In the book of Genesis, there is a very interesting scripture that states:

“… the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” (Genesis 6:2)

This scripture is nestled in with other scriptures that talk about population increase, giants, great wickedness, and culminates with God confessing that He was broken hearted (Genesis 6:6); He was broken hearted to the point of being sorry He had made mankind (also Genesis 6:6). Here are the scriptures in context:

Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

Genesis 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Genesis 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (KJV)

What does all this mean? Let’s start by reviewing the early history of man: God created man (Adam) in God’s image and this creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). God and Adam would walk together and have fellowship. Then Adam sinned and became a mortal being, destined to die. However, God was pleased with one of Adam’s sons, Abel, who was righteous. Cain slew his brother Abel because Abel’s works were righteous and Cain’s were evil (1 John 3:12). Then, God raised up Seth in attempt to reestablish a righteous line of people. But, when the sons of God (those from Seth) saw that the daughters of men (those from Cain) were fair and took them as wives, it resulted in an irreversible mixing of the righteous and unrighteous lines.

Concerning the giants i.e. Nephilim, some believe that these giants were the result of angels taking the daughters of men as wives, supposing that the sons of God were angels. This notion originated in the book of Enoch which has been accepted as neither the Hebrew Holy Scriptures nor as Christian Bible Canon. Our conclusion is that this human-angel hybridization is contrary to both the scriptures and the genetic data. Here are our reasons:

(1) The scriptures (Genesis 6:4) clearly state that the giants existed before the sons of God took the daughters of men as wives.

. . . there were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men.(Genesis 6:4)

(2) The scriptures are clear that angels don’t marry. The following are the words of Jesus:

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. (Matthew 22:29-30; Words of Jesus in red)

(3) Humans have souls, i.e. flesh and blood, and angels do not.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

Adam became a “living soul.” Angels are spirits and do not have flesh and blood. They can dwell in flesh and blood, but they do not have their own flesh and blood.

Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
(Luc 24:39 – words of Jesus in red)

(4) We have much genetic data that has been collected over the last few decades and it shows that all human DNA can be traced to one woman and one man. Any foreign, non-human DNA would appear and be noticeable. In this case modern humans would have two origins of Y-chromosome DNA since the fathers of some would be angels and the fathers of other would be human. This is not the case.

The giants most probably had the genetic mutation which causes (gigantism, or acromegaly). Do a search on either of these words and you can read all about it. These early giants were probably the first evidence of genetic mutations and were called “Nephilim” which, in the original Hebrew, has the sense of giant, bully, and tyrant; so, they were large and took advantage of their size being bullies and tyrants, like Goliath.

Conclusion: This is an important part of human history, when the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took them as wives; it helps understand who we are and how we got to where we are. Also, the notion that the sons of God were angels is, in our opinion, a myth.