In our passage last Sunday, Jesus referred to Himself for
the first time as “the Son of Man” (Matt 8:20). When a scribe came to Jesus pledging to follow Jesus
wherever He went, the Lord replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
The title “Son of Man” is Jesus’ favorite designation for
Himself in the Gospels. It occurs
in all four Gospels, and Jesus is the only one who uses it. I remember the title puzzling me when I
was young – if Jesus is the Son of God, why does He call Himself the Son
of Man?, I thought. Knowing that each of the Gospel writers
desired to convince their readers that Jesus was the Son of God, it seemed
strange that they would include the phrase “Son of Man” so consistently. So what is the significance of this
reference?
Virtually all scholars agree that this title was not a
native Greek expression.
Therefore, its explanation must lie in the Hebrew/Aramaic background of
the Gospels. That being the case,
if this self-designation is to make sense to the New Testament reader, there
must be something in the Old Testament to shed light on it.
Actually, there are a number of OT passages that use the
phrase. These uses tend to fall
into three categories. The first category
employs the phrase as a generic reference to humanity. That humanity is the referent is clear
from that fact that many of these uses are found in parallel lines, being
synonymous with “man.” For
example:
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his
mind. (Num 23:19)
…how much
less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!"
(Job 25:6)
What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? (Psa
8:4)
Who are you
that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass…? (Isa
51:12 ESV)
Blessed is
the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast… (Isa
56:2)
The phrase “son of man” as used in these and other
OT references should not be considered a title as it is simply another way of
referring to mankind. Could this
usage be what Jesus had in mind when He used the phrase to refer to
Himself? It is not out of the
question. Jesus was fully
man. He had to be in order to pay
the penalty for our sin. Perhaps,
He used the phrase to identify Himself with the human race, maybe as our
representative before God. This is
possible, but because this kind of usage was not a title, it seems doubtful
that it would be Jesus’ primary self-designation.
A second category can be found primarily in
Ezekiel. In the book that bears
his name, Ezekiel is referred to by God as “son of man” 93 times! An especially
important passage is found in ch2:
1 And he said to me, "Son of man,
stand on your feet, and I will speak with you."
2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit
entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
3 And he said to me, "Son of man, I
send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled
against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very
day.
4 The descendants also are impudent and
stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord
GOD.'
5 And whether they hear or refuse to
hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been
among them. (Eze 2:1-5)
God used Ezekiel as His representative/messenger,
His prophet, to rebellious Israel.
It is in this capacity as God’s spokesman that Ezekiel is referred to as
the son of man. So is this the
usage that Jesus had in mind? Was
He identifying Himself as a prophet, as God’s representative and
spokesman? Certainly, this works
theologically. Jesus was widely
regarded as a prophet (Matt 14:5; 21:11; Mark 6:15; Luke 1:76; 7:16; John 4:19;6:14; 9:17). Further, all three of
the Synoptic Gospels record the Father commanding the disciples to listen to
Jesus, implying that He was God’s spokesman (Matt 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).
It is possible that Jesus had His role as a
prophet in mind, just as He could have been referring to Himself as a
representative of mankind.
However, the statements in which Jesus uses the phrase “son of man”
would seem to point to someone more extraordinary than a normal man or even a
prophet. Consider the following
uses in Matthew alone:
“… the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins…” (Matt 9:6)
“For the Son
of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Matt 12:8)
"Truly,
I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they
see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matt 16:28)
"Tell
no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."
(Matt 17:9)
"The
Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men," (Matt
17:22)
"And
the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and
they will condemn him to death" (Matt 20:18)
"…the
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many." (Matt 20:28)
"For as
the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the
coming of the Son of Man." (Matt 24:27)
"…and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory." (Matt 24:30)
"When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will
sit on his glorious throne." (Matt 25:31)
"You
know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be
delivered up to be crucified."" (Matt 26:2)
"…from
now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming
on the clouds of heaven." (Matt 26:64)
These are spectacular statements that would seem
to be more suited to a third category of usage in the OT, from one passage in
the book of Daniel:
"I saw
in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like
a son of man, and he came to the
Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And 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, and his kingdom one that shall
not be destroyed.” (Dan 7:13-14)
When we take into account Jesus’ heavy emphasis on
the coming kingdom in the book of Matthew and the other synoptics, together
with the above references in Matthew that connect the phrase “Son of Man” with
other kingdom references (authority, Lord, clouds of heaven, kingdom, power,
glory, angels, throne, etc), it seems likely that Jesus sees Himself as the son
of man figure in Daniel’s prophecy.
Indeed, most evangelical interpreters not only see Jesus as the
fulfillment of this prophecy, but believe that Jesus Himself had this in mind
when He used the self-designation “Son of Man.”
So when we see this title wherever it is found in
the Gospels, we need to understand the implicit claim that Jesus is making – “I
am the coming King.”
What then should we make of the use of this phrase
in Matt 8:20 (“the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head”)? I believe it highlights the
condescension of Christ in coming to save man. The one who has no home is the majestic King. Reminds me of Phil 2:5-11.
5 Have this mind among yourselves,
which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the
form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he
humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Phi 2:5-11)
Posted by Greg Birdwell
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