If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, why does he call himself
the Son of MAN?
(wondering if this is a trick question)
Because he also had a human mother?
(I recall singing a hymn with the line “Son of God, AND son of man”)
“Son of man” in the bible, usually refers to just ordinary people, but in the book of Daniel, it’s taken to be a messianistic title.
So, if Jesus called himself “the son of man”, he was making an ambiguous messianistic claim.
Well, to confuse matters further, Ezekiel used ‘Son of Man’ as well, but made no claims to being the messiah.
Zev Steinhardt
Yeah, and the Bible also calls Adam the “son of God.” How’s that for confusing?
In Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, son of man was a common expression for a fellow. Sorry, no cite.
It is also to highlight his mediatorial office serving between God and man, i.e., priesthood. The book of Hebrews will give you a good insight into this. It points out that “Every priest is taken from among men”, and also that “He is not ashamed to call them (us) brethren”.
I’m not so certain about that.
The Talmud is written in Aramaic and I don’t remember that expression ever coming up to refer to someone.
In addition, Ezekiel used the term quite often, and he spoke Hebrew, not Aramaic.
Zev Steinhardt
Jewish liturgy for the High Holies Days does have a line about, “What is man… or the son of man, that You [God] take notice of him?” I’m not sure how far back that prayer dates, but it would certainly imply that “son of man” is not any kind of miraculous status.
Being the son of man in and of itself is no great feat.
And Adam was the sone of God (and Eve likewise daughter).
But being the son of God and the son of man - that takes work!