Title of Christ
Son of Man
Daniel's heavenly figure, the name Jesus used most for himself
What the text teaches
This is the title Jesus uses of himself more than any other. In Ezekiel the phrase simply means a human being, but in Daniel 7 one like a son of man comes with the clouds and receives an kingdom from the Ancient of Days.
Jesus uses it for both his suffering and his glory. He says the Son of Man must suffer many things, and he says the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father.
First in Scripture
Ezekiel 2:1. God addresses Ezekiel as son of man to mark him as a mortal standing before the divine, long before Daniel gives the title its more exalted sense.
Verses to carry with you
- Daniel 7:13. A human figure comes with the clouds of heaven and receives an everlasting kingdom, the vision Jesus applies to himself at his trial.
- Mark 2:10. Jesus uses the title to claim authority on earth to forgive sins, an authority the Pharisees believed belonged to God alone.
- Mark 10:45. Ties the title to his coming death, saying the Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many.
- Mark 14:62. Under oath before the high priest, Jesus applies Daniel's vision to himself directly, the clearest self-identification in the gospels.
The original language
בַּר אֱנָשׁ
The form in Daniel 7:13, where the figure is human in appearance yet receives worship and an eternal kingdom.
Historical and cultural background
The title carried enough weight that at his trial the high priest treated Daniel 7 language as decisive. It was ordinary enough to pass in conversation and loaded enough to answer the question of identity when Jesus chose to press it. Scripture
Through the whole Bible
Ezekiel is addressed as son of man, marking him as mortal before God.
Daniel 7 sees a son of man given dominion, glory and a kingdom that will not pass away.
Jesus uses the title for authority to forgive, for suffering, and for his return.
John sees one like a son of man among the lampstands.
Where this appears across the Bible
Audela traces son of man through 6 chapters in 4 books, from Ezekiel to Revelation.
Old Testament
God addresses Ezekiel as son of man to mark him as a mortal standing before the divine, long before Daniel gives the title its more exalted sense.
A human figure comes with the clouds of heaven and receives an everlasting kingdom, the vision Jesus applies to himself at his trial.
New Testament
Jesus uses the title to claim authority on earth to forgive sins, an authority the Pharisees believed belonged to God alone.
Ties the title to his coming death, saying the Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many.
Under oath before the high priest, Jesus applies Daniel's vision to himself directly, the clearest self-identification in the gospels.
One like a son of man, clothed to the foot.
Cross references
- Ezekiel 2:1. Son of man, stand upon your feet.
- Daniel 7:13. One like a son of man came with the clouds of heaven.
- Mark 2:10. The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
- Mark 10:45. The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many.
- Mark 14:62. You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power.
- Revelation 1:13. One like a son of man, clothed to the foot.
How it points to Christ
Jesus applies Daniel 7 to himself under oath in Mark 14:62, which is the clearest link Scripture makes between the vision and the man standing trial.
Teaching on the subject
In Ezekiel the phrase son of man is used more than ninety times, always addressed to the prophet, and it simply marks him out as a mortal man standing in the presence of an overwhelming divine glory. There is nothing exalted about the phrase there; if anything it underlines Ezekiel's smallness before God. Readers coming to the gospels only from Ezekiel would expect the title to mean nothing more than a way of saying human being.
Daniel 7 changes everything. In a night vision Daniel sees one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, approaching the Ancient of Days, and being given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and that all peoples and nations will serve him. This is a human figure who receives what only God can rightly give and receive: worship and universal rule. The title, ordinary in Ezekiel, becomes loaded with the highest possible meaning in Daniel.
Jesus takes this title as his own preferred way of speaking about himself, and he uses it across the full range of what Daniel and Ezekiel together suggest. He uses it for humble, earthly authority, saying the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins. He uses it for suffering, saying the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. And he uses it for coming glory, saying they will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven, language taken straight from Daniel 7.
The clearest moment comes at his trial. When the asks directly whether he is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, Jesus answers, I am, and then adds that they will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. The high priest tears his robes and calls it blasphemy, because he understands exactly what Jesus has claimed: Daniel's exalted figure, the one who receives an kingdom, standing bound before him in the room.
Often misunderstood
While the phrase can simply mean a human being, as in Ezekiel, Jesus consistently loads it with Daniel 7's meaning, applying to himself a figure who receives dominion and worship from every nation, which is anything but a modest claim.
The title appears overwhelmingly on Jesus's own lips in the gospels and almost nowhere else in the New Testament, which is the opposite of what you would expect if the early church had introduced it as a favourite title of their own.
Living this today
Jesus deliberately holds together, in this one title, both his suffering and his glory, and that combination is meant to shape how you read your own life. The path to the he describes for himself runs through rejection and death, not around them, and he asks his followers to expect the same pattern rather than a shortcut to glory.
Because the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, that forgiveness is not distant or theoretical. It was exercised by a real person, standing among real people, and it remains available on the same authority today to anyone who comes to him.
Related people, places, events and themes
Related chapters
Daniel 7, Mark 14, Revelation 1
Timeline placement
Daniel's vision belongs to the exile, roughly six centuries before the gospels.
Sources and evidence
Explore the passage
These are questions the text can actually answer. Take one, go back to the passage with it, and read until Scripture answers rather than until you have an explanation you like. Each question names where this study, or another passage, does the answering.
What this reveals about God
Start here, because every passage of Scripture is first about God before it is about us. Read for what He does, what He says, and what He is called.
What does this word in Scripture teach about God?
Underline every verb God is the subject of. What He does tells you who He is.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about God's character?
Look for the words the text itself uses of Him: holy, merciful, faithful, jealous, patient. Take the text's own vocabulary rather than your own.
What this reveals about us
Scripture is honest about people. Read for what it says of human need, human failure, and the kind of response it calls for.
What does this word in Scripture teach about humanity?
Watch what the people in the text want, fear, and trust. Scripture rarely flatters them.
Where this arrives in Christ
Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. Follow the line the Bible itself draws rather than inventing one.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about Jesus Christ?
Look for what the New Testament does with this text. A connection Scripture makes is a connection you can stand on.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about salvation?
Ask who does the saving, who is saved, from what, and by what means. Let the text answer each part.
The world behind the words
The first readers knew things we have to learn. Recovering what they knew is study, not speculation.
How would the original audience have understood this word in Scripture?
Ask what they had already been told, what they were living through, and what this would have cost them to believe.
What historical or cultural background helps explain this word in Scripture?
Look at the work, the worship, the law and the customs the text assumes you already understand.
What do these words carry in the original: בַּר אֱנָשׁ?
Take the word to its root, its first appearance, and its range of use. Then let the context choose the meaning.
How this connects to the rest of Scripture
Scripture is its own best commentary. The clearest answers usually come from another passage rather than from a scholar.
Which Old and New Testament passages help explain this word in Scripture?
Prefer passages that quote or clearly echo this text. Those links are the Bible's own, not ours.
What biblical themes are developed in this word in Scripture, and where do they begin?
Trace one theme backwards to where Scripture first raises it, then forwards to where it lands.
What this asks of you
Application is the last step, never the first, and it must come out of the passage rather than out of general advice.
What does this word in Scripture teach believers to do today?
Say it as one sentence you could obey this week, and be able to point at the verse it came from.
Questions Audela will not answer
Where Scripture does not answer a question, Audela says so plainly rather than filling the silence. An honest “the Bible does not tell us” is more faithful than a confident guess, and it keeps the reader’s trust in God’s Word rather than in our reasoning.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.
- Ask instead: What does the passage say God did, and what does that reveal about His character?
- Ask instead: What has God told us about His purpose here, in this text or elsewhere in Scripture?
- Ask instead: What does Scripture say about how God acts, and where does it say it?
- Ask instead: What happened, and what does the rest of Scripture make of it?
Study tools
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Studies standing on the same passages
How this connects across Audela
Scripture teaches one story, so Audela is one library. These are the pages standing on the same passages, themes, doctrines and people as this one.
Same passage
- RedemptionBoth pages teach Mark 10:45, so they stand on the same text.
- Why did Jesus come to earth?Both pages teach Mark 10:45, so they stand on the same text.
- Why did Jesus have to die?Both pages teach Mark 10:45, so they stand on the same text.
- Not to Be ServedBoth pages teach Mark 10:45, so they stand on the same text.
Same chapter
- Romans 8: No Condemnation, No Defeat, No SeparationBoth stand in Mark 14, at different points in the chapter.
- Kingdom of HeavenBoth stand in Mark 10, at different points in the chapter.
- Is Jesus God?Both stand in Mark 2, at different points in the chapter.
- Why is Jesus called the Son of God?Both stand in Daniel 7, at different points in the chapter.
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