After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. 1 Peter 3:19-20
In my last blog I spoke about the disobedience of men in the pre flood generation. The possibility of angelic disobedience is also contained in this passage. My cross reference is 2 Peter 2:4-5 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment..;” The course of interpretation of this passage debatable. I have stated that where there is controversy in the scripture a diligent preacher is obligated to teach the controversy. I will do my best to follow my own admonishment. Key to this passage is what happens in Genesis 6:1-2. “When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.” The debate centers on who are the “sons of God” Job 1:6, 2:1, 38.7 all use the term in regards to angelic beings, Peter’s reference to these angels being placed in “gloomy dungeons” reinforces the fact that they sinned. Some believe that the sin was an angelic/human hybrid that was abhorrent to God.
Jude 5 - 7 is another passage to consider “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
http://www.scripturessay.com/article.php?cat=&id=303 breaks down this passage as follows. “Jude 7 speaks of the SEXUAL IMMORALITY of Sodom and Gomorrah. It adds “The little clause "in like manner" (KJV), "in a similar way" (NIV), "which likewise" (RSV), "they, in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh..." (NAS95), must be understood in it's proper context. Most credible scholars believe that Jude is referring to some event in which angels, in the same way as Sodom, went after strange flesh in a sexually immoral way. It seems likely that the context of Jude 6 considers the context of Genesis 6.”
The problem with the above interpretation is that Jesus explicitly said that "in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven." (Matthew 22:30) (See also Luke 20:34-36). Therefore in Jesus' own words, angels are asexual and do not procreate. Interpreters that believe the Genesis 6 is referencing human and not angelic offspring point out that “The phrase: "sons of God" should be understood as referring to the posterity of Seth, who from the times of Enos, were called by the name of the Lord, (Gen. 4:25) and had the title of the sons of God, in distinction from the children of men. Those in the line of Seth claimed the privilege of divine adoption, and professed to be born of God, and partakers of his grace, and claimed to worship him according to his will, so far as revealed to them, and to fear and serve and glorify him. http://www.scripturessay.com/article.
Another difficulty with the passage is the claim that the angels had illicit relations with women. Yet the text is very clear: "they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose" (Genesis 6:2b). The phrase "took wives for themselves" only, and always, means marriage. It never refers to casual, illicit or adulterous relationships. (See Genesis 11:29 & Ruth 1:4). To suggest otherwise is reading into the text that which is simply not there. http://globalchristiancenter.com/biblical-theology/nephilim-genesis-6.html
There is more information that could be added to support or detract from both positions. Let me state what we know. We know that men sinned greatly before the flood. We know that some of the fallen angels “abandoned their proper abode” and were judged for their sin by being caste into a dungeon for holding until greater judgment. Peter’s motivation for setting the example of the pre flood generation is not in illicit a theological argument but to remind us that God’s judgments can be severe. Peter is a person that experienced a great deal of God’s grace, but he is also the person who spoke God’s judging words on those the lied to the Holy Ghost in Acts 5. The occasion is one in which Ananias and Sapphira gave a large and substantial portion of the proceeds of selling their property for the benefit of the church. Their claim was that they gave all of the profit to the church. Their lie resulted in their immediate death. Peter simply wants us to remember that God is the same yesterday, today and forever; in this case everything else is literally commentary.
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