When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:1-5

There are a few different interpretations of Genesis 6:1-5, but one of them that has spread throughout the Church has been heavily influenced by the apocryphal book of Enoch. This should cause us to pause and consider, “Should we base our biblical interpretations off of an apocryphal book? Further, should we base our interpretation of a Genesis passage off of an apocryphal book written in the second or third century B.C. that almost no church tradition validates as authoritative scripture?”

These questions are particularly relevant today. Podcasts and people on social media without much theological education will often try to champion books found in the apocrypha. And because the social media personality doesn’t really understand or know church history, confusion abounds.

Often what happens is that the social media personality, who inevitably grew up in a Protestant church, wonders why no one told them about the apocryphal books. Then, a conspiracy theory is proposed as to why the church they grew up in was hiding these books from the congregation.  

This is particularly the case with the book of Enoch. 

When it comes to the book of Enoch, it’s not just Protestant churches that don’t affirm Enoch as Holy Scripture. It’s also the Roman Catholic Church that rejects it and the Eastern Orthodox churches that reject it. Most of the Oriental Orthodox churches reject it as well (i.e. Coptics & Syrian Orthodox). It’s only the Ethiopian Orthodox church tradition that embraces the book of Enoch as scripture. That’s should clue us in to the disputed nature of the book itself.

So, in terms of authority, the book of Enoch is about as inspired as the Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia. Most church traditions for most of church history have understood Enoch to be, essentially, fiction. It’s a fictitious apocalyptic story rooted in speculation about a few confusing passages in Genesis 6:1-5. 

So, what do we make of Genesis 6:1-5?

There are three primary views out there as to what Genesis 6 is talking about when it mentions “sons of God,” the “daughters of men,” and the offspring that were created.

Three Main Views:

View 1: Unfaithfulness View

sons of God = the lineage of Seth (faithful members of the covenant)

“….the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Luke 3:38)

Adam was seen as the “son of God” with two lines of descendants. One line, which represents the godly lineage, was through Adam’s son Seth. The other line, which represents the ungodly lineage, was through Cain (who was cursed from killing is brother Abel).

daughters of men (humans) = the lineage of Cain (unfaithful pagans) 

Nephilim = powerful human warriors, men of renown

According to this view, men in covenant with God (Seth’s descendants) decided to marry women outside of covenant with God (Cain’s descendants). This intermarrying created the same kind of problems as when Israelites married pagan Canaanites in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). This produced evil in the world including powerful warriors. (Read the above passage again with this view in mind.)

So, according to this view, the main problem that Genesis 6:1-5 is highlighting is the unfaithfulness of even the “faithful” lineage of Adam. Evil spreads. God gets frustrated. Then the Flood.

View 2:  Abuse of Power View

sons of God = pagan kings and nobility 

We know it was common to consider kings and rulers of the ancient near east “sons of God” or “a son of the gods.” We see this with the Pharaohs, kings of Babylon, and kings of Persia. Eventually, even Caesar of Rome is considered a son of the gods.

daughters of men (humans) = commoners 

Nephilim:  powerful human warriors, men of renown

According to this view, kings and royal men were taking wives whenever and from whomever they wanted. In their greed and lust they collected huge harems of women. “…they married any of them they chose.” (Genesis 6:2) This spread evil on the earth and created mighty warriors. (Read the above passage again with this view in mind.)

So, according to this view, the main problem that Genesis 6:1-5 is highlighting is the abuse of power of the leaders and rulers of the people. This “taking” of whatever women they wanted led to the spread of their kind of evil in the world. God gets frustrated. Then the Flood.

View 3:  Fallen Angels View (influenced by the book of Enoch) 

sons of God = fallen angels (called Watchers in the book of Enoch) 

daughters of men (human) = human women

Nephilim: monstrous giants

According to this view, fallen demonic angels marry and then impregnated human women. This spread evil on the earth and created half-breed giant monstrous men. God gets frustrated. Then the Flood.

One of the problems with View 3 [Fallen Angels View] is that not only is the book of Enoch not Holy Scripture and is essentially fiction writing, but it was written in the second or third century B.C. We have to remember that it was written during the time of Hellenization. The Jewish writer of Enoch was deeply influenced by Greek mythology.

The idea that fallen angels could impregnate human women shares striking similarities with Greek mythology, particularly in the concept of demigods—half-divine, half-human offspring. 

In Greek mythology, demigods were typically created when an immortal deity (such as Zeus, Poseidon, or Apollo) mated with a mortal human. These unions resulted in offspring possessing one divine parent and one mortal parent, which granted the children enhanced physical abilities, supernatural powers, and heroic destinies. (i.e. Hercules)

Also, in Enoch, the fallen angels are eventually cast into a dark abyss, a punishment that resembles the Greek mythological story of the imprisonment of the Titans in Tartarus.

We should call into question any biblical interpretation that relies on apocryphal stories to support it, especially stories from the book of Enoch. Not to mention the fact that fallen angels cannot have babies with humans. 

Jesus tells us in Matthew that angels don’t have sexuality the way humans do. 

At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:30)

What is Jesus saying here? 

He’s saying, “Angels don’t marry. Angles don’t procreate. Angels don’t have sexuality like humans do.”

First, by saying that fallen angels married human women and then had the power to produce miraculous offspring with them gives demons way too much credit and assumes they have way more power than they do. (I write this not as someone who is skeptical of the existence and influence of demons, but rather as someone who has done deliverance ministry casting out demons for over a decade. I am well acquainted with how demons can impact humanity. I’m also aware of their limitations.)

Secondly, this view misunderstands the created nature of angels. Angels can’t procreate with humans.

Finally, this view belittles the virgin birth of Jesus. Jesus is the only person to ever be born from a miraculous, immaculate conception. Trying to say demons have the same power to create offspring with humans is insulting and, frankly, unbiblical.

There can be lively debate as to what Genesis 6 really means. Are the sons of God kings? Are they descendants of Seth? What kind of mighty warriors were the Nephilim? All of these questions are part of trying to understand what Genesis 6 is really saying. However, what we shouldn’t do is borrow ideas from Greek mythology found in an obscure apocryphal book and assume it is divine revelation.

One final word of caution: The New Testament is clear that we should be spending our energy and our focus on spreading the gospel and partnering with Jesus to usher in God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” If the enemy can get us side-tracked with obscure apocryphal interpretations of obscure passages of scripture in Genesis, he would love to keep us chasing our tails (or chasing tales, as it were) and running down these rabbit holes.

By keeping our attention on random things like Nephilim or fallen angels, we become less and less effective at loving our neighbor and reaching people for Christ. This is why Paul warned Timothy, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7).

To the Colossians Paul warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ”(Colossians 2:8). The early Christians also had a tendency to get caught up in strange teachings and obscure interpretations. Paul continually encouraged them to keep their focus on Christ above everything else.

So let’s spend our energy reaching the world for Christ and exalting the name of Jesus rather than arguing with other Christians about obscure theological points that won’t really matter in the end.