Sin, Immortality and Genesis 6:1–4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2025.021Keywords
Sons of God, Daughters of Men, Genesis 6, immortality, death, PentateuchAbstract
The incident in Gen 6:1-4, has proved an alluring and disturbing mystery for exegetes. There are two broad explanatory strategies I will argue against here. Firstly, that Gen 6:1-4 is a Schuld und Strafe story, one of sin and punishment. Secondly, that the incident provides a motivation for the Flood. I will conclude that Gen 6:1-4 is not a story about sin and punishment. Instead, it is a story about death, or more precisely about shutting down an opportunity for human immortality.
References
Alter, Robert. 2004. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. W. W. Norton & Company.
Arnold, Bill T. 2009. Genesis: The New Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge University Press.
Bowker, John. 1969. The Targums & Rabbinic Literature: An Introduction to Jewish Interpretations of Scripture. Cambridge University Press.
Brodie, Thomas L. 2001. Genesis as Dialogue: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Commentary. Oxford University Press.
Calvin, John. 2009 [1578]. Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis. Translated by Rev. John King. Baker Books.
Carr, David M. 2020. The Formation of Genesis 1–11: Biblical and Other Precursors. Oxford University Press.
Carr, David M. 2021. Genesis 1–11 (International Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament). W. Kohlhammer.
Cefalu, Rita F. 2014. “Royal Priestly heirs to the restoration promise of Genesis 3:15: A biblical theological perspective on the sons of god in Genesis 6”, Westminster Theological Journal 76.2: 351–370. EBSCOhost.
Clines, David J. A. 1979. “The significance of the ’sons of god’ episode (Genesis 6:1–4) in the context of the ‘primeval history’ (Genesis 1–11)”. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 13: 33–46, https://doi.org/10.1177/030908927900401304.
Clifford, Richard J. 2016. “The Divine Assembly in Genesis 1–11.” In Sibyls, Scriptures and Scrolls: John Collins at Seventy (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism: 175), edited by Joel Baden, Hindy Najman & Eibert Tigchelaar. Brill. 276–292.
Cohen, Yoram. 2013. Wisdom from the Late Bronze Age. Society of Biblical Literature.
Davidson, R. 1973. Genesis 1–11. Cambridge University Press.
Day, John. 2013. From Creation to Babel: Studies in Genesis 1–11. Bloomsbury T&T Clark.
Doedens, Jaap. 2019. The Sons of God in Genesis 6:14: Analysis and History of Exegesis: 76 (Oudtestamentische Studiën, Old Testament Studies). Brill.
Eisenman, Robert H. and Wise, Michael Owen. 1992. The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: The First Complete Translation and Interpretation of 50 Key Documents Withheld for Over 35 Years. Penguin Books.
Eslinger, Lyle M. 1979. “A Contextual Identification of the bene ha’elohim and benoth ha’adam in Genesis 6.1–4.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 13: 65–73, https://doi.org/10.1177/030908927900401306.
Fockner, Sven. 2008. “Reopening the Discussion: Another Contextual Look at the Sons of God.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32.4: 435–456, https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089208092140.
George, Andrew. 1999. The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation. Allen Lane at the Penguin Press.
Goldingay, John. 2020. Genesis (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch). Baker Academic.
Gunkel, Hermann. 1997 [1901]. Genesis: Translated and Interpreted. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. Mercer University Press.
Hendel, Ronald. 1987. “Of Demigods and the Deluge: Toward an Interpretation of Genesis 6:1–4.” Journal of Biblical Literature 106.1: 13–26.
Hendel, Ronald. 1992. “When the Sons of God Cavorted with the Daughters of Men”, in Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Hershel Shanks. Vintage Books. 167–77.
Hendel, Ronald. 2004. “The Nephilim Were on the Earth: Genesis 6:1–4 and its Ancient Near Eastern Context”, in The Fall of the Angels, edited by Christoph Auffarth & Loren T. Stuckenbruck. Brill.
Hendel, Ronald. 2024. Genesis 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Yale University Press.
Hom, Mary Katherine Y. H., 2010. ““A Mighty Hunter before YHWH”: Genesis 10:9 and the Moral-Theological Evaluation of Nimrod.” Vetus Testamentum 60: 63–68.
Iwański, Dariusz, 2011. “The identity of the sons of God in Gen 6:1–4 – brief survey of the interpretation.” Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia 4: 27–36. https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2011.002.
Kaminski, Carol M. 2008. “Beautiful Women or ‘False Judgment’? Interpreting Genesis 6.2 in the Context of the Primaeval History.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 32.4: 457–473, https://doi.org/10.1177/0309089208092142
Kidner, Derek. 1967. Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. The Tyndale Press.
Klein, Jacob. 1990. “The ‘Bane’ of Humanity: A Lifespan of One Hundred and Twenty Years.” Acta Sumerologica 12: 57–70.
Kline, Meredith G. 1962. “Divine kingship and Genesis 6:1–4.” Westminster Theological Journal 24.2: 187–204.
Kvanvig, Helge S. 2002. “Gen 6,1–4 as an antediluvian event.” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 16.1: 79–112, https://doi.org/10.1080/09018320210000365.
Louth, Andrew. 2001. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture I. Old Testament. Genesis 1–11. InterVarsity Press.
Luther, M. 1960. Luther’s Works, vol. 2: Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 6–14, translated by George V. Schick, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan & Daniel E. Poellot. Concordia Publishing House.
Parker, Simon B. 1997. Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. Society of Biblical Literature at the Scholars Press.
Petersen, David L. 1979. “Genesis 6:1–4, Yahweh and the organization of the cosmos.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 13: 47–64.
Rogerson, John W., Moberly R. W. L., & Johnstone, William. 2001. Genesis and Exodus. Sheffield Academic Press.
Sarna, Nahum. 2001. Genesis: The JPS Torah Commentary. The Jewish Publication Society.
Schmid, Konrad. 2008. “Loss of Immortality? Hermeneutical Aspects of Genesis 2–3 and Its Early Receptions.” In Beyond Eden: The Biblical Story of Paradise and Its Reception History, edited by Konrad Schmid and Christoph Riedweg. Mohr Siebeck. 58–78.
Theodoret of Cyrus. 2007. Questions on the Octoteuch: Volume One – Genesis and Exodus, translated by Robert C. Hill. Catholic University of America Press.
Van Gemeren, Willem A. 1981 “The Sons of God in Genesis 6:1–4: (An Example of Evangelical Demythologization?).” Westminster Theological Journal 43.2: 320–348.
Von Rad, Gerhard. 1963. Genesis: A Commentary. Translated by John H. Marks. SCM Press.
Von Rad, Gerhard. 1966. Deuteronomy. Translated by Dorothea Barton. SCM Press.
Wellhausen, Julius. 2013 [1885]. Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel. Translated by J. Sutherland Black & Allen Menzies. Cambridge University Press.
Wenham, Gordon J. 1987. Genesis 1–15: Volume One (Word Biblical Commentary). Zondervan.
Westermann, Claus. 1994 [1974]). Genesis 1–11: A Continental Commentary, translated by & S. J. Scullion & J. John. Fortress Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Neil O'Hara
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
CC BY ND 4.0. The Creator/Contributor is the Licensor, who grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work on the fields indicated in the License Agreement.
- The Licensor grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work/related rights item specified in § 1 within the following fields: a) recording of Work/related rights item; b) reproduction (multiplication) of Work/related rights item in print and digital technology (e-book, audiobook); c) placing the copies of the multiplied Work/related rights item on the market; d) entering the Work/related rights item to computer memory; e) distribution of the work in electronic version in the open access form on the basis of Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 3.0) via the digital platform of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Press and file repository of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
- Usage of the recorded Work by the Licensee within the above fields is not restricted by time, numbers or territory.
- The Licensor grants the license for the Work/related rights item to the Licensee free of charge and for an unspecified period of time.
FULL TEXT License Agreement
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 155
Number of citations: 0
