The Advent Truth Facebook page posted the following:
The idea that the Nephilim were half-angel, half-human hybrids whose disembodied spirits now roam the earth looking to possess people isn’t what the Bible actually teaches.
First, angels and humans do not reproduce together. Jesus Himself made that clear. In Matthew 22:30 He said that angels “neither marry, nor are given in marriage.” Angels are a different order of creation. They do not reproduce the way humans do. The Bible never records angels having biological offspring with human beings.
Second, the famous passage in Genesis 6 never says angels married women. It says the “sons of God” took wives of the “daughters of men.” Throughout the Old Testament, the phrase “sons of God” is used for God’s followers (see Job 1:6; Job 38:7; Hosea 1:10). Many biblical scholars understand Genesis 6 to describe the intermarriage between the faithful line of Seth and the rebellious line of Cain. When God’s people compromise with the world, corruption follows—and the earth filled with violence (Genesis 6:11).
Third, the idea that the spirits of the Nephilim became demons roaming the earth isn’t found anywhere in Scripture. The Bible teaches something very different about the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:5 says, “the dead know not any thing.” Verse 10 says there is no work, knowledge, or device in the grave. Psalm 146:4 says when a person dies, “his thoughts perish.” The dead are not wandering around.
If there are evil spirits influencing the world today, the Bible identifies them clearly: fallen angels. Revelation 12:9 calls Satan “that old serpent…which deceiveth the whole world.” Verse 4 explains that a third of the angels fell with him. Those are the demonic spirits Scripture warns about—not the ghosts of hybrid giants.
The Nephilim were simply mighty men of old, a violent generation that arose when humanity rejected God’s order. Genesis 6 shows moral corruption spreading through society, not a supernatural breeding program.
I, Ken Ammi, replied:
Your premise mashed two things together so let’s un-mash first:
1) “Nephilim…whose disembodied spirits now roam the earth looking to possess people isn’t what the Bible actually teaches”:
Indeed, that’s just folklore from centuries, if not millennia, after the Torah. For a biblical view, please see my article Demons Ex Machina: What are Demons?
2) “The idea that the Nephilim were half-angel, half-human hybrids…isn’t what the Bible actually teaches”:
Job 38:7, as one example, shows us that, “sons of God” can refer to non-human beings (which the LXX has as “Angeloi”: plural of “Angelos”) since they, at the very least, witnessed the creation of the Earth.
You ended up asserting that, “God’s followers” witnessed the creation of the Earth. Well, I suppose you’re right if we call loyal Angels, “God’s followers.”
Jude and 2 Peter 2 combined refer to a sin of Angels, place that sin to pre-flood days and correlate it to sexual sin which occurred after the Angels, “left their first estate,” after which they were incarcerated, and there’s only a one-time fall/sin of Angels in the Bible.
So, if they’re not referring to the Gen 6 affair, we’ve no idea to what sin they’re referring.
The original, traditional, and majority view among the earliest Jewish and Christians commentators, starting in BC days, was the Angel view as I proved in my book On the Genesis 6 Affair’s Sons of God: Angels or Not?: A Survey of Early Jewish and Christian Commentaries Including Notes on Giants and the Nephilim.
You only concluded, “angels and humans do not reproduce together” by first rejecting where we’re told they do and then misrepresenting Jesus’ words by cutting them in half. Why did you find the need to cut Him off at, “neither marry, nor are given in marriage”? Is it because you realize His actual statement debunks your assertion?
His statement was very detailed, very nuanced, He employed qualifying terms, “the angels of God in heaven.”
So, not all Angels at all times in all places but the loyal ones, “of God” and “in heaven” which is why those who did marry are considered sinners since they, “left their first estate,” as Jude put it, in order to do so.
You claimed, “Angels are a different order of creation” but Angels are always described as looking like human males, performing physical actions, and without indication that such isn’t their ontology. We were created “a little lower” (Psa 8:5) than them, and we can reproduce with them so, by definition, we’re of the same basic “kind.”
You ended up teaching a late-comer of a view based on myth and prejudice. You actually taught that the, “faithful line of Seth” wasn’t faithful since they were such terrible sinners that their sin was part of the premise for the flood so, that’s rather odd.
As for, “the rebellious line of Cain” that’s tragically ungraceful—part of the mythical prejudice.
As for, “fallen angels. Revelation 12:9 calls Satan…” well, he’s not an Angel, he’s a Cherub (Ezek 28).
Well, that ended it since no interaction was forthcoming.
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