At Christmas, I like to remember Genesis 6:1-4—you know, that weird passage in the Old Testament about how the “sons of God” fathered the Nephilim with the “daughters of men.” You’re probably wondering, “Why would you associate Christmas with a bizarre passage like that?”
Well, because it reminds me of how much God loves us and the willingness of Jesus to humble Himself (Ph. 2:6-8). If that sounds even more bizarre, allow me to elaborate. If you’ve read Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm, watched the BibleProject YouTube series on Spiritual Beings (particularly the one on The Satan and Demons, or read The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten, then you’re familiar with the view that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 are angelic creatures that took on human form and fathered the giant Nephilim (whose descendants later show up in Gath—e.g. Jos. 11:22; Goliath, 2 Sam. 21). The Nephilim are intimately associated with the violence and corruption on earth leading up to the Flood (Gen. 6:5-8, 11-13).
The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament in use during the time of Jesus) illustrates the ancient view of this passage very clearly.
And it happened when humans began to become numerous upon the earth, and they had daughters, the angels of God, having seen the daughters of humans, that they were beautiful, took for themselves women from all whom they picked out. The Lord God said, “My breath will certainly not reside in these humans for very long because they are flesh, but their days will be one hundred and twenty years.” Now giants were upon the earth in those days, and after that, whenever the sons of God entered into the daughters of humans, they fathered children for themselves; those were the giants who were from long ago, the people of renown.
Genesis 6:1-4 LES (Lexham English Septuagint)
Because they descended from the heavens, the “sons of God” were counted among the gods (Hebrew elohim = spiritual being, including Yahweh, angels, and even the deceased Samuel—1 Sam. 28). In ancient times, the gods were often portrayed as being superhuman in size (Heiser, Unseen Realm, 199). The likelihood, particularly because their offspring were giants, is that the “sons of God” took on human form of superhuman proportions.
Now, back to why I like to think about this at Christmas when Jesus came as a baby. First, notice that a race of violent giants is no longer walking around on the earth. Jesus had a lot to do with ending that madness (see The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten). But when it comes to appreciating Jesus at Christmas as a person and the character of the “one and only” Son of God in contrast to the rebellious “sons of God” in Genesis 6, this chart sums it up pretty well.
| Sons of God (Genesis 6) | Jesus, the “one and only” Son of God |
| Appear as superhuman in size | Comes as a baby |
| Procreate with human women | Is born of a woman |
| Take advantage of humans | Submits to Joseph and Mary (Luke 2:51) |
| Create a new race of violent giants | Creates a new humanity of “peacemakers” |
| Offspring destroy the image of God | Offspring are conformed to the image of God |
| Enslaved humanity (with their “sons of God” brothers—see The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten) | Came to “proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4:18) |
| Low view of humanity (slaves to the gods) | Elevates humanity back to the image of God (rulers) |
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-7 ESV
We can’t end it there, now can we?
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11 ESV
Epic Gospel 