Nephilim for Dummies

In recent years it seems that everyone is talking about the Nephilim. And when I say "everyone", the diversity of people talking about them is simply unprecedented. From Christians to Non-Christians. From New Agers, to End Times Bible Teachers, to the UFO community, to so-called "Truthers", to Transhumanists and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) movement. I could go on as conservative Biblical scholarship has also taken a renewed interest as many have come to reject the interpretation popularized by St. Augustine and have returned to the earliest understanding.

I would have to include myself in the aforementioned crowd as I never really understood the importance of the Biblical passage (Genesis 6:1-4) that references the Nephilim (v.4) until very recently. I would have to thank two sources for my understanding - the Early Church Fathers before the Council of Nicaea in AD325, and the work of the late Biblical Old Testament scholar, Dr. Michael Heiser. Note: Nephilim is also referenced in Numbers 13:33 proving they existed AFTER the flood.

This blog post could end up being extremely lengthy, but my intention is to be as brief as possible. By the "for Dummies" designation, I only mean an introduction for newbies that summarizes the basic concept.

Here's the passage that creates so much interest, debate and confusion.

Genesis 6:1-4

1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Ancient Judaism and the Early Church ALL held to a uniform understanding of this passage. The ancient Jewish work, the Book of Enoch, is essentially a commentary on the passage. Tragically today, it is many esoteric fringe groups, some that are anything but Christian, that talk about the Book of Enoch. Pastors and Bible scholars need to stop being afraid of a book that groups of ancient Jews and many early Christians considered to be canonical Scripture - a book quoted in our New Testament (Jude 14-15). Even to this day, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has it as part of their Old Testament canon. Note: it is the work known as Enoch 1, not the later 2 & 3 that I reference.

THE APOSTOLIC INTERPRETATION

EVERY Jewish and Christian voices in antiquity had the same view/understanding of Genesis 6:1-4. Angelic beings (the sons of God/Watchers) came down and had sexual relations with human women (the daughters of men) and their hybrid offspring were called the Nephilim (Giants). Note: there is some debate about the meaning of the Hebrew word Nephil/im. The earliest translation of the passage into Greek, the Septuagint (LXX) renders the word gigantes (Giants). Others contend the meaning in Hebrew simply means "fallen ones". They were both giant and fallen so in that sense both renderings are correct

In the 3rd century a novel view, called the Sethite view, was invented by Julian of Africanus (died AD240) and then popularized by the great St. Augustine in the 5th century. This view teaches that the sons of God were NOT angelic beings but rather human men - faithful sons of Seth. This continues to be the most popular view in conservative Christian circles, but this view amounts to a "tradition of men" even though they will claim their position is sound Biblical exegesis. I interacted last weekend with a nationally known pastor who dogmatically asserted this view. One of the ironies is that sound Biblical exegesis DEMANDS we interpret the term "Sons of God" (Hebrew - B'nai HaElohim) always refers to angelic beings in the Old Testament and never used to refer to human believers!

How did I respond to the pastor? I told him that the Apostolic view/understanding was that the sons of God were angelic beings. I told him his view was basically due to Augustine's influence. And I told him that EVERY Christian leader (except for 1) who wrote in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries, from personal disciples of the Apostles to their spiritual descendants contradicted his view. 

Who taught this view in the early church? 

1. Clement of Rome - 1st century (a personal disciple of the Apostle Peter)

2. Justin Martyr - AD160 (2nd century)

3. Athenegorus - AD175 (2nd century)

4. Irenaeus - AD180 (2nd century)

5. Clement of Alexandria - AD195 (late 2nd century)

6. Tertullian - AD197 - (late 2nd century)

In short, these leaders were articulating THE APOSTOLIC VIEW, the view that we as Christians are to believe and teach. The Apostles taught that angelic beings had sexual relations with human women and produced the Nephilim and NOT the Sethite view. 

This was the view of Judaism before the time of Christ. 

It was the view taught by the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 2:4-5 that speaks of "the angels who sinned" - and echoed by his personal disciple Clement of Rome!

It is the view taught by Jude 6-7 - that speaks of angels leaving "their first estate" and sinning sexually.

And as we have seen, it was the universal view of the earliest Christian apologists and theologians. 

Why too would they have believed in the Book of Enoch? Even the early Church fathers who did not believe it to be part of the Canon, believed Enoch to be an accurate commentary on what happened in Genesis 6:1-4. Again, affirming the angelic viewpoint.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

At the end of our discussion, the pastor attempting for our short debate to end in a cordial manner, wanted to make the point that we can agree to disagree on this point because it didn't really make a difference.

I politely disagreed. Getting this view wrong has a lot of negative ramifications. 

Much of the Old Testament doesn't make sense on the Sethite view. 

The commands to wipe out man, woman and child when Joshua entered the Promised Land do not make sense. 

The purpose of the giving of the Law is far more comprehensive. The Apostle Paul spoke of "trangressions" plural in Galatians 3 - meaning MORE than Adam's sin in the Garden. He too would have had Genesis 6 in mind and that a major purpose of the giving of the Law was to restrict evil in the wake of the Flood

The Flood itself makes sense when we factor in the angelic view and the sin, perversity and secret/forbidden knowledge that the Watchers introduced to mankind. Ancient Judaism believed that what happened in Genesis 6 was actually more responsible for evil on the earth than the Fall of Adam and Even in Genesis 3! 

The ministry of Jesus is greater on the Angelic view as He came to undo the extensive effects of the explosion of sin and evil due to the Fall of the Watchers. 

Even the coming of the Holy Spirit, makes far more sense on the Angelic view as it was the UNHOLINESS that exploded in Genesis 6 that led to the Flood! 

To be honest, getting the Angelic view correct of Genesis 6, was actually the key that helped me understand so much of the Old Testament. The references to "gods" and "sons of God" all of sudden made sense. Psalm 82 MAKES NO SENSE on the Sethite view. Genesis 11 now makes sense as does Deuteronomy 32:8) now that I no longer consider the Sethite View.

I left my Pastor friend however with arguably the most important reason we have to embrace the Angelic view - namely that Jesus prophesied that when He returned it would be "as in the Days of Noah" (Matt. 24:37). 

The Sethite view has an entirely different understanding as to the "days of Noah" and what happened leading up to the Flood. They do not have a view that would explain a return of the Nephilim, which is believed by many. They do not have a view that can explain what is coming out of the Abyss in Revelation 9. According 2nd Peter and the Angelic view, the angels that sinned in Genesis 6 were bound in the Abyss. Revelation 9 speaks about these entities coming out again at the end of the age. The Sethite view cannot explain the UFO abduction phenomenon. Corporeal Angelic beings don't fit into their view. The Alien phenomenon makes sense on the Angelic View. Sexual spirits that many have encountered, especially women, makes sense on the Angelic View. Why did Paul exhort Christian women to cover their hair (women's hair being a sign of their sexuality in antiquity) in 1 Corinthians 11:10? He said it was "because OF THE ANGELS"! Paul knew what had happened in Genesis 6. He wanted to make sure that women in his day were not going to entice the "sons of God" once again!

In short, the proper understanding of Genesis 6:1-4 and the Nephilim is going to help Christians discern the times at the end of the age before Christ Returns and to not be deceived! Talk about a doctrine mattering!!!

To him/her who has ears to hear...

P.S. Now that we've covered the Nephilim, we must next look at the origin of demons, a closely related topic - in short, they are NOT Fallen Angels! But that is for my next post, "Demons for Dummies". 

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