HistoricalChristian.Faith

Origen of Alexandria on the Nephilim

Dates: c. 253 Summary: Origen reads the "sons of God" of Genesis 6 as among the beings who "left their own dwelling" and "did not preserve their own principality." He places these sons of God alongside the fallen ones who departed from their original beginning, treating their union with the daughters of men as part of a wider account of how spiritual beings fall from their proper foundation.

Claims & evidence

The sons of God left their own dwelling and did not preserve their principality

Not only man, but also the "sons of God, seeing the daughters of men that they are fair, took for themselves wives of all whom they chose," and consistently all those who left "their own dwelling" and did not preserve their own principality—and by "principality" I mean not in reference to power but to the beginning and foundation…so also for each of the fallen ones a particular beginning is given.

— Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 13, source. Origen reads the sons of God of Genesis 6 in light of Jude's language about angels who "left their own dwelling," interpreting "principality" as the original beginning and foundation each fallen being departed from.

Notes

• Origen aligns with the angelic reading, classing the "sons of God" among spiritual beings who fell from their proper origin, and drawing on Jude's vocabulary of angels who abandoned their dwelling.
• His interest is the metaphysics of falling away from one's "beginning and foundation" rather than the giants as such, fitting his broader theology of the descent of rational beings.