Genesis 6:1-8 - God’s grace in a depraved generation

On reading these eight verses, it is easy to conclude that the sons of God could be referring to the line of Seth and the daughters of men from the line of Cain. It seems most logical, since Genesis 4 dealt with the evil line of Cain and Genesis 5, the godly line of Seth. Honestly, these eight verses present one of the hardest texts to interpret as we reflect on them. Who actually were the sons of God referred to here?  

This phrase “sons of God” is commonly used to refer to angels in the Bible. Here it could be referring to fallen angels or demons. Why do we come to this conclusion? Jude and Peter in their Epistles talked about the activities of fallen angels. Jude 6 tells us that fallen angels were judged by God and put in the realm of darkness. Angels are sexless. The Lord Jesus said so in Luke 20:34-36. Hence they do not procreate. These fallen angels do have a craving for bodies so that they could display themselves. Passages such as Mark 5:11-13 and Luke 8:31-33 indicate so. Putting these thoughts together, we can conclude that these sons of God referred to here were actually fallen angels that took possession of the bodies of men, from the godly line of Seth, and marry other daughters of men. The purpose of these verses could be to show us that the good plan God had for marriage was demonized.

The first four words of these chapter, “Now it come about…” suggest that in the course of time, human life degenerated further. God’s intention was for godliness to persist but His plan was disrupted by evil influence. Every good thing planned by God only become bad when influenced by the devil and his cohorts of fallen angels. As it was in the situation of Adam and Eve and so now also in marriages. At the heart of it all was lust at work. God intended marriage for companionship and procreation. The emphasis of the union here was for the beauty they saw in the daughters of men. It was no longer on the purpose God had for marriage. At the nub of it was their lustful craving for sexual relationship of those men overtaken by fallen angels. Man are susceptible to all kinds of influence, including evil influence, if we are not alert and don’t stay vibrantly connected to God. How we begin and continue each day is important. For we know how easily anyone who begins well is susceptible to fall away.  It tells us how watchful we need to be to the influence we are exposed to. With increasing circle of friends and associates, there must be the corresponding increase in alertness. We must be vigilant to the suggestions we are opened to. Do evaluate people we are running with. Remember if we run with the skunk, we may smell like the skunk. Hence we must stay close to God and be sensitive to the guidance of His Spirit. 

This passage also tells us that God shortened the life span of man. The length of man was shortened by seven-fold, from 900 or more years to only 120 years. Man now not only have immortality taken from them as a result of the fall, their degeneration and gravitation towards evil continually had drastically reduced the span of their life on earth. To compound the worsen situation, we read of the Nephilim in verse 4. They were the products of the demonized marriages. These Nephilim, described as mighty men, were in reality violent men. Verse 5 shows us how low morality had sunk. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The three words - great, every, and continually - need no further explanation. They tell us how low man’s depravity was at. The state of affair was not temporary and there was absolutely no repentance. Lust was unremitting and violence was the norm. God’s hand was forced to act to correct the situation. Why? Because the moral decay and human depravity was repulsive to God’s holy nature.  And He had to do something about it.   

Here we get a peep into the heart of God. It was certainly filled with a mixture of grief and pain. The humanity He had created to be His representative had sunk so low. Our response to His love affects Him in ways that far surpass our capacity to perceive. We better know that God has emotion too. God needs to annihilate evil, and man caught in the middle was to be destroyed. God had a plan and His holiness and justice must be appeased. But even with that thought of getting rid of evil totally, God was still gracious. He looked for a way to preserve man and we are told that Noah found favor in His sight. This is the grace of God. Take note that Noah was not chosen because he was righteous, he was chosen because he found favor in God’s sight.   

How ought we to live? Godly and not selfishly, lovingly and not lustfully, peacefully and not violently. We must live to honor God. That we can do by making right decisions and choices. Seek to fulfill God’s purpose rather than our personal craving and agenda. Be honest with God. We will find favor with Him when we seek to do His will and fulfill His plan, in life or in marriage!