Sons of God

Bob

Gen 6:1-2 (NIV) When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.

John 3:6 (NIV) - "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

The Trouble with Idioms
Every language has a large number of idioms, and ancient Hebrew is no exception. And word-for-word translations simply don't work for idioms. Below are word-for-word translations of several idioms from foreign languages into English. They are all meaningless to us!

  1. to pay the duck
  2. to swallow a grass snake
  3. there is no cow on the ice
  4. to wear a cat on one’s head

Ancient Hebrew Belief
The traditional word-for-word translation of the Hebrew idiom "bene Elohim" that occurs in Genesis 6 is "sons of God." This is unclear to English-speaking people and has lead to diverse opinions. The proper translation requires an understanding of ancient Hebrew belief. Specifically, the ancient Hebrews distinguished between beings that were the natural offspring of their physical parents (e.g. humans are "sons of Adam") vs. supernatural beings ("bene Elohim") who were created directly by God without any parents. The "bene Elohim" includes angels, seraphim, and cherubim. (Interestingly, both Adam and Eve were "bene Elohim." The rest of us had human parents.)

The plain meaning of Gen 6 is that fallen angels had intercourse with human women (daughters of Adam) to create the evil Nephilim hybrids . . . hence the dramatic increase of wickedness and the ensuing worldwide flood. Theologians dispute this. But they also dispute the virgin birth of Jesus and His deity. I'm just sayin . . .

Humans
The Greek New Testament refers to Christians as "sons of God" and "children of God." All I ever got from that was warm fuzzies. But Jesus clarifies this in John 3:6 in a way that makes our spiritual birth more wonderful than I realized. Specifically, Jesus distinguishes between our physical vs. spiritual birth. In regard to our physical birth we are the natural offspring of our physical parents ("flesh gives birth to flesh.") But in regard to our spiritual birth, Jesus says that we are a direct creation of God ("but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."). Note the capital "S." This makes our spirits "bene Elohim" just like the angels! I think that the early church understood this because they were steeped in OT theology. But we have forgotten it.

Summary It makes me feel special to know that the spiritual part of me is a direct "bene Elohim" creation of God, just like the creation of the angels! And if you are a child of God, it should make you feel special too!!!