[Steve Myers] A question recently came in and its about Genesis 6:4, "Did angels marry women and reproduce a race of giants?". Now this has been a popular question. More than one person - in this case it was Andrea that wrote in. A number of people have asked this question, in fact even called in and wondered about this very topic.

Well what about it. What does Genesis 6 talk about? Well let's read a little bit of what it says and then we can talk about what the meaning is behind it.

So in Genesis 6:1 it says, "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'." Then verse 4, "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" (Genesis 6:1-4)

So on a quick reading it almost sounds like somehow angels, sons of God, got together with physical women and reproduced giants. Well is that the case? I thing we have to step back a little bit and realize what exactly this verse is talking about.

First of all, a very interesting comment that Jesus Christ Himself made. The Creator of all things - all things were created through Jesus Christ. And so, what does Christ say about the angels? Well in Mark chapter 12 verse 25 He said, "…they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven" (Mark 12:25 & Matthew 22:30) So talking about the resurrection - Christ Himself said angels do not marry they are not given in marriage. They are spirit beings. They are not sexual beings.

And so in that case, would it be possible then for angels to reproduce with people? The fact is - no it is not possible at all. In fact it goes against a vital law that God created at the very beginning. He said in the beginning of Genesis that things would reproduce after their own kind (Genesis 1:11-12 & Genesis 1:21-25). And so angels are one kind and people, human beings, are another kind.

Well sure sometimes in the Bible it talks about "sons of God" being angels - there's no doubt about that (Job 1:6 & Job 38:4-7). But did you know that there are other cases where "sons of God" are also referring to Christians - to converted people (Romans 8:14). And they also refer to, in the Psalm - Psalm 82 - says their human beings are also "sons of God" because God created them (Psalm 82:6, Malachi 2:10, Luke 3:38). And so when you look exactly at what its talking about here in Genesis chapter 6 it is not talking about the fact that there's some race of giants reproduced.

Couple of other interesting things - notice God says "…My Spirit shall not strive with man…" (Genesis 6:4). So the "sons of God" must be people. They must not be angels - they must be people - because God was not going to strive with man.

It's also interesting in verse 4 it says "There were giants on the earth…" So there were already giants that were present on the earth before the "sons of God" took the daughters. And so that is a very interesting point as well. It wasn't a result of these marriages - it was something that was already a fact, that there were already giants on the earth.

And so, it becomes very clear, these giants that were a result of these marriages - certainly there were giants. We know that Goliath was probably from that line of giants later on in the Bible. But it's a clear fact that angels are not sexual beings, they are spirit beings and it is not possible for an angel kind to reproduce with mankind. It is just impossible. And so, very interesting things can come out of the Bible when we just step back and look at the reality of what a passage really says.

So I hope that you found that helpful. We'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow. That's BT Daily.