One of my great joys in leadership is participating in Q&A sessions with younger people. I always admire the unfiltered perspective young people bring to asking questions.

Too often, older Christians refrain from asking really important questions because they don’t want to sound silly or they think they should already know the answer.

One of the questions I was asked was who or what are the Nephilim.

I love that question and I have a strong opinion on what the answer to that question is.

But I didn’t just want to force my conclusion on the youth. So I presented the 2 main positions people who care about this kind of question land on.

I have a challenge for each position that needs to be addressed before you claim the position as your own.

So, I thought I’d write up my notes and publish them here for posterity.

The Texts

There are 2 passages in the bible that directly reference the Nephilim. One is found in Genesis and one in Numbers.

Genesis chapter 6

Numbers 13

The 2 different views:

So, I want you to weigh up both views and determine for yourself which is the most plausible. Both views need to answer a credible challenge in order to hold ground.

View one: The Nephelim are humans

The first view looks at Genesis 4-5 and notices that humans can be traced through two bloodlines linked to Adam and Eve.

The line of Cain (Genesis 4) = a corrupt and wicked people group.

The line of Seth (Genesis 5) = a holy and good people group.

This view then says that the Nephelim are derived from a holy and good people group (Sons of God = the line of Seth) mixing with a corrupt and wicked people group (Daughters of mankind = the line of Cain).

The challenge to taking this view…

The big problem with this view that needs dealing with is that it doesn’t account for the physical descriptions of the Nephilim. They’re described in the bible as being really big – like giants. If it’s two human bloodlines mixing, this doesn’t really account for the existence of giants.

View two: The Nephilim are human/demon hybrids

The second view notices a couple of things:

A) The physical description of the Nephilim implies a supernatural species
B) The “Sons of God” is used elsewhere in the bible to describe angels

The view suggests that when Satan and some fellow angels rebelled against God, they had sexual relations with humans, and the resulting offspring were a human/demon hybrid called the Nephilim.

The challenge to taking this view…

Jesus describes the angels as not participating in sexual relationships or marriage in heaven. Given that they don’t participate in that kind of thing, it seems contradictory if they do in Genesis to create the Nephilim.

Over to you.

What do you think?

Why?

You can use my contact form to let me know and I’ll get back to you with my take on which option I prefer and why.