Sons of God

by Greg Stewart on Jun.01, 2009, under Old Testament, Transformation

One of the “fun” debates theologians have had throughout time is the topic of the “Sons of God” in Genesis 6. Who exactly are these “Sons of God”? Some believe them to be angels while others believe them to be followers of God.

Angels: The Hebrew word used here means “angels” in other places in the OT (Job 1:6). It is believed that angels lusted after and had intercourse with human women and created giants.

Humans: The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselvs of all whom they chose. If the sons of God were angels, then why would God declare His irritation with man in verse 3? If angels took whatever wife they chose, then it seems they would be upset with the angels, not man.

I am partial with the second meaning. To build my case, I noticed that back in chapter 4, men began to call upon the name of the Lord (4:26). Once this happened, there began a separation between those who followed God and those who didn’t. The sons of God were to be separate from the daughters of men and they weren’t. Even those who claimed allegiance to God fell away. This same principle is found in the New Testament as well.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

I believe that God became fed up with mankind because all of their hearts were evil continually (Genesis 6:5) and there was no separation between the children of God and the children of men. The children of God were (and are) to be separate from the world. In what ways are we to be separate? This has been examined throughout the centuries. How should we be separate from the world today? I suggest the following:

Read the Bible, pray, tell others about what Christ has done in your life, and serve God’s people.
Have integrity.
Put money in its proper place (don’t love it of course, but don’t assume that because you lack wealth you’re somehow more spiritual than those who have wealth. This would be many Christian’s sin).
Love the community.
Serve and take care of the poor.

Probably a more profound question is: “How do you see Christians misuse this principle?”

2 Comments for this entry

Greg Stewart
June 3rd, 2009 on 6:21 am
Great thoughts Scott!
PG

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Scott
June 2nd, 2009 on 11:47 pm
First, I would add the following way to be separate: live lives charaterized by both grace and truth. People in the world tend to elevate grace and love at the expense of truth, and many evangelical/fundamentalist Christians hold fiercly to the truth of God’s Word scripture but show little of Christ’s compassion. He did both, and people will notice if we do the same.

Second, I like your list, PG, because several of the items are aspects of loving others. Christ said people would know we are his disciples if we love one another (John 13:35). All too often we think of separation from the world in terms of what we are against (abortion, homosexuality, etc…) or a list of forbidden activities. But Christ said it is our love that will make us stand out. This is where living lives charaterized by both grace and truth is important.

Third, I see Christians misuing the separation principle when they isolate themselves from “the world” (i.e., unbelievers) to such an extent that they are no longer in a position to display the love of Christ or share the gospel because they have essentially denied the existence of any common ground with unbelievers.

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