Question: Dear Greg,
The book of Genesis speaks about the Nephilim; when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. It speaks of the Nephilim on the earth then as well as now. As Christians should we be concerned about these creatures? If so, how do they manifest themselves on earth today? Are they really here today?
John
Answer: Dear John,
A good commentary could help you here. But this is a difficult passage, and my experience is that no one explanation pleases everyone. Genesis 6:1-4 does speak of these nephilim, but a common mistake is to assume that the nephilim were the children spoken of in Genesis 6:1-2 – the offspring of sons of God and daughters of men. But Genesis does not say this.
Further, we need to remember the context of Genesis – that one of the major purposes of the book is to help us understand that there is but one God, not the many gods of the pagan pantheons who were worshipped at that time.
Jesus himself said that angels do not marry nor give in marriage (Mt. 22:30). For angelic beings to intermarry with humans would contradict what Jesus said.
One possible answer is that the sons of God were not angels, but descendants of the godly line of Seth. The daughters of men were from the line of Cain. This intermarriage may then be much more like the marriage with unbelievers spoken of by Paul (2 Cor. 6:14). The nephalim could well have been some kind of heroes (at that time), but not the offspring of some unnatural union.
Hope this helps!
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht