Talk:Sons of God

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Contents 1 Jude 1:6 2 Sons of the powerful 3 Counter to theory one 4 Article issues, beginning with title

[edit] Jude 1:6

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 1:6 (KJV)

This passage is often used as a counterpoint to the one in Matthew.

[edit] Sons of the powerful

Another interpretation, which may be specifically Jewish, (I'm not sure, but I've seen it footnoted in Jewish bible translations) is that the phrase "elohim" literally means "powerful." Therefore the passage could be translated; "Sons of the powerful."

[edit] Counter to theory one

I removed the following text from the end of theory one as it is unreferenced (unfortunately like much of this page) and blatently wrong:

However, taking a look at every other instance of the phrase "Sons of God" or "Son of God" in the Old Testament, it becomes clear that the reference is to a spiritual creature of some sort. This is in contrast to the New Testament's use of the phrase, where it can refer to man or spiritual being. This leads us to the second theory:

In the old testament it is not clear at all that the phrase refers to "a spiritual creature", quite the opposite:

"When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose." (Genesis 6:1-2)

And in the New Testament it refers to any person "led by the Spirit":

"because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." (Romans 8:14)

[edit] Article issues, beginning with title

"Of God" is only one meaning of the Hebrew word elohim, for example it can also mean Godly, and elohim can even denote princely or high rank (god-like in a very small-g sort of sense.). Traditional Judaism generally holds that Benei elohim may mean godly children or children of Powers, but does not mean "Sons of God". The difficulty here is that the very article title reflects a POV. Second, in traditional Judaism angels are living entities which people encounter from time to time -- it's customary for religious Jews to talk to their personal angels every Friday night -- so the topic is not solely about theories the meaning of an obscure passage in the Bible, but about entities that are parts of a living world. Best, --Shirahadasha 04:44, 11 October 2007 (UTC)