The Sons of God and the Nephilim — An Enigmatic Prelude to Judgment
Genesis 6:1–4 is one of the most disputed passages in Genesis. As humanity multiplies, the “sons of God” take wives from the “daughters of men,” the Nephilim are mentioned, and the passage speaks of mighty men of old and men of renown. The text is clear that this scene belongs immediately before the description of overwhelming human wickedness and the Flood, but it does not explain every identity or relationship involved.
Three major interpretations have long competed. One understands the “sons of God” as heavenly or angelic beings who cross a divinely appointed boundary. Another understands them as the godly line of Seth intermarrying with an ungodly human line. A third understands them as powerful rulers or warrior-kings taking women for themselves. The Hebrew expression translated “sons of God” can refer to heavenly beings elsewhere in the Old Testament, which gives the supernatural interpretation real textual weight, but Genesis 6 itself does not explicitly call these figures angels.