“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” Genesis 6:1-2.
There are two fascinating but conflicting theories about these two verses.
The first one is a simple rendering of what the verses say, “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men”. Straight up enough, the sons of God represent the godly sons of Seth, and the daughters of men are those women who are of the ungodly line of Cain. This intermarriage is a bad idea because the godly men would soon enough be led into a godless lifestyle.
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14.
This is a New Testament verse but it is a principle for all ages. One must not marry or go into business with an unbeliever or enter any legally binding contract, such as co-signing for them.
“And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.” 1 Kings 11:3-4.
If this is already the case, so be it, but you need to be in constant prayer for your business partner or your wife; both for their salvation and for the Christian witness of your life with them. Pray for yourself also that you will not be left holding the bag in the case where your partner may be dishonest.
This would have been the downfall of godly men marrying into the line of Cain; eventually their children or they themselves would have been dragged down into sin.
This is the simplest and least controversial explanation. The next is plausible but more complex.
The second theory goes like this, “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men”; the sons of God in this case are thought to be fallen angels. The reason for this is that the phrase the sons of God are always a reference to angels in the Old Testament.
“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” Job 1:6.
“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.” Job 2:1.
“[Job, where were you during creation] When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:7.
It could be argued that fallen angels would no longer be called sons of God. This is logical enough, but there does not seem to be a difference given between the righteous angels and the fallen angels in the references in Job.
These fallen angels (it is believed) then, took wives of the daughters of men and had children by them. That the women became pregnant by the angels is another difficulty, primarily due to Jesus’ words about angels.
“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” Matthew 22:30.
While this tells us that in heaven men and women do not marry just as angels do not marry, it tells us absolutely nothing about angels other than in heaven they do not marry. So this verse is a difficulty but not a strong argument against angels having children with women.
The real difficulty with this whole idea is not all of the above; rather it is what became of the children, half angels and half human, half breeds if you will?
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Hebrews 2:14-18.
It says here, “For indeed He does not give aid to angels”; Christ’s blood was not shed for the sins of angels, they crossed that bridge when they rebelled in heaven eons ago and their final destination is the lake of fire.
But what of the children born to them? They had not rebelled because they were not alive at that time, God does not hold the children responsible for the sins of their fathers.
“Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Ezekiel 18:19-20.
Without speculating how, it is my opinion that God would not turn them away if they called upon Him. He knew this would happen from eternity past so He was not blindsided by Satan when he polluted the race by having his fallen angels take human women.
Whether these half angel, half human children called upon the name of the Lord or continued in the evil of their fathers may become a little clearer as we go along.
One thing is certain; the fallen angels that did this were punished for not keeping their first estate.
“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day…” Jude 6.
“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell [Tartarus] and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly…” 2 Peter 2:4-5.
If the sons of God are angels and not men of the line of Adam and Seth, then it is likely that these angels spoken of above who did not keep their proper domain were punished by being cast into hell.
The word translated hell in the passage in 2 Peter 2:4-5 quoted above is actually the word Tartarus and this is the only place in Scripture where it is used, so it is very special.
Tartarus is a dark and doleful subterranean region regarded by the Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead where they are punished for their evil deeds.
It is interesting that the Apostle Peter would use that word for this prison for these angels who are in chains, reserved for Judgment Day.
This, by the way, is not the hell which we are so familiar with. There are no humans in Tartarus nor are there any in the place often referred to as the abyss, this too is an area which holds fallen angels.
The hell which so many people are fond of telling others to go to is an abysmal place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth; it is under our feet right now and contains the unrighteous dead both of our day and those who perished in the flood.
Hell is a jail holding the unrighteous dead until Judgment Day when they will be sentenced by a holy God after having all of their evil deeds and thoughts read aloud before everyone before they are thrown into the lake of fire for eternity, a far worse place than they are in now.
Do not think for a moment that there will be anyone who will not be shaking violently in terror; Stalin, Hitler, Genghis Khan, Jack the Ripper, Ayatollah Khomeini, not one violent man you have met, not one that you have ever heard of, will stand before an angry God and not soil himself if that were possible.
There are those who think they will stand before God and give Him an obscene gesture in pure defiance that is not going to happen. There never has been a time of such terror, weeping and wailing in one place than there will be on Judgment Day. And afterward, the lake of fire!
“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” Luke 12:4-5.
Pity, there is not one person in hell that has to be there. Nor does anyone have to go there now. God gave His Son to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind.
“And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21.
Deadly, Evil and Wicked, Genesis 6:1-2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-3-14, updated on 11-7-21.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.