Who are the "sons of God" in Genesis 6?

 

There are two takes on this topic: Humans or Fallen Angels

The first 5 book of the OT were written for a specific purpose and in the context of a certain culture, at a particular time in human history, for a specific people. The purpose was to give the Israelite a certain identity as God’s chosen people by showing them their ancestry going all the way back to Adam and Eve, who were uniquely created in God’s image, how they were to worship and serve Him alone and live by a set of standards as a testimony to the one true and living God and the nations around them.

In Genesis Moses begins to draw the linear line of those who by faith are considered by God to be his chosen people. Because they by faith believed in the one true and living God and the stories of God that came from Adam and Eve. Moses informs the Jews that their heritage can be traced through the line of Adam to Seth to Noah to Abraham.

Genesis 6:2 (NASB)

[2] that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

Who are the sons of God, people or fallen angels?

With the exception of Job (maybe?) the sons of God are human being who are Gods chosen people or people that worship Him not demonic Angels. Fallen angels do not worship or follow God or are Gods chosen. They are rejected by God.

Dt 14:1 (AMP) “YOU ARE the sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead, 

Dt 32:8 (ESV) When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. 

Ga 3:26 (ESV) for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 

Matthew 5:9 (ESV) “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Luke 20:36 (ESV) for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 

Romans 8:14 (ESV) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Genesis 4 and 5 begins to show two line of our human ancestry. One that seeks God and one that rebels against God.  Seths line worshiped God. Cains line rejected God. Lamech, from the line of Cain, mocked God:

 Genesis 4 [23] Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,

Listen to my voice,

You wives of Lamech,

Give heed to my speech,

For I have killed a man for wounding me;

And a boy for striking me; (an unjust reaction?)

[24] If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

INSIGHT: The story in Genesis 6, were the sons of God marry the daughters of men, parallels the story of the Israelite men (sons of God) taking the Moabite woman (daughters of men) as their wives thus becoming unequally yoked in sexually immoral behavior and idolatry therefore sinning against God by bringing corrupting influences into His family, His chosen people.  Nu 25:1-9 Just as the sons of God, from the line of Seth, in Genesis took for themselves wives for the ungodly line of Cain, which lead to Gods judgment, Gods spirit being diminished in them and the corrupting influence of the ungodly taking over their thoughts and action, we see the same thing happening with the men of Israel and the Moabite woman. This is why God tells His son and daughters in the body of Christ to not be unequally yoked.

Rev 2:14 (ESV) [14] But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 

This verse in Revelation speaks to what happen in between Nu 24 and 25.

Since Balaam couldn't curse the Israelites for Balak, he gave Balak another strategy to bring down the Israelites. Balaam understood the Israelites customs and used them against them.

Nu 31:14-16 (NASB1995) Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵And Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women? ¹⁶“Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD. 

In the first 5 books of the bible that are ascribe to Moses as the one who wrote them, we see Moses use the phrase "sons of God" or "sons of the LORD your God" or "children of God" to always refer to human beings and never to demonic Angels. This would follow the rule of keeping things in their context.

Dt 14:1-2 (NIV) [14:1] You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, [2] for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

Dt 14:1 (ESV) [14:1] “You are the sons of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead.

Dt 32:8 (ESV) When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. NOTICE: sons of God refers to peoples.

In the NT, which gives us more light to the revelations of God in the OT, all the references to the sons of God are related to humans and never demons. Remember that the NT writers were familiar with the OT phrase sons of God. This follows the idea that the best interpreter of the scripture is the scripture.

Luke’s genealogy of Jesus is traced back through the line of Seth - the son of God

Lk 3:38 (NASB1995) the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

What about the Nephilim? Are the Nephilim a hybrid that resulted in humans and demons having sex?

First this type of understanding is a story we would see in pagan mythology.

Second if all but eight were saved through the flood then where did the Nephilim come from, we see in Nu 13:33? After all the bible says they were still around after the flood.  Genesis 6:4 (NASB)The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. “ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward,” is what we would call a parenthetical phrase. It’s like a footnote and in the case of Moses and the Hebrews it looks like it is a reference to something they’re familiar with during their time, for sure in Canaan and maybe in Egypt. Plus these giants have been around a long time, before and after the flood.

Now if the interpretation of Nephilim is human/demon hybrid which resulted in this excessive evil that needed to end this would mean that IF one of the reasons God flooded the earth was the end the demon/human interbreeding He let that practice of demons and humans to interbreed start again and begin the processes all over again.

Third Are demons created in the image of God as people are with the same DNA properties that can be passed on to humans? Human DNA is unique to all living creatures that God created that He has revealed to us. If angels had our DNA this would make them human and created in Gods image also? But don’t angel sometimes look like humans? Yes. But taking on an appearance of something doesn’t make you that something. Even now the closest DNA match to humans are apes but we cannot procreate with them. However, I only see in the bible that humanity alone was create in Gods image. So much so that Jesus, the second person of the trinity, took on the image of a man.

Fourth Does the bible teach us that Angels have sex and create offspring? If the bible is silent then we should be silent. And not create unfounded assumptions and then create a theological doctrine based on speculation. Mt 22:30, This story is about the institution of marriage between a man and a woman and the sexual acts within that institution that produce offspring. Jesus tells us we will be like the Angels when all his chosen people are living with him for all eternity. And in this eternal state sex between a man and a woman will not be taking place because sex is only allowed within the context of marriage and there will be no marriage in heaven.

What about Jude vs. 6 & 7? Since Sodom and Gomorrah was judged for their sexual immorality and doesn't the  phrase "in the same way" in vs 7 refer back to vs 6's angels that left God is describing Genesis 6:2? Therefore "in the same way" means fallen angels were sexually immoral with woman like Sodom and Gomorrah sexual immorality.

Remember context is always key. We must start with vs 5 of Jude to understand what "in the same way" is referring to. 

"[5] Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe."

The key phrase in this vs to understand "in the same way" in vs 7 is "who did not believe". "In the same way" is not referring to sexual immorality but not believing. The angels fell because they stopped believing in God's rule resulting in them "abandoned their proper abode". In the same way the sexual immorality that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah was a result of unbelief in Gods created order and God Himself. 

2 Peter 2:4-10 is not about Genesis 6:2 but about judgment of the ungodly and rescuing of the godly from the angels that fell to the people of Noah's day to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to Lot. These OT stories would have been familiar the NT audience. The context of the passage is not about the sons of God in Genesis 6 as being demons. This would be considered eisegesis, reading into the text.