Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 67:4 (Dec 2024)
Article: Corruption Of The "Imago Dei": The בני האלהים Motif, Giants, And Jude 5–7
Author: Mark L. Richardson

JETS 67:4 (December 2024) p. 687

Corruption Of The Imago Dei: The בני האלהים Motif, Giants, And Jude 5–7

Mark L. Richardson*

* Mark L. Richardson is the lead pastor for preaching at First Baptist Church in The Colony, TX. He may be contacted at [email protected].

This article is a revision of a paper presented at the 75th ETS Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, on November 15, 2023, and at the Southwest Regional ETS Meeting in Shawnee, OK, on April 12, 2024. I am grateful to Mark Coppenger, Mark DeVine, Todd Chipman, and Carolyn Wright for reading an earlier version and their recommended improvements. Remaining deficiencies are my own.

Abstract: This article asserts that the בני האלהים (“sons of God”) motif is a fundamental component of a canonical theological framework that helps the reader appreciate the coherence of Jude 5–7 and has important implications for theological anthropology, systematic theology, and homiletics. The article also fills a literature gap concerning the historical-religious background of Genesis 6:1–4, highlights significant omissions regarding the conquest period, clarifies the Greek text of Jude 7, and identifies the Old Testament content as part of the essentials of the faith previously taught to the original audience. While divine judgment has been rightly emphasized in the three epic Old Testament episodes that Jude describes, an additional commonality is the reality of anthropomorphic angels—a strange notion surpassed only by the conception and condescension of the Son of God in the form of man. This commonality becomes apparent as evidence from the Hebrew Bible, Mesopotamian and Second Temple sources, the Greek New Testament, early church fathers, and contemporary studies is used to interpret the passage and substantiate the article’s thesis.

Key words: Jude, sons of God, בני האלהים, imago Dei, Genesis 6:1–4, divine council, giants, Nephilim, Anakim, biblical theology, anthropology, systematic theology, anthropomorphic angels, מלאכים, catechism, false teachers, homiletics

D. A. Carson once likened the Bible to a huge jigsaw puzzle that came with instructions from the manufacturer, but years later he corrected his own analogy. When a scholar of his importance and influence modifies his own comparison, all should take note. He writes, “It would be closer to the mark to imagine the same instructions with a gigantic three-dimensional ...