Genesis 6

Giants in the Earth

By David OSteen on Jun 05, 2025 11:23 am

Genesis 6:1-4

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6-8 records the global flood judgment (NOT local, only 8 souls spared) that God brought about 1,650 years into human history because corruption had reached the point it was necessary to start over. In Genesis 6:1-13 (6 is the number of man and 13 is the number of rebellion) the purpose of the flood is revealed.

There has long been a debate over who the sons of God were in this passage. Many dispensationalists just go with the interpretation set forth in the notes of the Old Scofield Bible (pg.13) without ever studying it for themselves.

“Some hold that these “sons of God” were the “angels which kept not their first estate” (Jude 6). It is asserted that the title is in the O.T. exclusively used of angels. But this is an error (Isa 43:6). Angels are spoken of in a sexless way. No female angels are mentioned in Scripture, and we are expressly told that marriage is unknown among angels (Matt. 22:30). The uniform Hebrew and Christian interpretation has been that verse 2 marks the breaking down of the separation between the godly line of Seth and the godless line of Cain, and so the failure of the testimony to Jehovah committed to the line of Seth (Gen. 4:26). For apostasy there is no remedy but judgment (Isa. 1:2-7, 24, 25; Heb. 6:4-8; 10:26-31). Noah, “a preacher of righteousness,” is given 120 years, but he won no convert, and the judgment predicted by his great- grandfather fell (Jude 14, 15; Gen. 7:11).”

There are several problems with this note.

Scofield misused Isa. 43:6 to argue that “sons of God” may refer to individual believers in the OT. The reference is a prophecy about the future salvation of Israel in the last days (Hos. 1:10; Matt. 24:31). The term “sons of God” is only used 5 times in the OT (Gen. 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), and it never refers to men. Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. Angels and Adam are called sons of God because they were a direct creation of God (Job 38:7; Lk. 3:38). The only other way to be a son of God is by the new birth (Jn. 1:12-13), which is a NT doctrine. In the OT Israel as a NATION was called God’s “firstborn” (Ex. 4:22).
Nowhere in the Bible are angels spoken of in a “sexless way.” Christ was referring (Matt. 22:30) to the angels “in heaven,” and He simply said they do not marry, not that they are sexless. Angels are often referred to as men (e.g., Gen. 18:1-2, 22; 19:1).
Scofield claimed that his interpretation was the “uniform Hebrew and Christian interpretation,” as though the majority position is automatically authoritative. Yet, many sound Bible teachers have taken a different view, including Arno Gaebelein, who was a consulting editor for the Scofield Bible and William Kelly who was Bible teacher (Plymouth Brethren) that Scofield respected. Gaebelein wrote, “Angels, good and fallen, are termed sons of God in the Old Testament. Satan himself is reckoned among the sons of God in Job 1:6 and 2:1. The term sons of God must mean here supernatural evil beings. These evil beings came down out of the air and began to take possession of such of the daughters of men as they chose.” Kelly wrote, “The sons of God, in my judgment, mean the same beings in Genesis as they do in Job. This point will suffice to indicate their chief guilt in thus traversing the boundaries which God appointed for His creatures. No wonder the total ruin speedily ensues. It is really the basis of fact for not a few tales of mythology which men have made up.”
Nowhere does the Bible speak of a “godly line of Seth.” Yes, the Messiah would come through the line of Seth, but there were certainly ungodly men in that line. If the “sons of God” were the descendants of Seth, and the “daughters of men” the descendants of Cain, that would mean only men were godly. That would also mean that many godly men died in the flood, but Peter said it was the “ungodly” that perished (2 Pet. 2:5). God had not yet given commandment to not be “unequally yoked,” so why would He destroy the whole world for a sin that He had not yet spoken against? Also, godly people marry ungodly people today and the result is not “giants” (literal, Deut. 3:11; 1 Sam. 17:4) that are “mighty men” and “men of renown.” The “daughters of men” are spoken of in the general sense of the human race (v.1), and not the limited sense of the descendants of Cain.

There are scriptural reasons to believe the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 were fallen angels.

The text clearly contrasts the sons of God with men. The “sons of God” in the OT refer to supernatural beings, both good and bad (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7).
See Jude 6-7 – These angels in leaving their first estate and own habitation committed a sin that was “Even as” Sodom and Gomorrah in that they went after “strange flesh” (unnatural). These fallen angels are chained up in hell awaiting their judgment (1 Pet. 3:18-20). The angels that originally rebelled with Satan are loose as they work for him (Eph. 6:12).
See 2 Peter 2:4-5 – This refers to the same angels as Jude 6 and links their sin with the time of the flood. The union of angels with women would certainly produce a unique offspring. This was part of Satan’s plan to corrupt the seed line (Gen. 3:15). One of the main reasons Noah was spared was because he was “perfect in his generations” (Gen. 6:9). Noah and his family alone had preserved their pedigree and kept it pure, despite the prevailing corruption brought about by the fallen angels.
This happened again after the flood (Gen. 6:4) on a smaller and localized scale as Satan sought to prevent Israel from taking the land God promised Abraham (Num. 13:33, “giants” 13x, “giant” 8x) which explains God’s command to utterly destroy the Canaanites. It seems David finished them off, but they will return in the future.
Christ said, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the son of man be” (Matt. 24:37). There will be another mingling of the seed in the tribulation period (Dan. 2:43-44). Satan and his angels will be on earth in the last half of the 70^th week of Daniel (Rev. 12:7-9). The fallen angels of Genesis 6 are brought up by Peter and Jude because their epistles are aimed at the Jews in the tribulation period.

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