Why do some people think “sons of God” mean humans (godly men)?
Bodie Hodge, Biblical Authority Ministries, November 1, 2020
Obviously, not everyone agrees with the arguments presented for “angels” being the proper interpretation of “sons of God”. So, what is the biblical case for interpreting “sons of God” as humans or specifically godly men?
What about other instances of “sons of God” in the Bible?
Did you know that the Bible talks extensively about the “sons of God”—not just the passages in Job? Why are so many of these passages ignored?
If there was a verse or phrase within a verse that was difficult to understand, the place to go was elsewhere in Scripture—including the New Testament. The whole counsel of Scripture should not be ignored. Use clear Scriptures to interpret unclear Scriptures. That should settle the issue.
If one wants to know how to interpret “sons of God”, then look to the whole of Scripture to gather a better understanding. In doing this, we are not limiting an interpretation to one metaphorical use in Job 38 while ignoring other passages.
Table of Scriptures to interpret “sons of God” in Genesis 6
|
|
Sons of God used |
Style |
Meaning |
|
1 |
Exodus 4:22-23 (God’s son Israel) |
Historical Narrative |
Godly men (Israelites) |
|
2 |
Deuteronomy 14:1 (the children of the LORD your God)[1] |
Historical Narrative |
Godly men (Israelites) |
|
3 |
Job 1:6[2]
(sons of God) |
Historical Narrative |
Disputed (godly men, or godly angels) |
|
4 |
Job 2:1[3]
(sons of God) |
Historical Narrative |
Disputed (godly men, or godly angels) |
|
5 |
Job 38:7[4]
(sons of God) |
Poetic/Metaphorical |
Godly angels, luminaries |
|
6 |
Psalm 2:7 (My Son) |
Poetic/Metaphorical |
Kingly men of Israel; prophetic of Christ per Acts 13:33 |
|
7 |
Psalms 82:6 (sons/children of the Most High)[5] |
Poetic/Metaphorical |
Godly men (Israelites) |
|
8 |
Hosea 1:10 (sons of the Living God)[6] |
Prophetic |
Godly men (Israelites) |
|
9 |
Hosea 11:1 (God’s son) |
Prophetic |
Godly men (Israelites) |
|
10 |
Luke 3:38 (son of God)[7] |
Historical Narrative |
Godly man/Adam (who afterward sinned)[8] |
|
11 |
Luke 6:35 (sons of the Most High)[9] |
Historical Narrative |
Godly men |
|
|
Luke 20:36 (sons of God/sons of the resurrection) |
Historical Narrative |
Godly men |
|
12 |
Matthew 5:9[10]
(sons of God) |
Teaching Sermon by Christ |
Godly men (peacemakers) |
|
13 |
Matthew 5:45 (sons of your Father in heaven) |
Teaching Sermon by Christ |
Godly men |
|
14 |
Romans 8:14[11] |
Epistle/Teaching |
Godly men (those led by the Spirit) |
|
15 |
Romans 8:19[12] |
Epistle/Teaching |
Godly men (those who are saved) |
|
16 |
Galatians 3:26[13] |
Epistle/Teaching |
Godly men (those who are saved) |
|
17 |
Only begotten Son of God (Numerous) |
Gospels, Epistles |
Fully man and Fully God—Jesus Christ |
Furthermore, in the New Testament, there are multiple uses of “children of God” and they all refer to godly men/mankind.[14] In one case, there is the use of “children of the devil” (1 John 3:10) and even these are in reference to human too, but ungodly ones! See the list[15] (NKJV):
·
John 1:12
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, to those who believe in His name:
·
John 11:52
and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in
one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
·
Romans 8:16
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God,
·
Romans 8:21
because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
·
Romans 9:8
That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
·
Philippians 2:15
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without
fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine
as lights in the world,
·
1 John 3:1
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should
be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did
not know Him.
·
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed
what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is.
·
1 John 3:10
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest:
Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not
love his brother.
· 1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
What can we learn from all of this?
1. Nowhere does “sons of God” [or varieties of it] refer to the ungodly. So why interpret sons of God in Genesis 6 as ungodly [angels]?2. The vast majority are in reference to godly men, so the rendering of Genesis 6’s “sons of God” should not ignore godly men.
3. The only one that definitely means “angels” is
based on a passage that interprets it
as angels in a poetic/metaphorical context. Why take a metaphorical meaning of
a phrase and use it to interpret a passage that is historical narrative?
4. One should not miss that one man in the Old
Testament, who lived prior to Genesis 6, was directly called a “son of God”
(not to be misconstrued as the only begotten Son of God), and he happen to be a
man and the father of us all—Adam (Luke 3:38).
5. The New Testament passages exclusively use “sons of God” as godly people, so this should settle the issue. The New Testament is not “off limits” regarding this issue of theology in the Old Testament. Imagine if someone said Jesus and Peter’s comments about the Flood in Noah’s day were “off limits” when discussing Genesis 6-8 because they used the Greek word (kataklusmos), and not the Hebrew word (mabbuwl)? This would be fallacious.
What else can we learn about the “sons and children of God”?
Reading the context of who has the right to be called “sons of God” are those who are led by the Spirit, receive and are faithful to Christ, practices righteousness, love God and keep His commandments, loving your enemies, and doing good, peacemakers, etc.
For an obvious reason, rebellious fallen angels who join the ranks to fight against God, doing evil, and so on are not the marks of one who can be counted among the “sons of God”. But godly men do fit these requirements and many godly men have fallen from their positions of good grace due to sin throughout their lives (e.g., Saul, Solomon, and many others)—hence the fallen man position.
Consider that Adam was called a “son of God” in Luke. This connects that “sons of God” are those godly men continuing to call upon the name of the Lord continuing with Seth (Genesis 4:26). Interestingly, this is the immediate context preceding Genesis 6. No doubt this line had godly men—Enoch, for example, walked with God and He took Enoch without death (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5).
Few would dispute that Lamech (Noah’s father) and Methuselah (Noah’s grandfather) were godly. Methuselah was raised by extremely godly father Enoch after all. But were Lamech’s and Methuselah’s wives godly? I ask this question sincerely—as both Lamech and Methuselah had children and other descendants that died in the Flood (e.g., Genesis 5:26 and Genesis 5:30) that were not among the eight on the Ark unless three of them were Shem, Ham, or Japheth’s wives. Were these pre-Flood patriarch’s wives among the “daughters of men”—ungodly wives who led most of their children astray to fall from God’s grace and be judged in the Flood? It is something to ponder indeed.
There are many cases in Scripture where children “of men” (e.g., similar to “daughters of men”) were seen as ungodly. Passages such as 1 Samuel 26:19, Psalm 14:1-2, Psalm 89:47-48, and Lamentations 3:31-35 do not give a good light to the title of one being the “children of men”, so why assume “daughters of men” are not ungodly in Genesis 6?
I find it fascinating that the fallen angels position, that I was once part of, held that the title “sons of God” in Genesis 6 were those who were ungodly and the “daughters of men” were the godly! This is back-to-front when looking consistently at the rest of Scripture.
[1] "You
are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave
the front of your head for the dead.
[2] Now
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan also came among them.
[3] Again
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
[4] When
the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
[5] I
said, "You are gods, And all of you are children (“sons”) of the Most
High.
[6] "Yet
the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which
cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it
was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You
are sons of the living God.’
[7] the
son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
[8]
Yes Adam sinned, but who hasn’t. It should be safe to say Adam was saved, he
only had one sin on record and we knew the prophecy to look forward to Christ
(seed of a woman), Eve clearly knew it and looked forward to it. The knowledge
of God was clearly passed along from Adam to Seth (Genesis 4:25) to people like
Enoch (Genesis 5:24). The Lord did offer a sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve
(Genesis 3:21).
[9] "But
love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your
reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to
the unthankful and evil.
[10] Blessed
are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
[11] For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
[12] For
the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the
sons of God.
[13] For
you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
[15] There
is one use of “children of God” in the apocryphal book of Wisdom (verse 5:5) as
well.
