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Audio Capsule on Jesus Christ as the Son of Man
The expression “SON OF MAN” appears 191x (NT 84x; OT 107x) – Lk 18:31; Dan 7:13-14
- Summary: Jesus often referred to himself in the third person as “the Son of Man.” It’s a term found well over a hundred times in the Old Testament and used in a wide variety of contexts and senses. Because of this variety of usage, people didn’t usually understand what he meant by it, but after his resurrection it was understood to be another name for the Messiah.
- Initial usage and meaning in the Old Testament: The Hebrew word behind “Adam” and “man” is essentially the same word. Thus we could say “Adam” was an “adam.” And therefore “son of man” was the equivalent of “son of Adam.” In this sense, every man is a son of man. And this is the way we see the expression initially used in the Bible – such as in Num 23:19; Job 25:6; 35:8; Ps 8:4; 144:3. That is, “son of man” just seems to be a synonym of “man.” Isaiah (2 times) and Jeremiah (4 times) also use the term in this way.
- Usage in the book of Ezekiel: The expression “son of man” occurs 107 times in the Old Testament and 93 of them are in Ezekiel where the Lord uses it to address Ezekiel.
- Usage in the book of Daniel: The expression occurs twice in Daniel. In Dan 8:17, Daniel is addressed “son of man” in the same way that Ezekiel was addressed. In Dan 7:13-14, however, reference is made to “a son of man” who receives from “the ancient of days” an everlasting kingdom. This represents a transition in the expression’s usage from implying commonality or lowliness to implying unparalleled greatness of stature. This more lofty connotation may be inferred in Ps 80:17. Thus in the Old Testament we see a wide spectrum of meaning for “son of man” – from a generic man who’s going to return to dust at one end of the spectrum to a figure elevated to the heights of God on the other. That’s a wide spectrum of usage!
- Usage in the Gospels: Jesus adopts the term as a description of Himself as if He had taken the place of Daniel and Ezekiel. In a sense, He had, for all the prophets were foreshadowing of Him. The mysterious nature of the expression served Him well. It is clear to us in reading the Gospels that Jesus considered “son of man” a messianic title (Luke 18:31), but hardly anyone else saw it that way (John 12:34). Therefore, Jesus could regularly use this term to refer to Himself in the third person without seeming to be claiming He was the Messiah, but in code, as it were, for those who would pay attention to His teaching – especially those who studied His teaching after He rose from the dead. At His trial, Jesus identified Himself as the “son of man” who would receive the everlasting kingdom from the ancient of days (Mt 26:64 and Mk 14:62 referring to Dan 7:13-14). In that same breath, He equated “the Son of Man” with the Messiah (Ps 110:1). In all, Jesus refers to Himself as “the son of man” 78x in the Gospels. The only other two occurrences of that expression in the NT is of others quoting Him (Jn 12:34). By contrast, He referred to Himself as “the Son of God,” “Messiah,” or “Christ” not much more than a dozen times.
- The point of all this is that “Son of Man” was a way Jesus could teach about His role as the Messiah without getting caught up in a discussion of whether He was the Messiah. This was possible because “Son of Man” was not commonly understood as a Messianic title until after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven made clear what Daniel’s vision of “one like a son of man” (Dan 7:13-14) was intended to convey.
- Usage in the rest of the New Testament: Jesus’ followers adopt His usage of the term as referring to the Messiah – that is, to Him. Stephen called Jesus “the Son of Man” just before he was stoned. Paul quoted Ps 8:4 as a “son of man” reference pointing to Jesus (Heb 2:6). And the apostle John referred to Jesus as the son of man twice in the book of Revelation (Rev 1:13; 14:14).
The Duty of a Man 