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Apostolic Life in the 21st Century

Who Were the Nephilim in Genesis 6?

Apostolic Life in the 21st Century

David K. Bernard

Theology, Oneness Pentecostal, Religion & Spirituality, Apostolic Pentecostal, United Pentecostal Church International, Upci, Christianity, David K. Bernard

5870 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Who were the "Nephilim" in Genesis 6:4, and how should we make sense of the “sons of God” having children with the “daughters of humans," as this verse states? Dr. David K. Bernard examines this frequently debated Bible passage and offers the most plausible interpretation based on the entirety of Scripture. Visit PentecostalPublishing.com to shop Dr. Bernard's full catalog of published works. Enter promo code DKB10 at checkout to save 10 percent on your order. If you enjoy this podcast, leav...

Transcript

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0:00.0

If you've ever read Genesis 6 and wondered who the Nephilim were, well, don't go away because Dr. David

0:14.5

K. Bernard is going to tackle that question on this episode of Apostolic Life in the 21st century.

0:27.3

Dr. Bernard, we want to ask you today a question that repeatedly comes up that you've been asked many times.

0:28.4

We'd like your take on it.

0:32.0

It's about the first four verses of the book of Genesis.

0:37.6

So I'm going to read it from the New International Version to set the stage for the question.

0:41.4

So here's how the new international version translates the opening of Genesis Chapter 6. It says, when human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters

0:46.1

were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful,

0:51.3

and they married many of them as they chose. Then the Lord said,

0:56.6

My spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they're mortal. Their days will be 120 years.

1:01.3

Here's the part that really raises a lot of eyebrows. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days,

1:06.2

and also afterward, when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them,

1:11.8

they were the heroes of old men of renown. I think I would speak for many people in our audience

1:17.2

when I say that this is a rather bizarre passage. Who are the Nephilim? How do we make sense of this

1:23.8

sons of God having children with the daughters of humans. What's going on here in Genesis 6?

1:29.4

Well, first of all, let me address the term Nephilim in Hebrew. Actually, scholars say the meaning

1:34.5

is quite uncertain. Nobody really knows for sure. The King James says giants. And so the most common

1:41.2

understanding is these are, if not physical giants, some as you read, heroes or mighty people or exceptional people.

1:49.8

So a common thought, there are basically two explanations. The first one is, well, these are angelic beings who came down and procreated with human women.

2:00.7

And that might be at first glance what you would think.

2:05.5

And to support that, the people would say, well, the term sons of God is used the book of Job for angels.

2:13.0

Second Peter and Jude also talked about angels who fell and who sinned. Of course, that itself is not

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