When we dig into Genesis 6:1–4, two short lines raise big questions. Who were the sons of God? What happened with the daughters of men? Early Christians did not all agree, but many of the earliest voices took an angelic view. Clement of Alexandria is one of them.
He says some angels renounced the higher beauty of God for a fading, earthly beauty. They fell, and, as other ancient readers also said, they shared secrets that pulled people toward lust, magic, and idolatry. (New Advent, Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
Clement does not give us new Scripture. He passes on how many in his world already read Genesis 6, and he uses that reading to warn the church and shape Christian life.
Who was Clement of Alexandria?
Titus Flavius Clemens, known as Clement of Alexandria, taught at the catechetical school in Alexandria. He wrote three major works: Exhortation to the Greeks, The Instructor (Latin Paedagogus), and The Stromata (or Miscellanies). Clement stood against gnostic errors while speaking in a language that educated Greeks understood.
Later in life he found refuge with his former student Alexander of Jerusalem. Many traditions also remember Origen as his pupil. (Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia)
Clement believed true philosophy and revelation are friends when ordered under Christ. He often argued that the best insights among Greek thinkers came from the Bible’s older stream. He could say bluntly that Greek philosophers were “thieves,” borrowing without credit from Moses and the prophets. (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
Clement’s context: Bible first, but not Bible alone
Clement wrote for a city buzzing with ideas. He wanted Christians to live holy lives in a world of pleasure, luxury, and occult practices. He drew firm lines:
- Scripture is the standard.
- Greek learning can serve truth when tamed by Scripture.
- Stories about angels leaving their place are moral warnings, not excuses for speculation.
This is why his short comments on Genesis 6 matter. He uses the angel story to train Christian habits, especially around desire, adornment, and knowledge used for power.
Key text 1: the fall through beauty in the Paedagogus
Here’s the quote from The Paedagogus, Book 3:
For the mind is carried away by pleasure; and the unsullied principle of reason, when not instructed by the Word, slides down into licentiousness, and gets a fall as the due reward of its transgression.
An example of this are the angels, who renounced the beauty of God for a beauty which fades, and so fell from heaven to earth.
The Paedagogus, Book 3 (New Advent, Catholic Culture)
In simple terms:
- Pleasure can carry the mind away when it is not taught by the Word.
- The angels are a case study: they traded eternal beauty for temporary beauty.
- That downward trade explains their fall.
Clement ties the moral center of the Genesis 6 story to the heart. Sin begins as a misdirected love. The fall of angels is not a curiosity; it is a mirror for us.
Key text 2: secrets told to women in the Stromata
Here’s the quote from The Stromata, Book 5:
And we showed in the first Miscellany that the philosophers of the Greeks are called thieves, inasmuch as they have taken without acknowledgement their principal dogmas from Moses and the prophets.
To which also we shall add, that the angels who had obtained the superior rank, having sunk into pleasures, told to the women the secrets which had come to their knowledge; while the rest of the angels concealed them, or rather, kept them against the coming of the Lord.
The Stromata, Book 5 (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
This short passage links three ideas:
- Dependency: Greek learning leans on biblical wisdom.
- Desire: Some angels sank into pleasures.
- Disclosure: Those angels revealed secrets to women, while faithful angels kept those things for the Lord’s time.
Readers in Clement’s world already knew this storyline from Jewish Second Temple texts like 1 Enoch, where the Watchers teach forbidden arts and luxury tricks that stir lust and bind people. Clement does not retell the plot. He assumes it and draws a moral. (De Gruyter Brill, TheTorah)
What Clement teaches in plain terms
Angels, freedom, and desire
Like humans, angels were free. Some chose wrongly. They loved what fades more than God. That wrong love led to illicit unions and moral collapse. (New Advent)
Secrets that feed sin
In the older tradition, the fallen angels taught adornment arts, potions, and sorcery. Clement echoes this: pleasure plus knowledge can corrupt. When desire rules, skills serve lust and idolatry. (Christian Classics Ethereal Library, TheTorah)
Scripture sets the guardrails
Clement speaks as a Bible teacher. Genesis 6 is short; Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 only hint. But the angel view was common, so he uses it to warn and form Christian habits. The point is holiness, not entertainment.
How Clement fits with other early voices
Clement stands with many second-century writers who adopted the angelic reading:
- Athenagoras says some angels lusted, took women, and giants came from those unions. (New Advent)
- Irenaeus ties the angel unions to sorcery, cosmetics, and idolatry, again using the Watcher story as a moral caution.
- Tertullian warns Christian women about vanity, tying adornment to the same ancient Watcher sins.
These writers do not always quote Genesis 6 line by line. They rely on a shared background known in Jewish and Christian circles. Clement’s voice shows that background worked as pastoral warning, especially in a culture drowning in luxury and magic.
Where Clement’s “Greek philosophy” comments fit in
Clement often says that Greek philosophy took its best truths from Moses and the prophets. Sometimes he calls that borrowing a “theft.” Behind the sharp word is a pastoral aim: he wants Christians to use what is true in Greek thought while staying loyal to revelation. In the same breath he can both affirm what is good and expose the sources. That is why he brings up angels, secrets, and prophecy in the same chapter. (Christian Classics Ethereal Library, New Advent, Early Christian Writings)
For Clement, truth comes from God. If the Greeks have fragments, they are older than Greece. If the world is broken, it is because free creatures misused good gifts.
How this relates to Genesis 6 and the New Testament
- Genesis 6:1–4 says “sons of God” took “daughters of men,” and Nephilim were in the land. Ancient readers often took “sons of God” as heavenly beings.
- Genesis 6:11–13 says the earth was filled with violence, so God sent the Flood.
- Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 speak of angels who sinned and are now kept until judgment.
Clement stands in that stream. He reads Genesis 6 as an angel story with ethical weight. The sin is crossing God’s boundary. The fruit is violence, idolatry, and shame. The answer is judgment and mercy, with Noah preserved by grace.
A fair look at the Sethite view
Some later thinkers, especially after Augustine, argued that the “sons of God” were the line of Seth, and the “daughters of men” were from Cain. On this view the sin was the mixing of faithful and unfaithful people.
Clement does not develop that reading. He assumes the angel view common in his time. Still, we can state both fairly:
- Sethite strength: avoids speculation about angel bodies and keeps the focus on intermarriage and compromise.
- Angel view strength: fits the phrase “sons of God” as used for heavenly beings in the oldest layers of Scripture, and makes sense of Jude and 2 Peter.
Our project favors the angel view while treating the Sethite reading with respect, as a later attempt to guard against myth-making.
What Clement adds that helps modern readers
He centers the heart
Clement’s line about renouncing the beauty of God cuts deep. Sin is a misdirected love. We become what we admire. If we love fading beauty, we slide into licentiousness. That is the inner logic of Genesis 6 in his teaching. (New Advent)
He names the lure of “useful” secrets
Clement warns that some knowledge, when untethered from the Word, serves lust and power. This matches Enochic warnings about angels teaching adornment and spells—a way of weaponizing beauty and desire. (TheTorah)
He trains Christians to discern culture
By calling some philosophers “thieves,” Clement tells believers to test ideas. Keep what is true; reject what seduces. Read culture critically, with Scripture first. (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
Clear definitions for new readers
- Sons of God: in this article, heavenly beings who crossed a boundary in Genesis 6
- Daughters of men: human women
- Nephilim: often understood as offspring of those unions, remembered as giants or mighty ones
- Watchers: a 1 Enoch term for the angels who sinned (extra-biblical background)
- Second Temple literature: Jewish writings from about 500 BC to AD 70 that retell and interpret Scripture; not Scripture themselves
My thoughts
Clement hits me in two places. First, the phrase “renounced the beauty of God for a beauty which fades” feels like a diagnosis for every age. It names the trade our hearts make when we choose a quick glow over lasting glory.
Second, his note that some angels told secrets to women reminds me that information is never neutral. Without the Word, even good skills get bent toward control, lust, or status.
Clement is not anti-learning; he is anti-learning-without-holiness. That balance is exactly what we need.
Conclusion: Back to Scripture
Clement of Alexandria shows a settled, early angel reading of Genesis 6. Angels chose fading beauty, fell, and shared secrets that fed idolatry and vice. He uses that story not to entertain, but to disciple. Desire must be taught by the Word. Knowledge must be ruled by love. Worship must belong to God alone.
Let his brief lines send you back to Genesis 6, Jude 6, and 2 Peter 2:4. Read them with fresh ears. Then choose the lasting beauty of God over the beauty that fades.
Resources
- Clement, The Paedagogus (Book 3) — English translations with the “beauty that fades” passage. (New Advent, Catholic Culture)
- Clement, The Stromata (Book 5) — English translations with the “angels told secrets” passage and the note about philosophers as “thieves.” (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
- Background on Clement — concise biographies and context. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
- Second Temple backdrop — studies on Watchers revealing adornment and magic. (TheTorah, De Gruyter Brill)
