"Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown". Genesis 6:4

Is there a DEFINITIVE Church Teaching on the Nephilim? It seems as though all ancient sources are more inclined towards the more sinister involvement of demons, whereas more modern theologians think it means Sethites. Here is a link of what the Early Church Fathers thought, as they were split on this topic; http://www.robibrad.demon.co.uk/Chapter5.htm

Here is another great article by Barbara Aho; http://www.mt.net/~watcher/enoch5.html

Sons of God were either;

1) Sons of Seth, who intermarried with the Daughters of Cain (which somehow produced giants? And gave them almost supernatural abilities etc?) This is interpreted as to be a warning against mixed marriages... but then why would God ANNIHILATE the whole human race but 8 because of mixed marriages, something more sinister had to be happening.

2) Sons of God refers to angel who fell to Earth, and in doing so adopted physical bodies and fornicated with the women. "And the angels who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment of the great day. As Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighbouring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire". Jude 1:6-7. The Book of Enoch, although not canonical, supports this, as does Flavius Josephus.

3) A mix of premises 1 and 2. Sons of Seth became involved in the Satanic rituals of the Cainites, and thereby became perfectly possessed by demons which somehow corrupted their seed in some supernatural way? This notion is supported by the works of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich

The Holy Bible says that "For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven" Matt 22:30.
This only says that Angels IN HEAVEN do not marry. I also know that Thomistic Metaphysics dictates that angels cannot procreate. But this still leaves holes in the story.

Also, in Numbers 13:33, when the Israelites approached the land of Canaan "There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts". Enac/Anak were a race of Nephilim. If the Deluge was GLOBAL (which I think it was), there were no descendants of Cain alive, so this cannot refer to mixed marriages theory again.

There are COUNTLESS verses and commentaries that prove/disprove either of the 3 theories. My question is this; I am inclined to believe either 2 or 3. Am I falling into some kind of heresy?

Ave Maria!

I think #2 makes the most sense on the face of it. I've also read an interpretation where the the "fornication" with the "daughters of men" is taken in a figurative sense to mean that immaterial beings took on corporeal form. In this case "fornication with the daughters of men" simply means that these superlative beings mixed with the four elements and acquired corporeal form.  

I was under the impression these men were literally quite large in stature I.e. actual giants

They were also savage and lustful, just generally having greater degrees of humanness on every scale, physicality, size, emotion, but also ambition etc.

They could either do great good or great evil, more so than humans since then up to now.

"Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown". Genesis 6:4

Is there a DEFINITIVE Church Teaching on the Nephilim? It seems as though all ancient sources are more inclined towards the more sinister involvement of demons, whereas more modern theologians think it means Sethites. Here is a link of what the Early Church Fathers thought, as they were split on this topic; http://www.robibrad.demon.co.uk/Chapter5.htm

Here is another great article by Barbara Aho; http://www.mt.net/~watcher/enoch5.html

Sons of God were either;

1) Sons of Seth, who intermarried with the Daughters of Cain (which somehow produced giants? And gave them almost supernatural abilities etc?) This is interpreted as to be a warning against mixed marriages... but then why would God ANNIHILATE the whole human race but 8 because of mixed marriages, something more sinister had to be happening.

2) Sons of God refers to angel who fell to Earth, and in doing so adopted physical bodies and fornicated with the women. "And the angels who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgment of the great day. As Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighbouring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire". Jude 1:6-7. The Book of Enoch, although not canonical, supports this, as does Flavius Josephus.

3) A mix of premises 1 and 2. Sons of Seth became involved in the Satanic rituals of the Cainites, and thereby became perfectly possessed by demons which somehow corrupted their seed in some supernatural way? This notion is supported by the works of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich

The Holy Bible says that "For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven" Matt 22:30.
This only says that Angels IN HEAVEN do not marry. I also know that Thomistic Metaphysics dictates that angels cannot procreate. But this still leaves holes in the story.

Also, in Numbers 13:33, when the Israelites approached the land of Canaan "There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts". Enac/Anak were a race of Nephilim. If the Deluge was GLOBAL (which I think it was), there were no descendants of Cain alive, so this cannot refer to mixed marriages theory again.

There are COUNTLESS verses and commentaries that prove/disprove either of the 3 theories. My question is this; I am inclined to believe either 2 or 3. Am I falling into some kind of heresy?

Ave Maria!

Hi,

There is third possibility, and, I believe, a much simple one.
The sons of God were just men who simply cannot get married (because of a vow), so the sense would be "the world was so corrupted that even the sons of God were great sinners" and that is why you have the chastisement.

I believe St. Thomas is right when he teaches demons cannot procreate and option number 1 doesn´t explain the severity of the chastisement as you pointed out.

I read an article defending this theory in the Spanish review "estudios bíblicos" published in the forties.
 

Heresy?  I dunno.  I buy the legend, at least.  I have, ever since I was a kid.  In my younger days, I was a Bible-thumping Protestant, and so of course, everything in the Bible was literal and true.  

It still is.  

My old ways of considering the Bible have not gone away.  I still take Genesis quite literally, including Genesis 6:4.  

I'll give you several verses in the same chapter proceeding that one that you can interpret just as literally and erroneously...




5.And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times,

6. It repented Him that He had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart,

7. He said: I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth Me that I have made them.



We know God can have no regret for anything He does, as if He were capable of making mistakes etc., but a person could easily come to believe that by interpreting these verses literally.

There is nothing unnatural or demonic about men of gigantic stature. Our ancestors were giants, and it's a simple as that. There is genetic evidence for that anyway.

I would be interested to learn of such evidence.

Thank you. I only needed a pointer, not outright spoon-feeding.

There's even reference in Post Flood events in the Bible (e.g. Numbers, Deuteronomy, Kings) that the Giants were on the Earth then too.

I've read texts that say the fallen angels 're-corruped' (in whichever way that was) mankind (specifically the Canaanites), from where we have the Anakim, Rephaim etc (Numbers 13:33). That is why God apparently commanded that the Israelites exterminate the Canaanites and to a lesser extent the Philistines.