HistoricalChristian.Faith

Tertullian on the Nephilim

Dates: c. 220 Summary: Tertullian holds the angelic reading of Genesis 6: angels "rushed from heaven on the daughters of men," and he treats them as renegade spirits condemned to death. He blames these fallen angels for revealing forbidden arts — metallurgy, the properties of herbs, enchantments, astrology, and the ornaments of feminine adornment — and elsewhere names "the daughters of men" as the occasion of the angels' revolt from God. He also defends the Book of Enoch itself as inspired Scripture, answering the objection that it could not have survived the Flood.

Claims & evidence

The angels rushed from heaven on the daughters of men and taught forbidden arts

…those angels, to wit, who rushed from heaven on the daughters of men; so that this ignominy also attaches to woman. For when to an age much more ignorant (than ours) they had disclosed certain well-concealed material substances, and several not well-revealed scientific arts — if it is true that they had laid bare the operations of metallurgy, and had divulged the natural properties of herbs, and had promulgated the powers of enchantments, and had traced out every curious art, even to the interpretation of the stars…

— On the Apparel of Women, Chapter 2, source. Tertullian attributes the origin of cosmetics, jewelry, and occult arts to these fallen angels, calling them "renegade spirits" and "sinners" whose teachings could lead only to evil.

These are the angels whom in baptism we renounce

And these are the angels whom we are destined to judge: these are the angels whom in baptism we renounce: these, of course, are the reasons why they have deserved to be judged by man.

— On the Apparel of Women, Chapter 2, source. Tertullian identifies the Genesis 6 angels with the spirits Christians renounce at baptism and are destined to judge.

Angels revolted from God on account of "the daughters of men"

For indeed it is "on account of the angels" that he saith women must be veiled, because on account of "the daughters of men" angels revolted from God.

— On Prayer, source. Tertullian invokes the angelic reading to explain Paul's command that women be veiled "on account of the angels," directly linking it to the revolt of Genesis 6.

The Book of Enoch is Scripture, and survived the Flood through Noah

…is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either. I suppose they did not think that, having been published before the deluge, it could have safely survived that world-wide calamity, the abolisher of all things. If that is the reason (for rejecting it), let them recall to their memory that Noah, the survivor of the deluge, was the great-grandson of Enoch himself… Noah therefore, no doubt, might have succeeded in the trusteeship of (his) preaching.

— On the Apparel of Women I.3, historicalchristian.faith. Tertullian answers the objection that a book "published before the deluge" could not have survived it: Noah, Enoch's great-grandson, could have carried its contents through. He adds that even if the text had been "destroyed by the violence of the deluge," it could have been restored afterward — "as, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian storming of it, every document of the Jewish literature is generally agreed to have been restored through Ezra."

…Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord, nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that "every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired." By the Jews it may now seem to have been rejected for that (very) reason, just like all the other (portions) nearly which tell of Christ.

— On the Apparel of Women I.3, historicalchristian.faith. Tertullian treats 1 Enoch as inspired Scripture — quoting it as such and explaining its non-reception by the Jews as of a piece with their rejection of the texts "which tell of Christ."

Notes

Tertullian unmistakably holds the angelic interpretation, treating the "sons of God" as heavenly spirits who fell through lust for women.
He uniquely weaves the tradition into practical theology — the origin of adornment and the Pauline veiling command — and connects the fallen angels to the baptismal renunciation.
Astrology among the forbidden arts. Tertullian's list of the arts the fallen angels "traced out" ends "even to the interpretation of the stars" — the same Watcher-taught astral divination of 1 Enoch 8 (Baraqijal "astrology," Kokabel "the constellations"). Whether the fallen angels really are the origin of astrology is weighed, across the aisle, on the astrology doctrine's fallen-angels argument (assessment: contested).
Bearing on De Young's thesis. This is the strongest single patristic datum that 1 Enoch was held authoritative early, and the actual source of the flood-survival argument the Lord of Spirits podcast misattributes to Jerome. Whether it establishes that the early Church received 1 Enoch as Scripture — Tertullian himself concedes it "is not received by some" — is weighed against the later, excluding Fathers on the argument page The canonicity of 1 Enoch (assessment: weak).