Jesus The Son of Man

Acts 7:56/ Revelations 14:14/

The phrase Son of Man is used more frequently to denote Jesus than is any other name, except the word Jesus itself. Son of Man occurs in all four Gospels; it appears

thirty times in Matthew,

fourteen in Mark,

twenty-five in Luke, and

thirteen in John

The problem posed is why Jesus refers to himself almost exclusively as “the Son of Man,” when Christians claim he is the Son of God. Is this a tacit denial of his deity?

Psalms 8:4 What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him?

Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics Son of Man, Jesus As

The literal meaning of the words does not necessarily convey the literal meaning of the expression. A lot of projects are “in the bag” that would not literally fit into a grocery sack or duffel bag. An organization’s “board” is not a wood plank, the original meaning of the word.

Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics Son of Man, Jesus As

Context has to help us understand these expressions. Ezekiel is responsible for ninety-three Old Testament appearances of the term. In most God is speaking, and they seem to express special intimacy toward Ezekiel, the servant. Daniel uses the term only twice but raises the stakes, for Daniel 7:13 is displaying a king Messiah in all his glory in the very presence of God

Daniel 7:13 KJV 1900

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

This is the One Daniel said looked “like a man” in 8:15, with the implication that he was far more than flesh and blood. Interestingly, in 8:17 the Messiah passes on his name. Daniel is called by the name of the Messiah: “Son of man.” There are, obviously, some complex and subtle nuances at work in the Old Testament use of this term.