Under review is the Christianity Common Sense blog’s statements on the issue of the Nephilim (find my series on this here). They, or he “Jeff,” posted a ten part series which are found here. Part 1 begins by stating, “In Genesis 6:1-2 we learned that the ‘sons of God’ were NOT fallen angels, therefore the Nephilim could not be the huge offspring of fallen angels having sex with human woman.”
We will come to the issue of “huge” but let us begin by noting that this assertion is based on a previously posted series on Genesis 6:1-2 which is also a multipart series. Yet, I found that that series’ part/page 6 contained a summary of Jeff’s reasons for stated that with which he begins the Nephilim series:
Many Christians believe that the sons of God were rebellious angels that married and had sex with human women. As a result, their offspring were a giant human race called Nephilim. This is incorrect for many reasons.
1) Angels are spiritual beings and cannot have sex with human flesh.
2) The rebellious angels could not take human form since the angels and Satan (also a spiritual angel) do not have the power of creation. They can’t create human flesh.
3) God did not create the flesh for rebellious angels to possess. This is evident in the very next verse. Genesis 6:3 God expresses his displeasure with the actions of Genesis 6:2. He did not cause it.4) The rebellious angels did not possess already living human beings. Revelation 12 tells us that the rebellious angels (demons) were not hurled to the earth until just after the birth of Jesus.
5) No where in the Old Testament is demon possession mentioned. The rebellious angels were not on the earth during Genesis. [Emphasis in original]
I am afraid that these statements result in a faulty conclusion which is then employed as a faulty premise when it comes to the Nephilim issue. I am going to review these statements but first wanted to see if Jeff merely asserted or argued his way towards these conclusions. He wrote a dozen part piece on Genesis 6:1-2 yet, two of those seem to contain the most contextually relevant info. In part 1 the Christianity Common Sense blog states “I doubt” and lists the things reviewed above so they are assertions meant to be ironed out later in his series.
In part 2 he Mathew 22:29-30, Mark 12:24-25 and Luke 20:34-36 the relevant portion of which are “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven,” “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” and “those…taking part…in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die, for they are like the angels” respectively. Jeff rightly summarizes these as affirming that “angels cannot marry in the heavenly life” or as Matthew and Mark have it, “in heaven.”
One of Jeff’s illustrations
Yet, he then writes, “Last week we read that Satan and the rebellious angels don’t have the power of creation. They can’t create human flesh which is necessary to marry and have sex with human women. They are spiritual beings.” but we only “read” it because he wrote it: he asserted it without evidence, quotations or citations.
Now, a logical and theological question is: if they do not marry “in heaven” did they do so outside of heaven such as having fallen therefrom? Well, sadly, Jeff builds a premise upon misapplying the texts above and his assertion. Thus, he ends this part by asserting, “Therefore, since angels cannot marry in the heavenly life and they can’t create themselves as human in the earthly life, the ‘sons of God’ from Genesis 6:1-2 that marry human women cannot be rebellious angels.” This means that everything he writes thereafter will necessarily be faulty conclusions are they are based on faulty premises.
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