Good discussion. To analyze any part of Scripture, you need to put the text in the context of the rest of scripture. I do not believe this text refers to angels for two reasons:
- In the New Testament, it clearly states that angels are not married or given in marriage (Matthew 22:30, Mark 12:25)
- The term “Sons of God” is used several times in the Bible to refer to those in the will of God (Hosea 1:10, John 1:12, Romans 8:14, 19, Philippians 2:15, 1 John 3:1-2), if the angels were mating with humans, I do not believe they would be in the will of God. There is one time, however, when the “Sons of God” is used in the context of angels in Job.
I take the position that the creation story of Genesis Chapter 1 and the creation story of Chapter 2:4 on are two separate and sequential events. I feel a reasonable person would come to this conclusion if they read Genesis without any preconceived notions. The “Sons of God” refers to the offspring of Adam and Eve (Adam is referred to as “the son of God” in Luke 3:38) and the daughters of men refer to the men and women created in Genesis 1.
By Adam and Eve not being the first H. Sapiens, this eliminates the conflict with evolution, as I feel evolution could have easily been the means by which God created life in Genesis 1.