Married, With Children?

1. These verses may not have been a part of the original book of Genesis. In the dim, distant past some well-meaning scribe may have added this ancient legend (similar to the Greek legends of the gods having children by human women) to help readers understand what prompted God to send the great flood.

2. In the Bible, the term sons of God sometimes refer to the angels. Some newer versions of the Bible translate the Hebrew (b’nai ha-Elohim) sons of God as angels, as found in Job 1:6; 2:1; and 38:7. If sons of God refers to angels in Genesis 6, it would mean that angels did live on earth, marry humans, and father children before Noah’s flood. Even though Jesus taught that angels in heaven did not marry (Mattahew 22:30), it could still be possible that when angels assumed a human body, they took on the ability to procreate. If this were the case, Genesis 6 would be the only place in the Bible where angels lived fully as humans on earth.

However, even though they are called sons of God, it is clear that these are evil angels, for what they did was wrong. Their offspring, described as Nephilim, a word that means one who causes another to fall, are given as examples of how great man’s wickedness on earth had become (Genesis 6:5). God’s judgment for their evil was that the Nephilim, along with the rest of mankind on earth except Noah’s family, perished in the flood.

Continued on page 2: Are some people earthly angels? »