Matthew 8:20

The Son of man] This title of Christ is found only in the Gospels and Acts 7:56, and (except in Acts 7:56) is found only in the mouth of our Lord Himself. It corresponds in Aramaic, which our Lord habitually spoke, either to barnasha, which may mean either 'the man,' or (but this is not so certain) 'the son of man,' or else to bʾreh dʾnasha, which means definitely and emphatically 'the son of man' (lit. 'his son, that of man'). That our Lord, who was probably bilingual, occasionally used the Gk. title as found in the Gospels, is also very possible. The title was used by our Lord throughout His ministry, and not, as is sometimes erroneously supposed, only from the time of St. Peter's confession (Matthew 16:13). This fact must be taken account of in ascertaining its probable meaning. It follows from this that it cannot have been, as is sometimes maintained, a definite and well-understood designation of the Messiah. Our Lord concealed His Messiahship from the multitude until the close of His ministry, and did not expressly reveal it even to the Twelve until the confession of Peter. That it was not understood by the multitudes to be a Messianic title is evident from John 12:34.

The title probably designates our Lord as the ideal or representative man, 'the man in whom human nature was most fully and deeply realised, and who was the most complete exponent of its capacities, warm and broad in His sympathies, ready to minister and suffer for others, sharing to the full the needs and deprivations which are the common lot of humanity, but conscious at the same time of the dignity and greatness of human nature, and destined ultimately to exalt it to unexampled majesty and glory.' At the close of His life He invested it with a more definitely Messianic meaning by identifying Himself with the 'one like unto a son of man' of Daniel 7:13, who was generally understood to be the Messiah: see Matthew 26:63; Matthew 26:64. The expression was used by our Lord of Himself on at least forty different occasions, and in very diverse contexts. Thus he uses it in connexion with His authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6), His lordship over the sabbath (Matthew 12:8), His Second Advent in glory (Matthew 10:23; Matthew 13:41; Matthew 16:27; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:44; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:64), His familiar intercourse with men in daily life (Matthew 11:19), His poverty (Matthew 8:20), His preaching (Matthew 13:37), His sufferings and resurrection (Matthew 17:9; Matthew 17:12; Matthew 17:22; Matthew 20:18; Matthew 26:24; Mark 8:31), His giving His life as a ransom (Matthew 20:28), and His seeking and saving that which was lost (Luke 19:10). St. Stephen uses it of our Lord as glorified in eaven. The title occurs twelve times in St. John's Gospel, for the most part in passages which clearly imply His divinity. The Son of man exists in heaven before His Incarnation, and descends to earth to become man (John 6:62); He gives His flesh and blood to believers to eat and drink, who are thus incorporated with Him and receive eternal life (John 6:27.); He holds unbroken communion with the Father during His earthly life (John 1:51); He is the object of divine and saving faith (John 3:15); His death on the cross is not a degradation but a glorification (John 12:23; John 13:31), and He ends His earthly course by a triumphant ascension (John 6:62).

The title 'Son of man' is used of the Messiah in a part of the book of Enoch (Matthew 37-70), which is probably, but not certainly, preChristian. It is just possible that our Lord may have derived it from this source. But in any case the title was very little known, and was not popularly understood to mean the Messiah. Some have thought that the source of the title is Psalms 8 (see especially Matthew 8:4).