8th February 2025 question-box

OK, so this question is one that someone has been waiting on for a while, and the question is:

“What’s up with the Nephilim? Who are they and what is their connection to the spiritual realm? Do they continue to exist through spirits and how do they differ from demons and humans?”

OK, in two minutes…

The Nephilim get their most famous mention in Genesis 6:4, in the lead up to the story about the flood: “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” Well there’s your answer: “the Nephilim were heroes of old, men of renown.” They are human, very powerful humans, but human.

But I think the questioner is wanting to know how it is that the Nephilim are related to these people called “the sons of God.” Who are they? I asked someone, from morning service, who used to be principal of a theological college, and he sent me an article which began with the words: This passage has “long been considered one of the most controversial and difficult passages of the OT.”

There are three main suggestions about this:

• One suggestion is that the Sons of God are believers from the family of Seth, who are marrying unbelievers from the family of Cain…breaking a God-given boundary.
• Another view is that the Sons of God are kings, warlords who are taking women against their will, breaking a God-given boundary.
• A third view is the the Sons of God are fallen angels who are marrying humans, breaking a God-given boundary.

(They definitely aren’t rock monsters like in that movie a few years back).

The difficulty is that each of the three explanations are plausible; (I’ve changed my own view a few times on this passage). The third one, where the sons of God are “fallen angels” seems to be the oldest view, and the view of the earliest church fathers. Look, I think we have to be careful in building theology from passages which are less clear. Perhaps a better way is to build your theology from the passages that are most clear, and then these less-clear passages can be used to illustrate what we’ve learnt from the clearer parts.

And so here’s what is clear: In the bible there are many times when spiritual beings interact with humans, for example: They are key character in any Christmas play! In fact here’s one way to tell the whole story of the bible in 20 seconds:

In the beginning, God created humans and angels, and yet a fallen angel (Satan) tried to hjiack humanity, by tempting them to break out of the boundaries God gave them. However, the true Son of God came in the form of a faithful human named Jesus. And through his faithful obedience in staying within God’s boundaries and going to the cross, Satan’s grip on humanity has been broken. So that in the end, Satan the fallen angel will be destroyed, but humanity connected to Jesus will be saved.

That’s what’s clear in the bible. So, let’s assume for a moment that the Nephilim are the children of fallen angels: well then the flood illustrates that bigger story in miniature, because the angels’ attempt to hijack humanity leads to destruction, but those who are with the-man-who-finds-favour-with-God are saved.

That’s probably more than 2 minutes…but, please chat to me later if you need more explanation.

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This question was originally answered in our evening service on 20 October 2024. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.