Who were these sons of God? We have to look for the answer elsewhere in the Old Testament. If we look, we will find evidence that the sons of God refer to the angels. Job gives us strong proof of this. Job was written before Genesis. It is commonly acknowledged that Genesis was written at the time of Moses, while Job was written at the time of Abraham. Later books often use the terminology of earlier books. In Job 1, 2, and 38, the sons of God refer to the angels. Hence, the sons of God in Genesis 6 must refer to the angels. The Lord Jesus said, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matt. 22:30). This does not mean that angels are incapable of marrying; it merely means that they do not marry. God forbids angels from marrying, because they are spirits. But in Genesis 3 the greatest confusion in the world occurred: the spirit of Satan entered into a lower animal-a snake. Therefore, in Genesis 3 we see a union of spirit with a lower animal. By Genesis 6 the spirits had joined themselves to men. Angels should not marry, but they married the daughters of men. The result was the nephilim. When the nephilim were produced, God had to destroy them. God wanted to have angels and men, but He did not want nephilim. He did not produce such a race. God created everything “after its kind.” Yet the demons came and joined themselves to men. The result was nephilim in the world. God had to judge this severely. God later destroyed the Anakim because they were nephilim as well. Originally, the nephilim were annihilated during the flood. But in Canaan they were found again. This is the reason they had to be destroyed. God would not allow such creatures to remain on earth.

Jude 6 speaks of some angels who “did not keep their own principality but abandoned their own dwelling place.” This refers to the angels who married the daughters of men. When 2 Peter 2:4 speaks of angels who sinned, it refers to the same thing.

The English translation of Genesis 6:3 is very clear: “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh.” The Hebrew text is clearer than the Chinese translation which drops the word also. In the original language the verse reads, “He also is flesh.” What does also mean? It means another one. Suppose we say, “You eat, and I eat also.” The word also means that there is a second one who is eating. When God said that man also was flesh, He meant that something else already was flesh. What other creatures could be compared with human beings? Only the angels. For man to also become flesh meant that the angels already were flesh. With such proof, we can say with confidence that the sons of God refer to the angels.

Of course, man had sinned by Genesis 3 already. But the sinning in Genesis 3 is different from man’s becoming flesh in Genesis 6. Sinning is an act; it does not describe the nature of things. To become flesh refers to the whole being falling under the influence of flesh; it has to do with one’s very nature. We must not only take note of man’s fall in chapter three, but we must realize that there was a progression to man’s sinfulness. With Adam, there was an act of sin. With Cain, there was the expression of his lust. By the time of the flood, sin had developed further; man had become flesh, and sinning had become a matter of habit. After man sinned, the Holy Spirit continued to wrestle with man. But when man became flesh, the wrestling ceased. Genesis 6:3 says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” From the time of Eden until the flood, the Holy Spirit had been striving with man. But when man indulged in lust and became flesh, the Holy Spirit no longer strove with him. We have to pay attention to this point because the Bible says, “Even as it happened in the days of Noah, so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:27). We have to deal with this issue. Prior to the coming of the days of the Son of Man, the evil spirit of Satan will once again descend upon the earth, and sinful angels will put on the flesh. Whenever these “sons of God” cause trouble, God executes severe judgment upon them. The judgment of the flood was unprecedented, and the judgment in Canaan was serious. In the days of the Son of Man, there also will be great judgment, and the Lord will judge the angels who leave their own place.
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