What Jesus says about Himself, and what it would mean to the people who he spoke it tooJesus the Son of Man-- the thing he most often called himselfThe first thing Jesus called himself is what he called himself almost exclusively, and that would be the title "Son of Man".
This is a reference list of all the times, in the recorded gospels, that he called himself this, 56 passages in total, over 52 more times then any other title. (This counts each synoptic reference separately same goes with the other titles I hope I didn't miss any... might have message me if you know one I missed)
(list hand complied--- so if I missed any message me and upon verification I will add it)
Matthew 8:20, 9:6, 11:19, 12:8, 32, 40, 16:27-28, 17:9, 22, 18:11, 19:28, 24:5, 27, 30, 39, 44, 25:13, 31, 26:2, 24, 26:45, 64
Mark 8:38, 9:12, 14:21, 41, 62
Luke 5:24, 6:5, 22, 7:34, 9:22, 26, 56, 58, 11:30, 12:8, 10, 40, 17:22, 24, 26, 30, 18:8, 31, 19:9, 22:22, 48, 69, 24:7
John 1:51, 3:13, 14, 6:27, 12:23, 34, 13:31
It is also important to realize what the term "son of man" would have meant to the Jews listening to Jesus:
In at least 12 instances, the phrase clearly means "man in general" or "humanity" and refers to no particular person. Examples include:
"God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)"
"Put not your trust in princes, [nor] in the son of man, in whom [there is] no help (Psalms 146:3)"
"As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour [cities] thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. (Jeremiah 49:18)"
"And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, [and] a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor [any] son of man dwell in it. (Jeremiah 49:33)"
"As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour [cities] thereof, saith the LORD; [so] shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. (Jeremiah 50:40)"
"Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth [any] son of man pass thereby. (Jeremiah 51:43)"
Other similar examples appear in Job 25:6 and 35:8, Psalms 8:4 and 144:3, and Isaiah 51:12 and 56:2.
The Prophet Ezekiel is addressed by God as "son of man" some 94 times in the King James Version! This is 38 more times then Jesus called himself this in the entire gospels.
"And it came to pass, when I, [even] I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end [shall be] the vision. (Daniel 8:15-17 (King James Version))"
Gabriel, thus, addressed Daniel as "son of man." [Credit: Abdul Haleem, hey truth is truth no matter who gives it right?]
So according to what the Jews had, son of man would have referred to what YHWH would have called a prophet, or mankind....
But also another note, the Hebrew for Son of Man is Ben adam, well Jesus is called "the firstborn among many brethren", and by Paul, the Second Adam.
Daniel 7:13 (New King James Version)
13 " I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.[note if he was God the father YHWH in flesh and had authority from all eternity how could it be given him, and how could he be brought to see himself?!]
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
If Jesus was associating himself with this passage then he was not asserting godhood by using the title "Son of Man", yet at the same time he was asserting himself as the future and eternal ruler of the earth.
Although Jesus clearly was the offspring of YHWH, this passage makes no reference to it, therefore his usage of "son of Man" cannot be made to be an assertion of godhood, or of his being "Son of God". Although a reference to the title "Son of Man" is found in the modern versions of I Enoch, recent discovered (Qumran caves) that this reference likely did not exist in the versions of I Enoch that Jesus and his contemporaries would have had access to.
Jesus, YHWH's SonThe next most frequent title Jesus refers to himself as is, "Son of God", and of the XXX (compare this to son of man with 56) passages that mention this only one come from outside John.
List of all "Son of God" passages in which Jesus refers to himself as this:
Matthew 16:15-17,
John 3:16-18, 10:36, 11:4
Lets look at one of these passages to see how unique Jesus claimed to be (not was, claimed):
John 10:34-36 (New King James Version)
34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"? 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
Though Jesus attests that His claim to be "son of God" was not unique, his works testified of how special he was, and when ask He he was the "coming one" he pointed to his works as the answer (Matt 11:3-6).
Jesus clearly makes this true claim to be the son of YHWH, and God himself affirmed it 2x; Transfiguration; "This is my beloved Son [in whom I am well pleased {Matt, Mark, Var-Luke}] hear him" [Matt 17:5, Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35], At baptism; "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" [Matt 3:17].
Jesus also attested to being one in purpose with his Father... so much so that He spoke as the Father would, and one need only look at Him to see the Father:
John 10:29-30 (New King James Version)
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one." [see how although he says he and his Father are one, he attests to His Father being greater, and put him as separate]
John 14:10-11 (New King James Version)
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Jesus said He and His Father are one, Him in His Father and His Father in Him, He goes further then to say He alone who will have this special relationship:
John 17:11 (New King James Version)
11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,
that they may be one as We are.John 17:20-23 (New King James Version)
20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them,
that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Jesus makes this assertion three times, are we part of the godhead? Is Jesus?
The passage is clear, and the clarity is enhanced by Jesus, YHWH's Sob saying it three times. This is not "proof-texting" for he says it three different ways, and there are more that support His own words:
Jesus rebukes one who calls him, "Good", and has opportunity to give "gospel" ie believe in me alone.... instead:Matthew 19:16-18, Mark 10:17-19, Luke 18:18-20(New King James Version)
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"
17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
18 He said to Him, "Which ones?"
Jesus said, "You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,'
{it seems Jesus separates Himself from YHWH again doesn't it?}
John 8:17-18 (New King James Version)
17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
{If Jesus and His Father are one, then his testimony of Himself is invalid by Jewish Law}
This does not include all the times He refers to His Father, and that would be many more, now onto the other things Jesus says about Himself.
Jesus, YHWH's ProphetMatthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24, John 4:44 (New King James Version)
57 So they were offended at Him.
But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."
If you have been a reader of this blog for awhile you will know that a prophet is a messenger, or representative that bears a message. Jesus bore a message to the people, and it was not new nor unique for the messangers of YHWH had been crying out the same message since they started:
Matthew 4:17 (New King James Version)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
This was the message, but the good news he shared with His own, that by following Him they could have access to the Father;
For more on Jesus' Gospel click the link:
The Gospel Of JesusJesus, the Jewish Christ, or MessiahMark 8:27-30, Matthew 16:15-17 (New King James Version)
27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?"
28 So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."
29 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."
30 Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.
Other Jesus is Christ passages;
Matthew 24:5 (New King James Version)
5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
Matthew 11:3-6 (New King James Version)
3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"
4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."
Jesus as Shepard, Water of Life, Living Bread, Temple of GodShepardMatthew 26:31 (New King James Version)
31 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
'I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'
Water of LifeJohn 4:13-14 (New King James Version)
13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
Living BreadJohn 6:51
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world"
Temple of GodJohn 2:19 (New King James Version)
19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
Jesus, YHWH's Gatekeeper John 10:7-9 (New King James Version)
7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Comments (15)
great post, once again. However, as much as I enjoy reading the different verses in the bible, it'd be great if you can follow up with what you possibly think each "title/name" stands for/means. What does a "son of man" mean? What does it mean to be living water, in your opinion? Why are certain sections of the bible quoted without how it refers to the main point? i.e. If you quote Jeremiah 50:40 without following up why/how son of man is used in that context, it seems almost useless IMO, especially if it doesn't seem to be talking about Jesus. This is why I'm asking you to include your dissection/insight/explanation as to why these are quoted so people like me are sitting around wondering what it might mean. This is just my 2 cents.
@lglxl - First of all, the probelm with "son of Man" is that the meaning is not clear, the only thing that is clear is what is does not mean, and that is "son of God" so that is what I focused on.
As far as Jer 50, it was clear if you follow the train of thought:
(In at least 12 instances, the phrase clearly means "man in general" or
"humanity" and refers to no particular person. Examples include:) Jeremiah was one of these examples.
The point with those six quotations is that the "son of man" title is not even a title some of the time but rather a generic reference to the person.
How this relates to Jesus is that Son of Man could have even been a generic reference and not a title at all.
I get this problem alot with the larger post, and I have done it myself with other peoples, and it usually comes when I tune out and start skimming
I put many hours into this and I understand how hard it is to stay focused throughout such a long post, but I think that is the only way to understand what I am showing here...
@BiblicalTruth2 - perhaps in comparison of how much time you put into the post and how fast I read it, it can be considered skimming...nevertheless, some basic guidelines/explanations like in the response you provided would've been very helpful! I don't mean to undermine your work-I can see the amount of effort/time you put into these posts. It's most likely b/c I'm reading the post on my leisure time and don't want to spend a huge lump sum of time trying to dissect the meaning of each and every verse (which I guess would be skimming
).
I personally like the lack of interpretation myself. I came over from your plug expecting a bent toward something or the other, and I was pleasently surprised at how little interpretation was going on here. Many times folks (not at all meaning lglxl in particular) want to have things fed to them so they don't have to think. That is a dangerous thing. and risky indeed to speak for something which speaks so well for its self. Well done sir!
Cowboy
First, I apologize if you're not looking for opposing viewpoints. If that's the case, let me know and I'll never bother you again.
Second, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make with this post. Just the many titles Jesus carried?
Third, and here come the opposing viewpoints:
Isaiah 7:16 seems to say
that before Jesus had reached the age of maturity, both of the Jewish countries
would be destroyed.
Matthew 1:23 says that Jesus
(the messiah) would be called Immanuel, which means "God with us." Yet no one,
not even his parents, call him Immanuel at any point in the bible.
The Messiah must be a
physical descendant of David (Romans 1:3 & Acts 2:30). Yet, how could Jesus
meet this requirement since his genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 show he
descended from David through Joseph, who was not his natural father because of
the Virgin Birth?
The gospels (especially
"from sea to sea"Matthew 21:4 and John 12:14-15) claim that Jesus fulfills the prophecy of
Zechariah 9:9. But the next few verses (Zechariah 9:10-13) show that the person
referred to in this verse is a military king that would rule
.
Since Jesus had neither an army nor a kingdom, he could not have fulfilled this
prophecy.
Matthew (Matthew 2:17-18)
"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of theequotes Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:15), claiming that it was a prophecy of King
Herod’s alleged slaughter of the children in and around Bethlehem after the
birth of Jesus. But this passage refers to the Babylonian captivity, as is
clear by reading the next two verses (Jeremiah 31:16-17), and, thus, has
nothing to do with Herod’s massacre.
shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting."
Micah 5:2 The gospel of Matthew
A) "Bethlehem Ephratah" in(Matthew 2:5-6) claims that Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem fulfils this prophecy.
But this is unlikely for two reasons.
Micah 5:2 refers not to a town, but to a clan: the clan of Bethlehem, who was
the son of Caleb’s second wife, Ephrathah (1 Chronicles 2:18, 2:50-52 & 4:4). B) The prophecy (if that is
what it is) does not refer to the Messiah, but rather to a military leader, as
can be seen from Micah 5:6. This leader is supposed to defeat the Assyrians,
which, of course, Jesus never did. It should also be noted that Matthew altered
the text of Micah 5:2 by saying: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah"
rather than "Bethlehem Ephratah" as is said in Micah 5:2. He did this,
intentionally no doubt, to make this verse appear to refer to the town of
Bethlehem rather than the family clan.
Granted, only the first three were true failed prophecies, but the rest are often claimed as such, so I thought I'd include them.
@cowboy_christian - thank You, I was hoping people would put the piece together themselves too.
There isn't anything I can say about this. It's good though.
i clicked on your plug
and i like you site.i'm subbing :]@lifeandlovequotes - Thank You "
Jesus, from what I understand is being quoted by writings that occured as much as 35 years from his supposed death. It is a retelling. I often wonder more about the level of the author's piety for this writing and as most, obviously Jesus was their rabbi and teacher as with a few exceptions most were common hard working men...
however, you gave great detail here, I appreciate the workmanship because I got a few things from it...namely the first was the differentiation of the terms "son of man" and "son of hashem"..it is a detail I have missed in reading the bible. I so miss the honesty of the old testament where the life of David was not spared all the gorry details of his rise to power, the foreskins of Philhistines(which would have also been a betrayal of the very people who saved his life), the killing of another man to get his wife free and clear...alot of those subtle details are left out in the New Testament...however, they did have a fast moving "medicine show" to work out in writing in a short span..so, some subtleties never saw daylight I suppose. I have yet to really read the gospels of Philip and Judas and Thomas from the Nag Hammadi versions...of course, I am deeply agnostic and more or less a student..for that I thank you for a lesson here.
it's such a wonderful thing, and so many people don't understand, and you've made it grinding and dull.
http://umweirdithink.xanga.com/705907861/instant-grace/
I talk about myself, and no one has written a book about me.
Hi! I found your site on Xanga Plugz. Whenever I saw your plug, I thought that you were some atheist trying to disprove the Bible, so I avoided checking it out. But today I clicked on it and found that I was wrong lol Great post =)
@GodlessLiberal - Both Mary and Joseph were decendants of David. Dr. Henry Morris said:
“Joseph was clearly the son of Jacob (Matthew 1:16), so this verse [Luke 3:23 - says “son of Heli”] should be understood to mean “son-in-law of Heli.” Thus, the genealogy of Christ in Luke is actually the genealogy of Mary, while Matthew gives that of Joseph. Actually, the word “son” is not in the original, so it would be legitimate to supply either “son” or “son-in-law” in this context. Since Matthew and Luke clearly record much common material, it is certain that neither one could unknowingly incorporate such a flagrant apparent mistake as the wrong genealogy in his record. As it is, however, the two genealogies show that both parents were descendants of David—Joseph through Solomon (Matthew 1:7-15), thus inheriting the legal right to the throne of David, and Mary through Nathan (Luke 3:23-31), her line thus carrying the seed of David, since Solomon’s line had been refused the throne because of Jechoniah’s sin.”
It's kind of confusing, I know lol. Females weren't included in the geneologies back then.
I just saw that phrase on the corner of your page as I was about to leave your page because I realize that the page is strictly pro-biblical and no other view point is allowed.
I was once a very good christian, even a born again hardcore believer until I realize everything about Christianity and the bible on which the religion is based are flawed .
I actually thought your page is to discuss the bible, taking critical examination at its content before I discover you are pro-christian...
I was about to leave when I saw saw that phrase which is the reason I'm sending this message... I feel if you're really committed to the meaning of that phrase, you would've allow contribution from people with different point of view not just Christians.