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NASB | 2 Peter 2:4 ¶ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Peter 2:4 ¶ For if God did not [even] spare angels that sinned, but threw them into hell and sent them to pits of gloom to be kept [there] for judgment; |
Bible Question: Genesis 6:2,3 speaks of "the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair ;and they took them wives of all which they chose." Who were these sons of God. And also verse four I don't understand at all. Thanks if anyone can help me understand this better. I've heard rumor of strange things here. |
Bible Answer: Greetings, As Doc mentioned before, there are a lot of posts on this topic. However, understanding this passage is a lot simpler than you might imagine. First off, forget the idea of angels coming down and doing the dirty with humans. That's straight out of mythology and doesn't have any support Biblically. In fact, the Bible in other places teaches against this theory. The strongest is in Mark 12:25. Jesus says that Angels "neither marry nor are given in marriage." Now, Genesis 6:2 specifically says that the "Sons of God" took "wives" from among the "Daughters of Men". Now, another place is in Hebrews 1:5. The writer asks a rhetorical question "To which of the angels did He ever say 'You are my son, today I have begotten you'?" The answer is obvious. None of them. In fact, no where in the Bible do you read that Angels are the Sons of God. Now, some will bring up Job 1:6 and Job 38:7 where the term "Sons of God" is used and seems to imply "angels". However, there is another interpretation that also fits in the context, and one that very few seem to suggest. The phrase "sons of God" comes from two Hebrew words: "Bene" for "Sons" and "Elohim" for "God". Now, "Bene" does mean a biological male offspring, but it can also mean "a member of or one who is loyal to a group or an organization". "Elohim" is plural in Hebrew, which means "three or more". There's a separate number for two called "Dual". The singular form is "El" or "Elah". Also, Elohim takes most of it's verbs and modifiers in the singular and is often treated as singular instead of plural. Now, put those two together in the context of Job, and you have people who are members of a group called "God", and the group is composed of at least three members, but treated as one entity. What does that sound like? To me, it's almost a text book definition of the Trinity, and it's found in the Old Testament. So, now that the passages in Job are explained, what does "Sons of God" mean in Genesis? There's another definition for the phrase. Jesus is called the Son of God, but so are human believers. 1 John 3:1 comes right out and says it, as does Romans 8:14. Now, remember this. "bene" has an implied meaning of loyalty as well as "offspring". With that perspective, and given that the context is actually speaking about males and females coming together, then the strongest support is that the "Sons of God" in Genesis are humans believers who have up until that point been obedient to God, which would point to Seth's lineage given how one of Seth's descendants is described as having "walked with God". Conversely, "Daughters of Men" would be those women who followed the footsteps of man, or Adam, and were disobedient. This points, obviously, to Cain's line. That explains both the "Sons of God" and the "Daughters of Men". So, how about the Nephilim or Giants? For that, pay close attention to how verse 4 begins. It's so obvious, that everyone seems to miss it. "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the Sons of God came in to the daughters of Men ...". Did you catch it? When the Sons and the Daughters came together, the Nephilim were already in existence!!! How can the Nephilim be the offspring if they were already living when the sons and daughters mated?? It is so blatantly obvious that it sticks out like a sore thumb, but a lot of people miss it for some reason. So, if the Nephilim aren't the offspring, then who are they? That is also a given. It's a time reference. This took place at a time when this group of "creatures", for lack of a better term, walked the earth. The term of Nephilim is used in only one other place, and that's in Numbers to describe how big the canaanites were. The Nephilim in Numbers cannot be the descendants of the ones in Genesis. Why? Because there's a big "WET" event that separates the two called "The Great Flood". That changes the meaning of Nephilim from identifying a race of people to being a term to describe stature. Now, put that into perspective and what do you get? Here's a hint. What group has science proven that existed, but the Bible seems suspiciously silent about? Perhaps Dinosaurs? Could "nephilim" be a term to describe the size of a dinosaur and that the use in Genesis 6 is telling us that this happened when they still walked the earth while the use in Numbers is saying that the people the spies encountered where as big as dinosaurs? It fits. The simplest explanation is the one I just described. The context doesn't support "Angels" being the "Sons of God". All you have in the chapter's prior and following are God dealing with humans and hardly any serious mention of Angels until much later when you get into the stories of Abraham. Jalek |