Scriptural references:

“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 6:4

“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits [13.5 feet long] was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.” – Deuteronomy 3:11

“And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” – Numbers 13:13

“²⁸ Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.” – Numbers 13:28-29

“³² And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.³³ And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” – Numbers 13:32-33

^“4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [approximately 9’9”].⁵ And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.⁶ And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.⁷ And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.” – 1 Samuel 17:4-7

The Sons of God in Genesis 6: The Angelic View

There are three primary views concerning the identity of the “sons of God” who took wives from among the daughters of men in Genesis 6.

View 1 holds that these were supernatural beings—angels or members of the heavenly host—who left their proper domain, entered into physical relations with human women, and produced offspring known as the Nephilim.
View 2 (the Sethite interpretation) claims the “sons of God” were the godly line of Seth intermarrying with the ungodly line of Cain.
View 3 (the royal or despotic-kings interpretation) regards them as powerful human rulers or aristocrats who forcibly took common women into polygamous relationships.

Of course, I believe that the angelic (or divine-council) interpretation is the strongest reading of the text itself, the consistent usage of the key Hebrew phrase elsewhere in Scripture, the New Testament allusions, the nature of the Nephilim, and the near-unanimous understanding of the earliest Jewish and Christian interpreters.

Biblical Evidence for the Angelic / Divine View

The phrase rendered “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 and 6:4 is the Hebrew Bənê hā-ʾĔlōhîm. In the Old Testament, this exact expression almost exclusively designates supernatural heavenly beings rather than ordinary humans.

• Job 1:6: “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
• Job 2:1 repeats the same scene.
• Job 38:7: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (spoken of the creation of the earth, before mankind existed).

Related phrases such as Bənê Ēlîm (“sons of the mighty”) in Psalm 29:1 and Psalm 89:6 likewise point to heavenly beings in the divine council. Human beings, by contrast, are regularly called “children of Israel” (Bənê Yiśrāʾēl) or “sons of men” (Bənê Ādām). The precise collocation Bənê hā-ʾĔlōhîm is never used of mere human lineages or kings in the Hebrew Bible.

New Testament Cross-References

The New Testament writers directly connect a specific angelic rebellion involving sexual boundary-crossing with the days of Noah.

Jude 1:6–7:
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

The comparison to Sodom is deliberate: both groups pursued “strange flesh” (heteros sarx)—crossing God-ordained boundaries of kind or realm.

2 Peter 2:4–5:
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

Peter links the imprisonment of these particular angels with the judgment of the Flood generation, reinforcing that the Genesis 6 event was the occasion of their sin.

The Nephilim

The Hebrew word Nephilim is sometimes translated as “giants”, and sometimes as its literal meaning, “the fallen ones” (source). They are further identified as Gibbôrîm—mighty men of renown. Numbers 13:33 later reports that the extraordinary size and power attributed to these beings fit a supernatural origin far better than ordinary human intermarriage.

Ancient Textual and Historical Consensus

The oldest Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (3rd–2nd century BC), renders Bənê hā-ʾĔlōhîm in Genesis 6:2 as “angels of God” (angeloi tou theou) in important witnesses such as Codex Alexandrinus.

Second Temple Jewish literature (1 Enoch, Jubilees, and related Dead Sea Scrolls material) uniformly understands the “sons of God” as the Watchers—fallen angels who descended, took human wives, and produced giant offspring. Early Christian writers (quotes below), including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, followed the same interpretation. This consensus held for centuries until alternative views gained prominence later.

Weaknesses of the Sethite Interpretation

Popularized by Augustine and later by Calvin, this view equates the “sons of God” with the line of Seth and the “daughters of men” with the line of Cain. The sin is then merely intermarriage between believers and unbelievers.

Yet the text never mentions Sethites or Cainites. Ordinary intermarriage between godly and ungodly humans does not produce the physical giants and “mighty men of old” described. The linguistic evidence also works against it: Bənê hā-ʾĔlōhîm is not the normal designation for the righteous line of Seth.

Weaknesses of the Royal / Despotic-Kings Interpretation

Some rabbinic sources and modern scholars suggest the “sons of God” were aristocratic rulers or judges who seized women for their harems. While ʾĕlōhîm can occasionally refer to human judges in other contexts, the full phrase Bənê hā-ʾĔlōhîm does not. Ordinary royal polygamy was common in the ancient world and does not account for the unique, terrifying offspring that provoked the Flood judgment.

The Common Objection from Matthew 22:30

Jesus states in Matthew 22:30:
“For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”

This describes the orderly state of angels in heaven. The fallen angels of Jude and 2 Peter precisely “kept not their first estate” and “left their own habitation.” Scripture elsewhere shows that angels can appear in tangible human form, eat, and interact physically (Genesis 18–19). The rebellion consisted in abandoning their appointed realm and violating the created boundaries between the heavenly and earthly orders.

Conclusion

The consistent Old Testament usage of Bənê hā-ʾĔlōhîm, the New Testament linkage of bound angels with the Flood generation and with sexual boundary-crossing, the description of the Nephilim as extraordinary beings, and the earliest interpretive tradition all converge on the same conclusion: the sons of God in Genesis 6 were supernatural beings who transgressed their proper domain. The Sethite and royal interpretations require the text to mean something other than what its language, context, and earliest readers indicate. The angelic view alone accounts for the severity of the judgment that followed and for the biblical writers’ later allusions to the event.

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What did early church fathers write about this matter?

Tertullian (c. AD 155 – c. AD 220):

“For they, withal, who instituted them are assigned, under condemnation, to the penalty of death — those angels, to wit, who rushed from heaven on the daughters of men; so that this ignominy also attaches to woman.” — On the Apparel of Women; Chapter II

Justin Martyr (c. AD 100 – c. AD 165):

“God, when He had made the whole world, and subjected things earthly to man, and arranged the heavenly elements for the increase of fruits and rotation of the seasons, and appointed this divine law — for these things also He evidently made for man — committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels whom He appointed over them. But the angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women.” — Second Apology; Chapter V.

Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202 AD):

“And for a very long while wickedness extended and spread, and reached and laid hold upon the whole race of mankind, until a very small seed of righteousness remained among them and illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind; and they bore to them sons who for their exceeding greatness were called giants.” — A discourse in the Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching.

Clement of Rome (c. 35 AD – 99 AD):

“But when, having assumed these forms, they convicted as covetous those who stole them, and changed themselves into the nature of men, in order that, living holily, and showing the possibility of so living, they might subject the ungrateful to punishment, yet having become in all respects men, they also partook of human lust, and being brought under its subjection they fell into cohabitation with women; and being involved with them, and sunk into defilement and altogether emptied of their power, were unable to turn back to the first purity of their proper nature, their members turned away from their fiery substance: for the fire itself, being exhausted by the weight of lust, and changed into flesh, they trode the impious path downward. For they themselves, being fettered with bonds of flesh, were constrained and strongly bound; wherefore they have no more been able to ascend into the heavens.” — Clementine Homilies, Homily VIII, Chapter XIII.

Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian and apologist of the Roman period. He wrote Antiquities of the Jews circa 93 AD, a work regarded as an important source of Jewish history.

His histories of the Jewish people are invaluable for understanding the 1st century. His works also provide historical sources for mentions of Jesus, James, John the Baptist, Herod the Great, and Pontius Pilate.

He wrote the following:

“For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants” (Book 1, Ch. 3).

“These kings had laid waste all Syria, and overthrown the offspring of the giants. And when they were come over against Sodom. . .” (Book 1, Ch. 9).

“They told them also, that they found at Hebron the posterity of the giants. Accordingly these spies, who had seen the land of Canaan, when they perceived that all these difficulties were greater there than they had met with since they came out of Egypt, they were affrighted at them themselves, and endeavored to affright the multitude also” (Book 3, Ch. 14).

“For which reason they removed their camp to Hebron; and when they had taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shewn to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men. Now they gave this city to the Levites as an extraordinary reward… “ (Book 2, Ch. 2).

“A little afterward the king made war against the Philistines; and when he had joined battle with them, and put them to flight, he was left alone, as he was in pursuit of them; and when he was quite tired down, he was seen by one of the enemy, his name was Achmon, the son of Araph, he was one of the sons of the giants. He had a spear, the handle of which weighed three hundred shekels, and a breastplate of chain-work, and a sword. He turned back, and ran violently to slay [David] their enemy’s king, for he was quite tired out with labor; but Abishai, Joab’s brother, appeared on the sudden, and protected the king with his shield, as he lay down, and slew the enemy. Now the multitude were very uneasy at these dangers of the king, and that he was very near to be slain; and the rulers made him swear that he would no more go out with them to battle, lest he should come to some great misfortune by his courage and boldness, and thereby deprive the people of the benefits they now enjoyed by his means, and of those that they might hereafter enjoy by his living a long time among them” (Book 7, Ch. 12).

“When the king heard that the Philistines were gathered together at the city Gazara, he sent an army against them, when Sibbechai the Hittite, one of David’s most courageous men, behaved himself so as to deserve great commendation, for he slew many of those that bragged they were the posterity of the giants, and vaunted themselves highly on that account, and thereby was the occasion of victory to the Hebrews” (Book 7, Ch. 12).

“They had a man who was six cubits tall, and had on each of his feet and hands one more toe and finger than men naturally have. Now the person who was sent against them by David out of his army was Jonathan, the son of Shimea, who fought this man in a single combat, and slew him; and as he was the person who gave the turn to the battle, he gained the greatest reputation for courage therein. This man also vaunted himself to be of the sons of the giants. But after this fight the Philistines made war no more against the Israelites” (Book 7, Ch. 12).

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If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can receive Him into your heart, and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.

If you are sincere, you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):

“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself, and that is wrong. Please forgive me for all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in giving His life for me on the cross. I believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead, and I long to receive the forgiveness You have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”