Genesis 6:1-9: Remain Righteous

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is good even though there seems to be overwhelming evil in the world.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: In the midst of overwhelming evil, it is possible to remain faithful

Body

Each and every one of us has a natural bent toward rejecting God (1-4).

Let me start by telling you that the passage we are looking at is the sort of passage that many times will just be skipped.

There are at least five different ways this passage is interpreted

Mythological Interpretation

This interpretation views the passage as a mythological narrative that reflects common themes in ancient Near Eastern literature, where gods and demigods interacted with humans. The "sons of God" would be mythological beings, and the Nephilim would be legendary heroes. Obviously this view is generally associated with a low view of Scripture.

Symbolic or Allegorical Interpretation

In this view, the passage is not meant to be taken literally but symbolically. The "sons of God" and the "daughters of humans" might represent the mixing of different kinds of human behaviors or moralities, symbolizing the blending of good and evil, leading to widespread corruption. While I think this may be a reasonable application of the passage I don't believe that the passage is purely symbolic.

The Fallen Angels Interpretation

This is one of the oldest and most traditional interpretations. It suggests that the "sons of God" were fallen angels who took human wives, resulting in a race of giants known as the Nephilim. This view is supported by texts such as the Book of Enoch and has been popular in early Jewish and Christian traditions. However, there are significant problems with this view.

The Royalty Interpretation

Some scholars suggest that the "sons of God" were ancient kings or rulers who, in their pride and power, took many wives, leading to corruption. The Nephilim, in this view, were simply powerful and influential men of the time.

The Sethite Interpretation

In this interpretation, the "sons of God" are understood to be the descendants of Seth, Adam's son, who were faithful to God. The "daughters of humans" are seen as the descendants of Cain, who were not faithful. This interpretation suggests that the intermarriage between the godly Sethites and the ungodly Cainites led to moral corruption. This is the view that I would probably choose if you pushed me to adopt a view.

But let me just propose something here. What is what is going on here is that the line of Seth is marrying the descendants of Cain in order ro secure power and authority. You know, the whole chieftain model. The passage ends by describing hero's of old men of renown. Her sis a proposal, people who knew better decided to compromise in their relationships in order to gain power and influence.

While it is interesting to contemplate the events that are described, it is much more interesting to examine the application of the events.

I think the application of the passage presents some incredibly important principles that we need to follow and especially reminds me of Galatians 5:9, “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” We must be on guard against compromise against allowing destructive sin to take root in our lives. Why? Because we each have a natural bent toward rejecting God and just like leaven feeds off of fresh dough until it spreads throughout the batch so sin feeds off of us.

A decade ago I would have wanted to go rounds with anyone of you trying to understand what events led to the writing of Genesis 6:1-4. Now, I have to admit, I am not so interested in what events led to the writing of the passage, what interests me is understanding how to live in light of the passage. So, let me break this into a couple of subpoints.

First,

We tend to choose against relationship with God.

If we look back to Genesis 3 and the fall, especially, verse 6, then we see an important principle. Eve saw that the fruit was good. Eve saw! Upon seeing the goodness of the fruit Eve started down a devastating path of choosing something other than God. But look at the parallel in verse 2 of Genesis 6. The "sons of God" whatever they may be (I happen to think they are the descendent of Seth who are supposed to choose God) see and decide that what they see is more important than their own purity.

Let me take this further and make it more explicit there are a lot of things we see and eventually choose over God.

I will start with a couple of big ones

• Sexual sin
• Greed
• Pride

But there are smaller one's too

But it is not just that we choose against God,

We fail to recognize the authority of God.

We so often go about life doing what we want without thinking of the consequences. We choose against relationship with God and instead choose our own sin. In verse 3 we see that the behavior of humanity results in a pretty significant consequence. God divinely restricts the span of human life. If you read Genesis 5 you will be immediately struck by some incredible lifespans. Growing up I often assumed that something changed after the flood but as I prepared for this sermon I was struck by another idea, an idea that made sense to me. "The consequence of their actions is the divine restriction of human life. "

Now, I must admit this is not a universally accepted view on verse 3 but consider the following

The verb form יָדוֹן (yadon) only occurs here. Some derive it from the verbal root דִּין (din, “to judge”) and translate “strive” or “contend with” (so NIV), but in this case one expects the form to be יָדִין (yadin). The Old Greek has “remain with,” a rendering which may find support from an Arabic cognate (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:375). If one interprets the verb in this way, then it is possible to understand רוּחַ (ruakh) as a reference to the divine life-giving spirit or breath, rather than the LORD’s personal Spirit. E. A. Speiser argues that the term is cognate with an Akkadian word meaning “protect” or “shield.” In this case, the LORD’s Spirit will not always protect humankind, for the race will suddenly be destroyed (E. A. Speiser, “YDWN, Gen. 6:3,” JBL 75 [1956]: 126–29).

In other words, perhaps in verse 3 what we have is a divine declaration that the giver of life is not going to, as a normal practice, continue to give mankind life beyond 120 years? Alternatively, some interpreters view this as a warning that the flood is coming in 120 years. But back to the idea of God giving life. We fail to recognize the authority of God, that God is the giver of life.

In verses 1-2 we see mankind attempting working to be something great. “The attempt by man to become more than he is results in his becoming less

Again, I have an idea for what might be happening here but I don't know exactly and it doesn't really matter because the principle is the same. Mankind has done it man's way and one way or another man will pay with his life for this decision.

We tend to value power.

The passage ends with a very odd statement "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days." These beings are described as heroes of old and men of renown, adding a layer of intrigue and mystery. Their exact nature and role remain a topic of debate.

The Hebrew word נְפִילִים (néfilim) is transliterated here because its precise meaning is unclear and so we lack a direct translation. According to the text, the Nephilim became renowned warriors and gained significant fame in the pre-flood world. While the text suggests they might be the offspring of the union between the "sons of God" and the "daughters of humankind" (v. 2), it doesn't state this explicitly. The Nephilim are mentioned in only two OT passages, this passage and Numbers 13:33. In numbers they are described as giants (hence the translation as "giants" in the KJV, TEV, and NLT). Numbers notes that the Anakites of Canaan were descendants of the Nephilim, although these later Nephilim could not be direct descendants of the pre-flood Nephilim. Hence, I wonder if Nephilim is more of an adjective than a specific people.

What hits me hard in this passage is the image of people who compromise that they might gain significant power!

We tend to over-value power and we are willing to make all sorts of compromises in order to gain power!

Image: Compromise - people compromise their commitments to God for relationships, rules they don't like and power.

I want to challenge you. I am not going to tell you how to vote in any elections coming up but what I am going to say is that I see a lot of people making a lot of compromises in order to gain a lot of power. I can imagine that the people in Genesis 6 had a lot of reasons why what they were doing was justified but they compromised. They formed deep relationships outside of God's will and they paid the price.

Ok, what about those of you who cannot vote? Well, I will tell you that I know a lot of people who have entered into relationships with a significant other who was not on the same spiritual page as them and for everyone where this worked out there are a dozen where it has led to terrible situations.