Weird Stuff in the Bible

Who are the Sons of God?
Genesis 6

Introduction
So, we started into Jude last week, and as I said in that episode, I want to use that book as a template or outline for several weird things in the Bible that I want to cover with you over the next few months.
And yet, we already need to step back from it for just a moment and lay some groundwork for what I’d like to talk about next in Jude. This episode is not gonna specifically talk about Jude. The next episode is not gonna talk about Jude. We have got to get some things settled before we can get back into Jude.
Because Jude is about to lay this verse on us in
Jude 6
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
So, what is that all about? The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority… that’s a curious phrase. Who are these angels, what was their proper dwelling, and why are they locked up in hell right now?
I find all this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
So to figure it out with me, we’re going to depart from the second-to-last book in the Bible and go back in time all the way to the first book in the Bible. Turn to Genesis 6, and let’s get weird.
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Defining Our Terms
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the sons of God. You probably figured that out already based on this episode title, and the intro, and so…let’s get into it.
We’re going to start our exploration of the Sons of God by defining what this term means. There are three groups of beings in the Bible who can be labeled as sons of God.
In the Old Testament, we meet a group of spiritual beings called in Hebrew Bene Elohim, which means the sons of God. I am going to be hesitant to refer to them as angels, even though it would be accurate to call them angels. The Bible calls them angels. But they are a specific classification of spiritual beings- the Bene Elohim. So we’ll be talking a lot about them throughout the lesson. But for now, I’ll just say that the sons of God in the Old Testament are Bene Elohim, a group of spiritual entities.
In the New Testament, we meet a second type of the Sons of God, and there is only one being who is this second type; and that is THE Son of God, the second person of the Trinity: Jesus. The second person of the Trinity who was born unto Mary in the New Testament and died for our sins. I’m guessing you’ve probably heard of him. And He is called the Son of God. He is not a brother of those beings called the sons of God in the Old Testament. Jesus is in a category all to Himself.
And then there is a third group of beings in the New Testament called Sons of God, and that is Christians. Believers. The Redeemed. We are called a Son of God once you’re saved. Even if you’re a daughter of called, you receive the inheritance of Sonship. We’d have to go to Galatians to dig into what that means but we won’t take time to today.
So what does it mean to be a Son of God? These are three distinct and very very different groups who are all described with the same phrase. How can they all be considered sons of God? Here’s what ties it all together: To be a Son of God is to be a direct creation of God.
I need to say that one more time because that’s the defining characteristic: To be a Son of God is to be a direct creation of God.
So the spiritual beings called Bene Elohim in the Old Testament are beings who were directly created by God. They weren’t created by another angel or by Satan or something like that; they were direct creations of God.
Then in the New Testament, Jesus is the Son of God. Now, how can it be said that Jesus was a direct creation of God? Jesus existed from time immemorial. So how can Jesus be said to be a Son of God? It refers to the miraculous conception of Jesus within Mary’s womb. Jesus was supernaturally implanted within Mary’s womb as a miraculous conception. There was no human seed implanted within Mary like with every other human born in history; it cannot be said that Jesus had a human father who created Him. He was a direct creation of God.
Now, there was a fourth category of being who was called a Son of God in the Bible, and that’s Adam, because he was a direct creation of God as well. The reason I didn’t bring him up earlier is because he was never called the Son of God in the OT, but the NT does use that phrase to describe him in the Genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3. So, there you go; you can count Adam as well if you want to.
But let me talk about one more thing: you and me. You and I are said to be Sons of God in the Bible, once we’re saved.
I John 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God
So we are sons of God. Now, how can we actually be considered Sons of God, since unlike Jesus, we were not created directly by God. Every single one of us has a human father and a human mother, right? That is something all of us human beings have in common. Whether you’re the President of the United States, an Oscar-winning actor, a child in the slums of India, everyone: we all came into existence when the sperm met the egg. So how can you or I be said to be a direct creation of God?
Because the Bible says that when you get saved, you are a new creation in God.
II Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
So you and I are sons of God.

The Sons of God were Angels
Now let’s get back into talking about the Sons of God in the Old Testament. These are spiritual or angelic beings. But don’t let the word “angel” fool you, for many of them are fallen angels.
The first place we see the Sons of God show up is early in Genesis 6, when it talks about what the world was like right before the flood of Noah. It says this:
Genesis 6:1-2
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
Now, this gets weird really quick, but I want to walk us through this one phrase at a time. The Bible here is saying exactly what it sounds like it’s saying.
There are some who will try to say that the Sons of God means the various kings of the world, and others who will say that the Sons of God are the descendants of Adam’s son Seth in the early world. I’m going to prove that’s not the case. And I’ll keep this simple. I don’t think this is a complicated issue. The Book of Job contains a lot of information about the creation of the world. God says this when He speaks to Job at the end of the book.
Job 38:4-7
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
(So right here, God has oriented us at a point in time: when He laid the foundation of the earth. He’s saying, “Job, you weren’t here when I created all this stuff and set things in motion.” And He has gone back to the first Day of Creation.)
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The morning stars are a phrase for angels or spiritual beings. It’s saying here that the morning stars and sons of God were praising God and shouting for joy as He laid the foundations of the earth. Human beings had not been created yet when God created the world. So clearly, the sons of God cannot be humans. There are other places we could go in the OT to prove this, but I think this settles it right here. The Sons of God are not humans. They are angels or spiritual beings.
I would not describe these as your typical, run-of-the-mill, blue collar angels. These are a particularly special type of angel which were set in charge of certain sectors of the world. They are assigned to particular territories. That’s why Jude 6 is going to say:
the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling
Some versions say “their domain.” It’s the territory that they were assigned to. And they left that domain to come down and marry human women. That’s what Genesis 6:1-2 say.
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
So let’s revisit this before we close down today. Some try to say that the Sons of God were human rulers or of the line of Seth, with the idea that the sons of God meant godly men and the daughters of man were ungodly women. But there are some problems with that idea.
One, there is no textual reason in the OT to identify the Sons of God that way. They are obviously supernatural beings, such as when you read about them in Job. Two, even in these verses, it makes it clear that the Sons of God aren’t men, because it said they took daughters OF men. It’s making a distinction right there between the species of man and the species of the Sons of God. They are not the same type of being. Three, in the next lesson, we’re going to see that they produced non-human offspring. So that gives further evidence here to the idea that the Sons of God are something other than human themselves.
Of course, the theory that the Sons of God are angels in Genesis 6 has a big problem also: it’s weird! How can angels come down and take a physical body and marry women? That is strange. Especially when we get into the little monster kids that they produced next time. And yes, I agree, it’s very very weird. But if you believe the Bible, you believe this happened.
I don’t want to sound mean, but I feel like Genesis 6 is the litmus test for how much someone is willing to believe the Bible and take it at its word. Genesis 6 plainly says that these spirits came down, took human women, and married them. The big question for you is: will you believe that?
Perhaps if this idea is all new to you, you’re wondering: why haven’t I ever heard of this before? And the truth is, this historical event is referenced all through the Bible. This is brought up several times. And once you accept it, it’s going to answer a lot of questions we have about other strange things that show up in the Bible going forward.
To reference Jude 6 again, it said:
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
So we talked about the angels who didn’t stay where they were supposed to, but then it says they’re chained up down in gloomy darkness- which, as we’re going to study later on this podcast, is referring to Tartarus, the lowest part of hell. The angels who did this thing in Genesis 6 are locked away. But why? We will discuss that next time on this podcast.
One more question you may have- are the Sons of God good spirits or bad spirits? And the answer is: they were all good, until they went bad. Until they rebelled against God. In the simplistic thinking that many Christians have, Satan got one-third of the angels to rebel against God with him when Satan was cast out of heaven. Now, I don’t have a problem with that interpretation, but it’s actually not true that the entire angelic rebellion happened all at once. There were multiple rebellions by the angels. Satan was the first rebel, but other angels rebelled hundreds of years later in the years before the flood, and some rebelled at the Tower of Babel. We’ll break down those various rebellions in future episodes on this podcast.
I’m going to wrap up in a few moments with a few comments on vocabulary and linguistics. Be back in a moment.
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Housekeeping/Mailbag
[Mailbag responses] Natalie this past week: Thanks for your introduction to this chapter of the Bible I hadn’t studied it in depth before and I am really looking forward to reading it again in depth…
That’s exactly what we’re going to do, Natalie! Next time on this podcast, we’re going to continue right along with this and build on it with the next two verses in Genesis. We’ll be talking about a second group of beings talked about in Genesis 6 called the Nephilim.
So everyone make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
What weird stuff in the Bible do you want to know more about? weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Closing Thoughts: Vocabulary is Hard
As we close, I just want to mention something about vocabulary and why it’s hard when we talk about things like the Sons of God. We think in categories. And in our heads, we want to simplify things down to as basic as we can, especially when it comes to mysterious things like this in the spiritual realm.
So we hear about spiritual beings and we want to classify them into simple little categories like “angel” and “demon.” And the spiritual reality is a lot more complicated than that. Yes, these are biblical categories. Yes, there are good spiritual beings and bad spiritual beings. But in the original Hebrew, there are Bene Elohim, there are Cherubim, there are Seraphim, there are the Watchers, there are the Elohim that we talked about in episode 3, there are the principalities that we talked about in episode 2, there are the regular angels whose job is to deliver messages, there is a specific figure called the Angel of the Lord… so there are several categories and we have a tendency to lump them all into simple categories like angel and demon.
Part of that reasoning is that that’s what the Greek language had a tendency to do. It was not as specific as the Hebrew when it came to spiritual beings. And so since we know the NT better than the OT, we tend to speak in the less specific terms.
So I could go through some examples of this, but I think I’ve laid enough on you for today. So for now, I’ll just say, let’s use as accurate terminology as we can when we talk about things that the Bible is clear on.
So when we come to passages like Genesis 6:1-2, we read Sons of God and we say, “well that was angels,” or “those were fallen angels,” and I think we do ourselves a disservice when we just call all of them angels.
Why substitute a general term for a specific term? Who are we benefiting when we do that? Let’s be vague when the Bible is vague, we’ll let it be mysterious when the Bible leaves something mysterious- and let’s be specific where the Bible is specific.
So now that we’ve established what’s going on in verses 1 and 2 in Genesis, let’s read it again now that we have a definition here for the Sons of God. And then I’ll read the next couple verses to tease where we’re going next time.
Genesis 6:1-4
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
This passage is probably one you’ve read countless times, but perhaps it wasn’t really something you quite understood. You probably read this, thought, I’m not sure what that means, and then just kept on reading the rest of the chapter. And that’s what normal, well-adjusted Bible readers do. But we are not normal, well-adjusted Bible readers on this podcast. We’re leaning into the weird. And we’re not done yet.
What I’ve shared with you today might be all new information to you. But to the ancient Jews and the writers of the Bible, this was common knowledge. This was as much a part of their culture and history as the Revolutionary War or the sinking of the Titanic is to us. It wasn’t weird to them.
The Bible is not weird. WE are weird, because we didn’t know about this historical event of the Sons of God who came down to earth and married human women. But now we do. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.