Did Angels Have Sex with Human Women?

By Mark Swarbrick

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Most people reading Genesis chapter six pause and say to themselves, “What?” and read the passage again asking, “Who are these ‘sons of God’ that married women?” Here is the passage:

“Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose…The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…” (Genesis 6:1–8)

Four things to take note of:

1. They were called “sons of God.”
2. They suddenly noticed that the “daughters of men” were beautiful.
3. They somehow had the power to take for themselves “whomever they chose.”
4. Their children were strange. They were “mighty” and were called “Nephilim.”

Let us consider each of these attributes, beginning with their being referred to as “sons of God.” A son of God denotes a being who has been directly created by God. In the New Testament Adam is called a son of God because he was directly created by God. Born-again Christians are also called sons of God by virtue of the new birth they experience at salvation. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature…” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God directly creates a new man within us (Colossians 3:10).

But in the Old Testament the term son of God is only used of angels. The term “sons of God” appears five times in the Old Testament—Genesis 6:2, Genesis 6:4, Job 1:6, Job 2:1, and Job 38:7—and the biblical usage identifies them as heavenly beings, or angels.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1:6 ESV)

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? … when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4, 7 ESV)

This gives strong precedent for understanding the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 as angels. The second attribute is noteworthy as well: They suddenly noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. I am pretty sure Adam, and all men after him, were aware from the get-go that the daughters of men were beautiful. The sons of God suddenly taking notice of the beauty of women indicates they were from another realm. And the phrase itself –“daughters of men” – has a strange juxtaposition with the phrase “sons of God,” indicating they were not the same species. The third attribute is that they had the power to attract to themselves any woman of their choosing, a power any high school boy would long to have, but alas, this is an ability mortal man lacks.

And lastly, their offspring were remarkable. They were called Nephilim. This is not an English word. It is an obscure Hebrew word of uncertain meaning. It appears only two places in the Bible. Its exact meaning is a mystery. That’s why many modern translations don’t translate the word at all but simply bring the word straight over from the Hebrew.

The KJV and some other translations render the word as “giants.” Although the context in the two places where it is used in Scripture indicates the Nephilim were indeed giants, the Hebrew word Nephilim carries more meaning than just giant. The word has often been connected with the Hebrew naphal, meaning “to fall,” leading many to understand Nephilim as “fallen ones.” Their fathers, the fallen angels, fell into sin, and their offspring, according to Scripture and other historical writings, also behaved with extreme wickedness.

When one takes all these factors into account, it is easy to see why the Jews and the early Church fathers believed Genesis six is an account of angels cohabitating with Earth women. Scripture makes it clear that angels can appear in human bodies, and while Jesus said the angels in heaven do not marry, this does not negate this possibility, for these angels were no longer in heaven. They disobeyed God, came to Earth in material form, and did what God had forbidden. Jude made this quite clear:

“Remember too the angels, how some of them were not content to keep the dominion given to them but abandoned their proper home; and God has reserved them for judgement on the great Day, bound beneath the darkness in everlasting chains. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns; like the angels, they committed fornication and followed unnatural lusts; and they paid the penalty in eternal fire, an example for all to see.” (Jude 1:6–7 NEB)

This says fallen angels committed fornication, which means they had sex with those they were not permitted to. When they left their realm to live on Earth, they became fallen angels for their disobedience. Read the passage again in the NASB and see how their pursuit of women was unnatural and is called “going after strange flesh.”

“And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place…just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh…” (Jude 1:6–7 NASB)

A Warning

Why are we told of this strange event? Jude reminds us of it, introducing the subject like this:

“I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment…”

Peter also takes the same tack:

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…” (2 Peter 2:4–5 ESV)

We are being warned that God punished even the Israelites He delivered from Egyptian bondage when they abandoned their faith. He did not spare the pre-Flood world because of its sin, and even the mighty angels, when they disobeyed God, were chained in darkness. So also, we are saved by repentance and faith, and we stay saved by an attitude of repentance and continued faith in Jesus.

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