"Sons of God" & "Daughters of Men"

In Genesis 6:7 we read of God's gross displeasure with the wickedness of men: "And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them."

Just prior to this announcement there is a statement that has caused quite a lot of speculation.  "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose ... 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 6:1,2,4).

What does this mean?  Who were the "sons of God," and where did they come from?  Some have guessed that these were angels or heavenly beings of some sort.  The theory goes that these beings lusted for and ultimately mated with human women.  The "mighty men" that resulted from these unions are held up as proof that something 'other-worldly' had occurred. There are some major problems with this view.  Briefly:  1) It ascribes human sexual desire to heavenly beings.  There is nothing in the Scriptures that would support this conclusion.  All we know of angels is that they "neither marry, nor are given in marriage" (Matthew 22:30).  2) It diminishes the uniqueness of the virgin birth of Jesus.  His case alone stands out as one in which a child was born by some means other than by natural conception.

What is the answer then?  A key verse is Genesis 4:26: "...then began men to call upon the name of the Lord."   It seems that as human history began to unfold, some men began to make the conscious choice to follow God, and others did not.  Those who "called upon the name of the Lord" would have been known - then, as now - as the "sons of God." But as time went on, even these men began to be corrupt (including their marriages to wicked mates).  Finally, they also were so full of sin that "it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart" and only Noah "found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:6,8).

- by Greg Gwin