Question from a reader:
I have a question for you about angels. I did some searches on your site and others, but it seems there are differing opinions about the topic.
1. There are no “new” angels, correct? The ones that exist now were all here before man, correct?
2. Even though the bible doesn’t name any female angels directly, is there anything that says there are absolutely no such thing as female angels? Can we or should we even think of angels in terms of male and female in the same ways we think of male and female humans?
The Internet is full of conflicting opinions on this. It seems that certain bible passages can lead some to believe one way and others lead in another direction (like a lot of them I guess).
Unfortunately, the Bible shares very little information about the gender of angels (or much information at all about angels), so, in my view, we can’t be too definitive on this subject. Some people with other views use extra-biblical sources, but I usually stick with only what the Bible says about these controversial issues.
One of the most definitive passages that we have is Genesis 6:1-4, although it doesn’t specifically use the term “angel.” It describes the type of wickedness in the world that caused God to send the great flood in Noah’s day:
“1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. 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.”
This is a controversial passage because of the varying opinions about “the sons of God.” Some believe that this is a reference to the two lines of Adam and Eve’s family; i.e., the sons of Seth, as opposed to the sons of Cain. However, others believe that this is a reference to angels. I usually decide such issues using a very straightforward reading of the text. Since the “sons of God” are contrasted with the “daughters of men,” I believe that the “sons of God” were angels. Furthermore, it follows that their offspring were somewhat abnormal; i.e., the Nephilim, described in Numbers 13:33 as giants who inhabited Canaan. So, I believe that this passage indicates that angels, like humans, can be either men or women. Even further, the angels and humans were able to produce offspring together, although God may have since put a stop to this.
Now, oddly enough, we have no passages showing that angels can cohabit with other angels to reproduce offspring. Instead, all we have is the above (sort of weird) variation where angels and humans were able to produce some sort of mixed offspring. BTW, Hebrews 13:2 supports the idea that angels can sometimes take the form of humans, when it says that some people have shown hospitality to angels without even knowing it, by showing hospitality to strangers.
We also have Matthew 22:30, which says, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” This passage is usually used to show that, in eternity in heaven, we will not be married to our spouses as we are now. However, it also says that this arrangement will make us “like the angels” in that respect; i.e., no marriages. So, as of Matthew’s writing of his gospel, it appears that, although the angels do not marry, they do have gender, or else the whole subject of marriage among angels would have been a moot point.
So, specifically, I would answer your questions like this:
1. You are correct; there are no new angels. Angels, like humans, are created beings. It appears that the angels were created first, because of the information we have about Satan (an angel) being cast out of heaven, along with one-third of the angels (demons), to wander on the earth, before the creation of man (Isaiah 14:12).
2. No, there’s nothing that says that there are no such things as female angels. According to the passages above, we can indeed think of angels in terms of being either male or female, similar to humans. However, I’m not aware of any impact (neither positive nor negative) that this would have upon any other aspects of the theology of my belief system.
If you’re interested, I would recommend *Systematic Theology* by Lewis Sperry Chafer, where he has some 120 pages on Angelology.
I hope this helps.
Thanks,
Owen
Hello Owen,
I have enjoyed finding your site and I have looked at some of your content but cannot continue reading more.
Like you my wife and I do not attend church and have not done so for over 10 yrs because of the apostasy that has been prophesied now come into being in the church in these last days before Christ’s returns for His church. .
We were born again in 1984 and base our belief in God the Father Son and Holy Spirit fully on God’s Word.
Now we have an acid test or a plumb line by which we measure the the validity of a man’s teaching concerning the word of God.
It concerns a very controversial part of scripture. I found on your site where you answered a question on the gender of angels. In your question you referred to Genesis 6 with Sons of God and the daughters of men generally having two possibilities of the truth of what this scripture could mean and you believe the Sons of God as being what you think to be the true understanding of the interpretation of the given subject.
I have spent 4 years researching and refuting this view you share and proved by the scriptures that the fallen angels theory is a new age modern day attack on the bible. I have posted my teaching on this subject on over 30 videos posted on youtube. It is rampant on there as people have made a doctrine from this lie.
I not only believe that the ‘Seth version’ as some call it is the absolute proof but can prove it so by scripture and scripture alone.
I would be pleased if you could try to read my research with a prayerful heart, and your opinion would be appreciated.
I know all the arguments for the fallen angel suggestions with familiar scripture quotes like Job and and Jude and 2 Peter from my research. I also know the blue letter bible Hebrew evidence that is used to support such an erroneous teaching. However I believe that understanding the bible means to recognise the undeniable thread that runs through scripture that God has shown us by the importance of a a genealogy of people that Christ came to earth by way of to become part of humanity..It is of vital importance that this doctrine be protected and not be subjected to confusion or deliberately tampered with which is what is happening today by satanic attempts to alter scriptural interpretation.
So without further ado I offer my researched defence of the Genesis account of the Sons of God and the daughters of men.
Fallen Angels and Nephilim
A Doctrine of Demons!
A true account which runs right through the bible clearly showing what has happened in connection to since Genesis 6.
1 Timothy 4:1- 4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.
As early as the second generation of man, God divided humanity into nations. He separated Cain and his descendants from the Godly line of Adam through Seth (Genesis 4) and established two distinct types of civilization. The Canaanites were given to “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” The Sethites were God-conscious.
They called themselves by the name of the LORD. But when the two cultures expanded through population, it brought them into contact with the descendants of Cain which resulted into inter-marriage. The Sethites allowed themselves to be influenced and corrupted by the Canaanite women. God became angry with great reason and brought catastrophe upon them. Genesis chapter 6 reads: “When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God (Sethites) saw that the daughters of men (Canaanites) were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with man for ever…’ The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time… So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, off from the face of the earth – men and animals… for I am grieved that I have made them.'” (Genesis 6:1-7)
With this He ended an era, and a the diluvian civilization passed into oblivion. The people of Noah’s time had disobeyed God in every way, including refusing to keep His chosen line spiritually and racially pure. “But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord… He was a righteous man,blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.”Because of this he became the founder of a new order based on obedience and service to the LORD.
But two generations later God again separated the families, for Ham and his son Canaan had failed Him. They were excluded from the Godly line and fathered the Canaanites,Jebusites, Amorites, and Hivites, who later “came together to make war against Joshua and Israel.” (Joshua 9) But Joshua defeated them and “made them… woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the LORD…”Again and again God reiterated the principle: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
As God said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.'”(2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
When the Israelites took possession of the promised land, God told them to”make no covenant” with the inhabitants. He said: “Do not intermarry with them… for they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you… Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7) Ezra taught in chapter 9:11-15 The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.” Ezra 10:7-9 A proclamation was made and the people were trembling at the heavy downpour of rain YES, HEAVY RAIN!!
They remembered what God had done in Genesis 7 and thought it was about to happen again!!
When Nehemiah returned from Persia to rebuild Jerusalem, he re-established God’s Law. But in doing so he had to decide what to do about ‘all the mixed multitude’ which had been born in the mean time. Chapter 13 records: “When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent… Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him… but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?” (13:3 Then 13: 23-29)
This is a truthful account of the consequences of Genesis 6 and how through out the bible it clearly shows it was MAN that God was grieved with. Fallen Angels had nothing to do with it.
.Gibborim (from the singular גִּבֹּר, גִּבּוֹר gibbor) is a hebrew word that can be glossed “mightiest” which is an intensive for gabar (גּבר) that can be glossed “mighty”. Many times it is used of people who are valiant, mighty, or of great stature. There is some confusion about Gibborim as a class of beings because of its use in Genesis 6:4, which describes the Nephilim as mighty (gibborim). (Nephilim) refers to giant in stature
Here is where the problem lies in relying on the Hebrew to decide rather than following scripture in its fullest form describing this thread of man in the bible from his disobedience to obey God to keep the line pure.
Hebrews tells us God never ever called angels His sons. We also know that the bible never gives an account of demons or fallen (from the presence of God after the rebellion in heaven created by Lucifer) angels which are the same thing ever take on the appearance of humans, only possess them! Satan has no creative power and cannot make his demons take the form of man. Only God Almighty is able to perform making angels become the looking like men..That being the case then possessed men would still birth normal children regardless and the suggestion of hybrid is to be ridiculed.
Ask yourselves, are you one of the ‘THEY’ Paul mentions here right now? 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when THEY will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts;
The book of Enoch is the main original source where men have taken and made this fable into doctrine. God in his wisdom put it into the trustees hearts and minds the exact 66 books that were to form the bible and reject any other scriptures i.e. the book of the apocrypha from becoming a divine source of the word of God.The book of Enoch mentions 500 ft tall giants and we are expected to believe this is a reliable source of God’s word?
Indeed no!
If you know in your heart that what you have just read is scriptural and true, then ask the Lord to deliver you from this false and and destructive teaching today.
Robert Radford