"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26).
Luke Chapter 3: (the genealogy of Christ): The first three generations of mankind:
".. the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God." (Luke 3:38).
Only human beings are called the sons of God in the New Testament (multiple times).
Genesis Chapter 4: The sons of Cain (genealogy),
Genesis Chapter 5: The sons of Seth (genealogy).
Genesis Chapter 6: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old ['olam H05769], men of renown." -- Genesis 6:1-4.
The Hebrew word olam in the above verse denotes the fact that those men (that race of men) had been around for as long as mankind could remember - in other words, since long, long before the days of Noah.
- It's therefore very likely that the sons of God is referring to the sons of Seth, and the sons of men to the sons of Cain - whom verse 4 calls "nephilim":
According to Strong's Greek Lexicon, the word nephilim [H05303] means a bully or a tyrant, and it's from the word naphal [H05307] which means to fall or "fallen".
Also, incidentally the word Naphiysh [H05305] - which was later used for the sons of Ishmael - seems closely related to it. Of the sons of Ishmael God said:
"He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren" (Genesis 16:12).
* There is no mention in 2 Peter 2:4-5 or Jude 1:6 of any activity between "fallen angels" and human women (scripture teaches that angels are spirits).
The Bible tells us that the Word of God (Son of God) was present when God created the heavens and the earth - which were created by Him and through Him and for Him - and he rejoiced in it:
The wisdom of God is a characteristic of the Word (Logos) of God. Solomon personifies the wisdom of God, saying,
Proverbs 8
22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
* In Isaiah 44:24 God says, "I am YHWH that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself" (Isaiah 44:24b),
but in Job 38:4 God asked Job if he (Job) was there when God laid the foundation of the earth, when "ALL the sons of God shouted for joy and (ALL) the morning stars sang together." (Job 38:4)
- which shows that God's question was rhetorical - because Job wasn't there, neither were any humans.
So let's take a quick look at the book of Job:
Job came before the LORD to offer a sacrifice - a burnt offering:
1. In the books of the law, God commanded Israel to come up to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year in order to prevent themselves before the LORD, and offer sacrifices for sin.
God is in heaven, yet He is omnipresent. The Jews understood that "heaven and earth met" on Mount Sinai, as it did once a year in the tabernacle - the tent of meeting where God met with His people (represented by the High Priest) - on the Day of Atonement.
It was the meeting place between God and the sons of God - a place where God chose to meet with His creation in His creation.
In the book of Job, Job is the first character in the narrative to be introduced in the book
- then verse 5 says,
"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."
It implies that there was a place in the earth that Job went to, in order to present himself before the LORD and to offer sacrifices for the sins of his sons to God, on their behalf.
2. Immediately after this we are told that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Satan - the accuser - came among them. Then we are told that Satan boasted that he had been "going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it."
Job was in the earth, and God asked Satan if he had considered God's servant Job, who was in the earth.
In the context, Job was among the sons of God who had come to present themselves to God - in the earth - and 'the accuser of the brethren' (Revelation 12:10) came among them:
REVELATION CHAPTER 12
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Revelation 12:10-11).
Satan's weapon was turned against him, and he was "cast out of heaven" to the earth legally because the broken law of God was the only indictment 'the accuser of the brethren' had to accuse the brethren with.
The death and resurrection of Christ ripped that rug out from under his feet.
The text TELLS us when it happened - it happened when Christ had been "caught up to God and to His throne."
THE BOOK OF ENOCH
Like John when he received the Revelation, Enoch stated very clearly that whatever he saw in the book of Enoch, he saw in visions. He states it in Enoch 1:2 and continues to state it throughout the book of Enoch - multiple times - saying things like:
"And now, my son Methuselah, I will show you all the visions that I saw, recounting them before you." (Enoch 83:2).
In other words, Enoch was not necessarily seeing real things when he spoke of 'fallen messengers' as "the sons of God" but visions that were metaphors representing real things.
Whatever all the visions of Enoch mean, and why he referred to the fallen messengers whom he saw in visions as "the sons of God", there are reasons why both Orthodox Judaism and Christianity regard the book of Enoch as spurious, and do not include it in their Canons.
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