In Genesis 6, how do we get from “sons of God and daughters of men” to a world “filled with violence”—without leaning on 1 Enoch as the primary interpretive lens? In this episode, Carey builds an intra-biblical case that follows Scripture’s own narrative logic: the issue isn’t “giant genetics” or DNA speculation, but a tangled moral ecology where worship disorder, sexual boundary-crossing, oppression/injustice, and bloodshed belong to the same web of corruption.

We also trace how the prophets (especially Ezekiel) routinely pair idolatry and violence in the same indictment, helping us see how Scripture itself connects vertical worship and horizontal ethics.

What you’ll find in this episode:

• Why an intra-biblical approach can still land on a supernatural reading of “sons of God,” without importing later Second Temple details as the controlling frame.
• Why the “through line” to the flood is not genetics, even though procreation is in the story.
• The recurring biblical “package deal”: false worship ↔ injustice/oppression ↔ violence/bloodshed ↔ sexual immorality, all functioning as covenant pollution.
• Why “blotting out” signals removal/unmaking, not just retribution—and why creation itself is portrayed as impacted by human corruption.
• Salvation and deliverance aren’t in human systems or self-repair, but in Christ alone (Acts 4:12).

Scripture & passages referenced (highlights)
Genesis 6; Ezekiel 8–9; Ezekiel 22; Leviticus 18; Numbers 35; Deuteronomy 9, 18, 29; Habakkuk 2; Numbers 25; Psalm 82; Acts 4:12.

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

• (00:00:00) - Genesis 6 without extra-biblical “control”
• (00:02:21) - The through-line to flood violence (it’s not “DNA”)
• (00:06:05) - Formation/deformation: how false worship distorts the image
• (00:10:07) - Ancient “institutional worship”: you couldn’t just opt out
• (00:15:19) - Patterns, not systems
• (00:17:34) - Ezekiel 8: temple abominations and violence
• (00:20:23) - Back to Genesis 6: Not letting humanity off the hook
• (00:27:54) - Genesis 6:7: “blot out” vs “destroy”
• (00:32:08) - Genesis 6:11–12: “corrupt” + “filled with violence” as a moral ecology
• (00:36:53) - Land pollution texts: Leviticus 18, Numbers 35, Deuteronomy
• (00:45:01) - Ezekiel’s flood-logic: worship disorder produces societal violence
• (00:50:43) - Pulling it together: spiritual + human causality, layered not competing
• (01:00:08) - Psalm 82 and justice: why “justice talk” still sits inside worship realities
• (01:01:35) - Acts 4:12: salvation and deliverance in Christ alone

In the finale of the Fire series, Carey traces eschatological fire across Scripture—not as a single “hellfire” image, but as a matrix of scenes where fire unveils, judges, purifies, and ultimately makes creation fit for God’s presence.

We start with Daniel 7, where fire is judicial theophany: God’s flaming throne, the opened books, and the public verdict against beastly dominion. Then Zephaniah 3 reframes fire as the jealous flame of covenant holiness—wrath that consumes and then leads to purified speech and unified worship among the nations. From there, 2 Peter 3 expands the horizon to the whole cosmos: fire that exposes and dissolves the old order on the way to new heavens and a new earth. Finally, Revelation 20–22 places the lake of fire and the “second death” beside the arrival of New Jerusalem, with death itself thrown down and the nations healed.

Carey also explains why faithful Christians land in different places on final judgment—Eternal Conscious Torment, Conditional Immortality (Annihilation), and Universal Reconciliation—and argues we can’t shortcut the debate without first mapping what each text is doing with “fire.”

Download the 40+ page study guide (link in the episode notes) for passage lists, questions to take into your own study, and a framework for reading these texts carefully.

• Five questions for reading end-times “fire” texts
• Daniel 7: fire as courtroom unveiling + verdict
• Zephaniah 3: jealous fire, nations gathered, purified lips, “one shoulder” worship
• 2 Peter 3: cosmic fire, exposure, holiness now, new creation
• Revelation 20–22: lake of fire, second death, death defeated, healing for the nations
• Why Christians “join” or “split” apocalyptic images differently (Heiser’s framing)
  
  

• Companion episode: Episode 55 (on Gehenna / Sheol / related “hell” imagery).
  
  

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

• (00:00:00) - Study guide mention + 3 major afterlife views
• (00:04:09) - Core question: Day of the Lord, hell fire, and why views differ
• (00:06:25) - Five interpretive questions for “end-times fire” texts
• (00:07:42) - Daniel 7: courtroom fire as judicial theophany
• (00:10:56) - Holy ones / Divine Council angle
• (00:15:06) - Retribution and restoration in Daniel 7
• (00:18:00) - Zephaniah 3: jealous fire + wrath
• (00:27:08) - “Seek Yahweh”: from retribution to restoration
• (00:31:03) - 2 Peter 3: cosmic fire and holiness now
• (00:37:26) - Revelation 20: lake of fire, final judgment
• (00:44:03) - Revelation 21: restoration promises
• (00:50:15) - Worship, oppression, deception: who bears responsibility?
• (00:53:59) - Summary: Day-of-the-Lord fire = unveiling God’s reign
• (00:55:25) - ECT / CI / UR: Matthew 25 + Mark 9
• (00:59:07) - Heiser “joiner vs splitter”: interpretive moves for eschatological imagery
• (01:03:28) - What each view “privileges”

In this episode, Carey connects the “fire series” to a bigger question: what does it mean for God’s holy presence to be “distributed” through the Church—and even into the world—often in spite of us?

From Genesis to Pentecost to Paul’s “corporate temple” language, we explore how God’s glory spreads through a holy people, and why the refiner’s fire is not just about individual sin—but about community formation, church worldliness, and shared discipleship.

• Glory filling the earth as a creation purpose (Genesis 1; Habakkuk 2:14)
• Pentecost as Sinai-going-public: Spirit fire, covenant presence, and commissioning
• Why the Church isn’t a bunch of private temples: one Spirit, one holy dwelling
• Refiner’s fire as compatibility with holiness: exposure + purging, not mere “punishment”
• Malachi 3 and the “prosperity gospel” misunderstanding: corporate justice and care for the poor
• “Milk vs. solid food” as a formation diagnosis, not only an education level
• Why the “marketplace of ideas” is never neutral: it forms desires, attention, identity, and instincts
• Practical implications: treat community life as sacred space, pursue unity, justice, integrity—without moral superiority

Genesis 1:26–28; Habakkuk 2:14; Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 3; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:9–10; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; Malachi 3; Hebrews 5:11–14 (and additional allusions to Acts 17; Jeremiah 29; “salt and light”).

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

• (00:00:00) - The Big Question: God’s Holy Fire “Distributed”
• (00:02:29) - Beyond Individualism: Identity, Community, and Tribalism
• (00:10:17) - Refiner’s Fire as Communal Formation
• (00:12:48) - The Church Was Always the Point: Setting the Biblical Arc
• (00:14:55) - Pentecost as Sinai Going Public
• (00:17:01) - One Spirit, One Temple: The Corporate Dwelling
• (00:22:46) - What Gets Burned Up: Fire Reveals and Purges
• (00:29:45) - What Fire Exposes: Idols, Factions, Falsehood, Straw
• (00:34:55) - Present Refining vs “The Day”: Vindication and Judgment
• (00:38:32) - Milk vs Meat: A Formation Diagnosis (Not Just “Education”)
• (00:47:37) - No Neutral Space: Formation in the Marketplace of Ideas

Where do we actually see atonement in Genesis—before the Levitical system even exists? In this episode, Carey uses frame semantics to map the Hebrew “atonement” word-group (kipper and its conceptual neighborhood) across the Torah, then searches Genesis for both the explicit word and strong conceptual rhymes.

Along the way, we challenge the assumption that “atonement” means penal forgiveness. Instead, we explore atonement as functional repair—keeping God’s dwelling space fit for his presence—and the wider matrix that includes cleansing, washing, reparations, and relational restoration.

Key moves in the episode:

• A quick framework for “atonement” in Torah: problem → agent → means → wording → result.
• Why Genesis can legitimately be read with Levitical concepts in mind (without forcing later theology backward).
• Genesis “touchpoints,” including:
  • Noah’s ark “covering” with pitch (Genesis 6:14) and why “cover” here signals protection, not hiding.
  • Jacob “appeasing” Esau with gifts (Genesis 32:20) as the first clear use of atonement language—relational, non-blood, non-judicial.
  • How a “relational repair” lens changes what we notice across Genesis narratives.

Join the conversation: Carey first worked through this as a livestream inside the On This Rock biblical theology community—and an upcoming study will deep-dive atonement themes using Lamb of the Free.

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

• (00:00:00) - Atonement as functional repair (holiness/purity ≠ courtroom)
• (00:04:55) - Framing “atonement” (kipper) with frame semantics
• (00:07:25) - The atonement “cast”: agents, actions, and Exodus 32
• (00:11:18) - Bloodguilt & land pollution (Numbers 35)
• (00:14:56) - Process + results: means, directionality, cleansing/forgiveness
• (00:20:55) - How to spot atonement frames in Genesis (method questions)
• (00:30:24) - Atonement, forgiveness, righteousness, and “restoring shalom”
• (00:31:54) - Genesis 1-2: in the beginning was atonement?
• (00:35:24) - Genesis 3: garments of skin (mercy/covering, not penal)
• (00:39:21) - Adam / blood wordplay + challenging our default assumptions
• (00:41:10) - Genesis 4: Cain & Abel (blood cries out; no expected “penal” outcome)
• (00:43:41) - Genesis 6: “cover the ark with pitch” (kapar/covering as protection)
• (00:46:23) - Genesis 8: post-flood offering (not appeasing judgment)
• (00:48:03) - Genesis 15 and 18: covenant blood logic + Abraham’s intercession
• (00:49:51) - Genesis 22: binding of Isaac (covenant track vs purification track)
• (00:52:57) - Genesis 27 → 32: substitution dynamics, then actual “appease/atonement”
• (00:56:45) - Joseph story: gifts/ransom language → reconciliation
• (01:00:07) - Guardrails: anchor in the text

In this episode of Genesis Marks the Spot, Carey sits down with Courtney Trotter of Kairos Classroom for a deep-dive into how Scripture portrays God’s appearances—especially the debated “Angel of the LORD,” and the often-overlooked manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

Courtney outlines a helpful taxonomy (aural, phenomenological, and embodied theophanies) and explains how these encounters operate across “tiers” of experience—earthly, heavenly vision from earth, and heavenly vision in the heavenly realm.

Together, Carey and Courtney explore why this matters for Trinitarian theology (including how Augustine’s approach shifted Western instincts, and how Luther/Calvin helped repopularize a Christophany reading), and why it matters for worship, embodiment, and daily Christian life—especially in an age tempted toward “functional deism.”

In this conversation:

• What a theophany is—and why the “Angel of the LORD” question isn’t a side issue
  
  
• A practical framework for how God appears in Scripture (aural / phenomenological / embodied + where the experiencer is)
  
  
• Spirit theophanies as wind/breath/fire: Genesis 1 and Exodus 14 as “Breath/Wind/Spirit” readings
  
  
• The fire-thread: Sinai fire, temple presence, exile traditions, Hanukkah (2 Maccabees 2), and Pentecost as “fire moving outward”
  
  
• Why John’s Gospel presses the issue (“that was me” logic tied to Abraham/Isaiah/Jacob patterns) and how that connects to the Transfiguration
  
  
• A key scholarly prompt: Benjamin Sommer’s argument that a “God with an earthly body… and a heavenly manifestation” is a perfectly Jewish model (and why that matters for Christian claims)
  
  
• Why this isn’t “too mystical”: seeing creation as an arena for encounter, not mere “resources”

Referenced / mentioned in the episode:

• Courtney Trotter’s Kairos Classroom (Greek & Hebrew instruction): Kairos Classroom
  
  
• Benjamin Sommer, The Bodies of God in Ancient Israel
  
  
• C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image
  
  
• 2 Maccabees 2 (the preserved fire tradition)
  
  

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

• (00:00:00) - Theophanies, Angel of the LORD, and Spirit manifestations
• (00:04:57) - Intro: Courtney Trotter (Kairos Classroom)
• (00:07:06) - Theophany taxonomy + the “three tiers” framework
• (00:09:21) - Are embodied theophanies pre-incarnate Logos?
• (00:20:30) - Sinai fire → altar/temple → exile/Hanukkah → Pentecost → Revelation lampstands
• (00:27:29) - Benjamin Sommer and the Jewishness of theophanies and Spirit manifestations
• (00:45:08) - Incarnation uniqueness + “time traveling Jesus?”
• (00:55:31) - Rabbinic commentary on the “Great Angel” of Genesis 22

In this episode we head back into Genesis 6 and ask what it means that Noah was “blameless in his generations.” Is this about genetic purity and Nephilim DNA… or about covenant faithfulness in a violently corrupt world?

Working through the structure of Genesis, ancient “ancestor epics,” and the toledoth of Adam and Noah, Carey explores how Genesis 6 sets up a pattern that runs through the prophets and into the New Testament: idolatry → corruption → violence → judgment… with a righteous remnant preserved. Along the way, she interacts with Sandra Richter’s “primeval sons of God” view, nuances Michael Heiser’s “three rebellions” framework, and pushes back against the Christian Supernatural Entertainment Complex’s obsession with hybrid DNA and racialized readings of the Nephilim.

You’ll hear how:

• “Generations” in Genesis 6 uses two different Hebrew words (toledoth vs Noah’s “blamelessness”), and why that matters.
  
  
• Noah’s “without defect” language echoes cultic purity and covenant wholeness, not lab-grade genetics.
  
  
• The flood narrative prototypes the idolatry → corruption → violence → judgment pattern seen in Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea, Habakkuk, and Romans 1.
  
  
• The Nephilim, “men of the name,” and hero cults connect Genesis 6 with Babel, Deuteronomy 32, and Second Temple traditions (apkallu, Enoch, Rephaim).
  
  
• Why over-focusing on supernatural beings can distract from human responsibility, justice, and repentance—and how Noah models a different way of walking with God.

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/

Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

• (00:00:00) - Back to Genesis 6: Noah, Purity, and Corruption
• (00:03:19) - Toledoth, Ancestor Epics, and the Structure of Genesis
• (00:07:31) - Who Are the “Sons of God”? Richter, Heiser, and Human Responsibility
• (00:12:25) - “Blameless in His Generations”: Ethics, Cultic Purity, or DNA?
• (00:21:20) - Corruption, Violence (ḥamas), and Noah as Ethical Contrast
• (00:31:28) - Heiser's Description of the Three Rebellions
• (00:40:54) - From Idolatry to Corruption: The Prophetic Pattern
• (00:49:12) - Primeval History as Template: Israel Recapitulates Noah’s World
• (00:55:12) - Nephilim, Hero Cults, and the Origins of Idolatry
• (01:03:07) - Purity, Worship, and Why Noah’s Blamelessness Still Matters Today

In this episode, Carey continues the fire in Scripture series by following the holy fire of God into the furnace—where His presence purifies without consuming. We trace how Isaiah and Daniel picture God’s burning holiness as both judgment and safety, a place where the faithful can actually live inside the fire without being destroyed.

Using frame semantics and the idea of sensus plenior (“fuller sense”), we explore how Scripture’s meaning develops without contradiction, moving from Torah’s guarded nearness to God, through exile and restoration, into the incarnation, resurrection, Pentecost, and the church’s baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

We look at key passages in Isaiah 4, 6, 30, and 63 alongside Daniel 3, 7, and 12 to show how God’s jealous love guards, guides, evaluates, and refines His people. Trials are not signs of abandonment but a refining furnace that exposes and burns away what cannot live in God’s presence—while preserving and beautifying what can.

We then bring this all the way to the New Testament: Hebrews, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Peter, and Matthew 3’s promise that Jesus will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire.” What does it mean to be baptized into the One who dwells in the fire? How can the church live near the consuming fire of Hebrews 12 without being consumed? And how do suffering, repentance, and our everyday choices fit into that larger frame of glory, presence, and purification?

If you’ve wrestled with judgment, suffering, or the fear of “not doing enough” in repentance, this episode will help reframe those fears inside the story of God’s refining love—and why baptism belongs inside the fire-and-glory framework rather than outside of it.

• How frame semantics helps us see “fire” as a family of frames: boundary, guarding, purification/furnace, guidance, glory, and judgment
  
  
• Isaiah 6 as a divine council scene where holy fire purifies Isaiah’s lips and commissions him rather than destroying him
  
  
• Isaiah 4, 30, and 63 as pictures of in-house purification, guidance, and God’s breath/Spirit as burning, judging, and leading presence
  
  
• Daniel 3 and the fiery furnace: why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego can live in the flames with the “one like a son of the gods”
  
  
• Daniel 7 & 12: the Son of Man, rivers of fire, judgment of the beasts, and the shining resurrection hope of the wise
  
  
• How sensus plenior works: later Scripture doesn’t contradict earlier Scripture, but fills out seeds already planted
  
  
• Why trials and suffering in the New Testament function as a refining furnace rather than a sign that God has abandoned us
  
  
• 1 Corinthians 3 and 1 Peter 4: judgment beginning with the household of God, and works tested “as through fire”
  
  
• Matthew 3:11–12 and what it means that Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire
  
  
• Baptism as participation in Christ’s indwelling fire—where the person is not consumed, but the unfit things are burned away

On This Rock Biblical Theology Community: https://on-this-rock.com/

Website: genesismarksthespot.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GenesisMarkstheSpot

Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

Link to Wintergatan’s websit...

• (00:00:00) - Hermeneutic Corner: Sensus Plenior & Fire
• (00:10:24) - Isaiah 6: Holy Fire, Purification, and Calling
• (00:17:32) - Isaiah 4: In-House Purification & Spirit of Burning
• (00:22:31) - Isaiah 30 & 63: Judgment, Guidance, and Spirit-Led Exile Living
• (00:35:21) - Daniel 3: The Fiery Furnace & Living Inside the Flames
• (00:39:05) - Daniel 7 & 12: Son of Man, Rivers of Fire, and Resurrection Hope
• (00:47:53) - From Daniel to Jesus: Fire Brought Near in the New Testament
• (00:52:35) - Drawing Near to the Consuming Fire Today
• (00:57:17) - Judgment Begins with the Household of God
• (01:01:43) - Baptism and the Furnace of God’s Presence