readers naturally know their backstory, therefore we don’t give much detail. There are two leading thoughts about the Nephilim. It is worth considering both thoughts because either path could be true.
Genesis 6 tells us that the Nephilim come for the sons of God. What does that mean?
We see these words in Job 1:6, where the sons of God present themselves before God. Context clues strongly indicate this presentation happens in heaven. Thus, the sons of God would likely be angelic beings. In this case, Genesis 6 tells us the angelic beings came down and mated with human women. This union produced people of great stature who, because of their impressive physical attributes, were often looked upon as leaders and possessed great renown.
In Luke 20:36, Jesus uses the expression sons of God to describe human beings who are godly in their behavior. Jesus says that the sons of God – or the sons of the resurrection – will be equal to the angels. Taking this understanding of the sons of God, the Nephilim are not the offspring of angels and humans but the offspring of godly people and ungodly people.
While both possibilities are sound, and there is a part of me innately fascinated by the possibility of a human-angelic crossbreed, the rest of this post assumes the second possibility as the intention for author of Genesis. This passage thus becomes a great lament about a secondary fall of humanity. Godly people begin choosing their mates not based on godly virtues but on physical appearances. This story is about how closely sin crouches at the door even among godly people.
Taking this path on the understanding of Nephilim produces a much less fantastical outcome but a much more applicable lesson. Godly people are not beyond corruption. Godly people are susceptible to seeing beauty on the outside rather than finding beauty on the inside. Godly people are susceptible to choosing what feels good in the moment rather than what is good in the long run. Godly people are susceptible to compromising what they know to be good and replace it with what they want to be good.
God makes the path to salvation easy. He did all the work for us and all we need is to receive it. The path of sanctification, or imitating God through the transforming of our minds as Paul describes in Romans 12:1-2, is quite difficult. The battle between our flesh and our spirit is real.
