One of the most intriguing texts in the Old Testament is Genesis 6:1-4. It states, “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
Some believers wonder if “the sons of God” were demons, given that they produced giants on the earth after marrying and impregnating “the daughters of men.” However, other believers reject the idea that “the sons of God” were demonic beings but contend they were human males.
Scripture reveals that angels neither marry nor are given in marriage in Heaven. Matthew 22:30 says, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” However, the Bible says nothing of fallen angels (demons) who are outside of Heaven.
The Bible also does not disclose whether angelic beings (angels and demons) are capable of reproduction. But it does provide a few interesting facts that seem to indicate that they possess that ability, leading many to conclude that “the sons of God” were demonic beings.
The first fact that seems to indicate that angelic beings possess reproductive abilities, leading many to conclude that “the sons of God” in Genesis 6 were demons, was something Jude revealed and Peter confirmed. Jude disclosed that God has kept certain demonic spirits in everlasting chains until judgment for giving themselves over to sexual immorality like Sodom and Gomorrah. He wrote in Jude 1:6-7, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh.”
Peter confirmed the fact that God chained certain demons in Hell for committing a particularly grievous sin by writing in 2 Peter 2:4, “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” (This fact is all the more interesting, given that all other demons, including Satan, have been allowed to roam free and wreak havoc on the earth. See Ephesians 6:12.)
Consequently, many scholars believe that the sexually immoral demons in Jude (and alluded to in 2 Peter) were “the sons of God” of Genesis 6 who impregnated “the daughters of men” in an attempt to prevent the Messiah’s birth (and ultimate sacrificial death) by genetically corrupting, contaminating, polluting, and infecting the human race. They also believe their heinous acts (and resulting effects) were the reason God eradicated humanity to start over with Noah and his family.
The second fact that seems to indicate that “the sons of God” in Genesis 6 may have been demons is the descriptive phrase itself. The expression, “the sons of God,” only appears three other times in the Old Testament, and always refers to angelic beings, never humans:
Job 1:6-7, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.’”
Job 2:1-2, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.’”
Job 38:4-7, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
The third fact that seems to indicate that “the sons of God” in Genesis 6 may have been demonic beings was something that occurred between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. 1 Peter 3:18-20 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”
Because Jesus proclaimed His victory on Calvary to “spirits in prison” in Hell who sinned during the time of Noah, and considering that God destroyed the earth with a flood after “the sons of God” impregnated “the daughters of men” (in a possible attempt to prevent the Messiah’s birth and ultimate death by corrupting the human race), and taking into account the other facts cited above, it is plausible that “the sons of God” in Genesis 6 were the sexually immoral demons in Jude and 2 Peter 2, who were the “spirits in prison” in 1 Peter 3 to whom Jesus declared His victory and pronounced their defeat. However, since Scripture does not explicitly identify “the sons of God” as demons, we cannot rule out the obvious possibility that they were simply human males.
I hope this brief synopsis causes you to study this subject further.
