The Hebrew expressions bene-ha'elohim (with the definite article before God) and bene 'elohim occur 4x and 1x respectively in the OT: Gen 6:2 & 4; Job 1:6; 21; 38:7. While KJV, NASB, & NKJ render the expressions as "sons of God" in all five instances, NIV and NRS keep "sons of God" in Genesis but use "angels" and "heavenly beings" respectively in the book of Job. Additionally, the expression ben-'elohim, 'son of a/the god/gods' is found in Dan 3:25.
That the expression refers to heavenly beings is clear in Job. The use of the expression in Gen 6:2 & 4 is, however, extremely difficult to interprete, largely because no 'clear' information is present in the passage to help us along. One proposal gets around the difficulty of thinking about extra-hominid—angelic, perhaps—men breeding with female humans by suggesting that the word 'elohim here is to be understood as an adjective meaning 'mighty.' They were, therefore, not extra-hominids but a tribe of particularly 'mighty' men, and the characterization of their children as "mighty men of old, men of renown" simply serves to clarify the adjective 'elohim (the Nephilim mentioned in the first part of v4 has nothing to do with these "sons of God" except that they were contemporaries). The problem with this proposal, however, is that the definite article before 'elohim does not allow it to be readily read as an adjective. In the end we have to admit we have no certainty on the matter. (For more a detailed consideration, click on the link above; our take is that heavenly beings is the mostly likely meaning there.) The rendition of 'sons of God' as angels or heavenly beings in the other passages presents little problem.
The Greek expression huioi theo is found in Matt 5:9; Lk 20:36, Rom 8:15, 19 & Gal 3:26. All of the usages have Christians as their referent.
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