Expert: LEBoyd - 8/8/2007

Question
I have some questions, actually lots, but I'll try not to bombard you with too many at once.

First, I'd like to hear your take on Gen.6. In vs. 2, sons of God - does this refer to man, or angels? Are we one in the same? The rest of the chapter repeatedly says man and refers to flesh. Also, these sons of God, were they sons by adoption, as the bible then refers to Jesus as the only begotten? I'm also confused about 1Cor. 11:10 "because of the angels"

Second, vs.6 says that God was sorry for creating man, and grieved in his spirit. Does this mean that god made a mistake?

Next, vs.7, says God would destroy man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air. Why would he destroy the animals because of man's corruptness? Why did he say he would kill all flesh with the breath of life (vs.17) and then spared some of the animals? If god is omnipotent, why does he say things and then change his mind?

Thanks for taking the time to share your input. I look forward to your reply. God bless.

Answer
Greg,

These are all very good questions.  The way I study for questions like these is to consider the whole Bible.  Whenever I come up with a hard question, I know the answer has to fit within the Bible.

Therefore, for your first question, I see that the "children of God" always refers to God's people.  With this in mind, the "sons of God" refers to those who follow God's will and the "daughters of man" refers to those who do not.

Genesis 6 is a chapter that fits exactly with what we also learn about marriage.  The Bible teaches that God does not want His people marrying people who are not His.  The simple reason for this, as seen in this chapter, is that it is easier for the children of God to be drawn away from God through these marriages.

In the Old Testament, we see that God's people are sons through selection, as with Abraham and the Israelites.  In the New Testament, we have the introduction of the idea of adoption.  In the Old Testament God chose His people.  In the New Testament, all people can become children of God and this is referred to as adoption.

Your question about 1 Cor. 11:10 is also a difficult question because we really don't know much about angels.  However, we do know that they were created by God to serve God and had God as their authority.  In my opinion, this verse references that God has created a hierarchy of authority, and that it's not necessarily an insult.  So, man is over woman, just as God is over angels.  This does not mean angels, or women, are not important.  It's only a reference to the hierarchy.

Back to Gen. 6:6, once the sons of God fell away from God, He was disappointed in the outcome.  God created man with free will, and if you have any children, you have a small glimpse of what God goes through when His children choose not to follow His will.  He knew what man would chose, just as we almost always know what our children will chose.  We don't make the decision for them, and we are disappointed when they make poor choices.  But godly people don't think of their children as mistakes, and God did not make a mistake by creating the universe and man.

When we get to verse 7, again we have to decide how this verse fits within the whole Bible.  We know that not everything in the Bible is written as literal.  So, when we see a verse that seems to not fit the whole Bible, we need to see if there is a non-literal interpretation.  This seems to be hyperbole.  Just as in Matt. 4:8, where the devil "showed Him (Jesus) all the kingdoms of the world".  This obviously must be hyperbole, as there is no mountain tall enough to see all the kingdoms of the world.  The language in Genesis is an exaggeration to stress that God was going to destroy the world, and in Matthew an exaggeration that the devil was offering the whole world.

Your last question is whether God changes His mind.  We have many examples in the Bible where God's people implore God to change His mind, and He does.  Two quick examples are Genesis 18, where Abraham implores God to not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham negotiates with God to not destroy them if only 10 righteous people are there - unfortunately there were not even 10.  A second example is with King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20.  God tells him to get his house in order because his is going to die.  Hezekiah implores God to extend his life, and God answers his prayer.  These, and other examples, should encourage God's people that God does hear our prayers and will answer them.

Thanks for your questions, and I hope I was not too lengthy.