I just finished an exercise in Matthew. I went through and blocked out all the times, "Son of Man" appears in the book. Then I went through and circled all the times "Son of God" is stated. I had heard in College that "Son of Man" and "Son of God" were huge themes in the book, but simply doing this exercise has really opened up some great thoughts and insights.
1. Jesus refers to himself only as the "Son of Man". Not once does he ever refer to himself as the "Son of God". He could have, but he never did.
2. Whenever "Son of God" appears it is stated by either Critics/Enemies, or Believers.
3. Three statements of belief: I will note that the disciples say it once after their experience of Jesus walking on the water, through the storm. Once by the Centurion and other soldiers who exclaimed it during the earthquake at Calvary. Another occurrence by the demons who were sent out from two men into a herd of pigs. The other five statements are made by the two thieves, the priests, and Satan. All made in mockery.
This was a rewarding and enlightening exercise. I would recommend it to you as a great way to see the humility of Christ in the midst of mockery, slander and torture. He never breaks! Truly he is the Son of God!
Matthew 14:33
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3 comments:
Thanks for posting. I've wondered about why Jesus called himself the Son of man. I guess I could look it up but I haven't yet. Any insight as to why he called himself this? I do see how it's much more humble to use that instead of Son of God but I want to understand this more... I feel there's something deeper that I haven't grasped yet. Maybe it would make more sense if I got more background understanding and looked into the Hebrew. Don't know when I'll do that... Lend me your thoughts.
by the way, are you going to return my email / text message?
Also, both of you guys need to get on Facebook.
I'm reading Stripped by Jud Wilhite. He talks about referring to himself as the Son of Man and says this: "To say someone was the "son of" this or that in teh ancient Middle East meant he represented those qualities to the max."
Could be the good in us, could be the bad. Either way could make a pretty interesting journey.
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