What’s in a Name?
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
According to Matthew 16:13, Jesus one day asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” This was Jesus’ favorite way of referring to Himself. Someone has counted more than 80 times in the Gospels when Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man.” Only twice does this way of speaking of Jesus occur on the lips of others. Stephen did so one time when he was being stoned: “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). On one other occasion when Jesus had referred to Himself as the “Son of Man,” His listeners repeated this way of speaking of Him by asking, “You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up.’ Who is this Son of Man?” (John 12:34). All other occurrences of being termed “Son of Man” came from His own lips.
Popular overtones
Why might Jesus have chosen this way of speaking about Himself? Why not refer to Himself as “the Messiah” or “Son of God”? These latter terms had popular overtones about them. The Jews across the centuries had come to conceive of a Messiah who would be a person of political and military clout, one who could lead them to throw off the yoke of Roman or other foreign domination. The Romans had come to declare some of their emperors to be divine. Jesus did not want pagan ideas to infiltrate His mission. Thus, to avoid nationalistic or militaristic notions, He adopted “Son of Man,” a title devoid of such implications in people’s minds.
Title for Jesus
Students of the Bible often discern two levels at which “Son of Man” is used as a title for Jesus. As His favorite self-designation, the term had clear overtones of His real humanity. He had been born and reared in a real human family. In addition to Joseph and Mary, mention is made of His brothers and sisters (Matt. 13:55–56). In His genuine humanity, Jesus “grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him” and He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:40, 52). “Son of man” was the way in which reference was made to the Prophet Ezekiel multiple times when the voice from heaven addressed him (Ezek. 2:1–10). He was a real man who served the Lord as a priest before being called to a prophetic work. In Psalm 8 the parallelism used in poetic writing associated “son of man” with the ordinary expression of “man” in the question, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him” (v. 4)?
Another level of meaning
This title, however, had another level of meaning, one that likely did not occur to most of Jesus’ hearers. “Son of Man” also carries overtones of Jesus’ glorious and divine nature. This meaning of the title had roots in Daniel’s prophecy. The prophet described a night vision in these words: “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven” (7:13). As Daniel watched he saw that “to Him was given dominion and glory and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away” (7:14). In the New Testament, Mark 13:26 also speaks of a heavenly Son of Man when describing the second coming of Christ in His glory.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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