Who Are the Nephilim?

A question I often get asked is who are the giants in the bible? Weren’t they just really tall humans? I studied the bible at a Christian University and this was a topic they didn’t cover in detail. It was discussed that these people were giants and then we moved on. It wasn’t until a few years later when a Christian friend asked me if I ever studied about the Nephilim and I realized at that point I only knew that they were the giants talked about in Genesis.

These biblical giants are commonly referred to as Nephilim because that was the first generation of them. However, there are other names for their future generations. In order to find out who they really are we have to go to Genesis 6:1-4:

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.”

There are two views of interpretation on these verses, the Angel View and the Sethite Theory. I will address both of them as well as the history of each view.

The Angel View

In the above verses of Genesis 6 it says the Sons of God (otherwise known as Bene Elohim in Hebrew, which are commonly called Angels) took daughters of men as wives and procreated with them. Essentially, we have Angels taking human women as wives and starting families with them. This cannot be properly interpreted any other way. The text clearly shows that this union is not between two humans otherwise it would of said that. The first sentence is already telling us that humanity was multiplying and then it goes on to talk about a different union, an unholy union. Further, Jude 1:6 speaks about the consequences that these fallen Angels faced for having procreated with human women.

In the Old Testament, Sons of God (Bene Elohim) are spiritual beings (Angels) but in the New Testament, Sons of God refers to believers. We see evidence of this as we read the context of the verses. The only people who deny this fact are people who reject the supernatural context of the Old Testament. Another thing to remember is that the angel view was the only view for the first 400 years.

Early writers who wrote about the angel view include:

-Justin Martyr
-Athenagorus
-Irenaeus
-Eusebius
-Ambrose
-Julius Africanus
-Augustine
-Athanasius of Alexandria
-Clement of Alexandria
-Clement of Rome
-Tertullian
-Origen
-Commodianus
-Lactantius
-John Chrysostom
-Cyril of Alexandria

Early documents in history show this was the only accepted view. It appears in:

-The Septuagint
-1 Enoch
-The Testimony of the 12 Patriarchs
-The Dead Sea Scrolls
-Philo
-Josephus’ Writings
-Traditional Jewish Literature

The Sethite Theory

The second view on Genesis 6 is that these Sons of God were human men from the line of Seth but that doesn’t explain the offspring who are literal giants. It would also make the first few verses repetitive in odd ways. Two normal human beings don’t produce hybrid giants. Proponents of this theory base their assumption on New Testament verses calling believers, Sons of God. This cannot work because we are looking at two different original languages of the Bible. Doing so is a grave mistake as this is not what the writer meant it to mean. That is why the angel theory lasted because it was a common belief that these Sons of God were Angels. Additionally, these hybrid giants also displayed supernatural abilities such as strength, height, and animal like physical characteristics. These aren’t common human characteristics no matter how strong their DNA was. If you thought Goliath and his family were just tall, muscular soldiers, there’s a lot more to the story and background. Also, there were good reasons why people were deathly afraid of these giants as Numbers 13:33 states, “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim) and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” In the book of Joshua God is constantly telling him not to be afraid and it’s because Joshua and his spies saw these giants and didn’t think they could beat them. They decided to retreat instead of take the land as God instructed them to do.

If the Sons of God in Genesis 6 were human men they would have produced normal human offspring. Following the Sethite Theory doesn’t just produce problems in Genesis 6:1-4, it produces other wrong interpretations of other passages as well. One being the reason for the flood. It presents a cascade of issues if we ignore the supernatural nature of Genesis 6 because the supernatural issues are present throughout the entire Bible.

Why Was the Sethite View Accepted in Church Tradition?

Since the angel view was the primary view for the first 400 years, why did it suddenly change? It began between the 4th and 5th centuries. First, you had the powerful Julian the Apostate (nephew of Constantine) who grew up Christian but converted to Roman Paganism. His goal was to restore the worship of Greek gods and he did everything in his power to oust Christians from the public square. He persecuted Christians and called them atheists. Julian was known as the ‘Restorer of Roman Religion.’ He was a vocal opponent of the angel view and mocked Christians about it. Second, there was the Greek Philosopher, Celsus, who also mocked Christians in general and especially because he felt intellectually superior. He used the angel view to disgrace Christian beliefs which became a very public display. Here is an example of what Celsus said about this issue: “O Jews and Christians, no God or son of a God either came or will come down (to earth). But if you mean that certain angels did so, then what do you call them? Are they gods, or some other race of beings? Some other race of beings (doubtless), and in all probability demons.”

Next, we have the influence of Augustine on church tradition. Many people are aware he had the most influence on church tradition. He is quoted more than any other writer outside of the biblical writers. While Augustine is known for his views on the Christian life many don’t realize that while his mother was a Christian his father was a believer of the Greek gods, like Julian the Apostate. Augustine lived a life apart from Christ before dedicating his life to the pursuit of knowledge. He eventually became a Philosopher and teacher of rhetoric which would influence his Christian views.

Augustine was first and foremost, an intellectual whose philosophical beliefs influenced church tradition and doctrine. He did agree with the angel view of Genesis 6 until he saw Greek Philosophers like Celsus, mocking these beliefs. Augustine decided the angel view wasn’t intellectual enough to challenge the objections brought forth by other thinkers of his day. Therefore, church doctrine changed to reflect this new teaching. Many of Augustine’s audience were not educated enough to challenge the Sethite view and since Augustine was such a powerhouse in the church it was never reexamined. He is not solely to blame since the Christian historian, Julius Africanus also eventually adopted the Sethite view due to outside pressure.

Sadly, the Sethite view has spilled over into many denominations and causes grave misinterpretations for other scripture verses. Starting in the 5th century people started to worship angels, which was another reason why the Sethite view prevailed.

This union in Genesis 6 between fallen Angels and human women started a war of bloodlines and God took corrective action to fix this. That was the ultimate reason why God sent a flood over the earth. If the flood was just about humanity sinning, God was already sending Jesus to redeem us. Sending a flood because of sin would have been unnecessary and sin doesn’t stop because of a flood. The flood was sent to kill these giants that were killing off full blooded humans and in order to preserve our human DNA God had to eliminate them. You cannot be saved if you aren’t fully human. That was the problem back then and it will also be the greatest threat to our future as humans. That is why Revelation talks about taking the mark of the beast will mean you cannot inherit salvation. You will no longer be fully human in order to inherit salvation. Understanding the angel view has been mostly hidden from us from understanding the full picture of this war of bloodlines. My hope is that you will take a sincere look at Genesis 6 and take time studying the context of these verses in the way it was meant to be understood.