Son Of Man
'Son of man' is the translation of various Hebrew and Greek phrases used in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. It has diverse meanings, ranging from a normal human being to a prophesied eternal, divine ruler.
The Hebrew expression "son of man" (בן–אדם i.e. ben-'adam) appears one hundred and seven times in the Hebrew Bible. This is the most common Hebrew construction for the singular and appears 93 times in Ezekiel alone and 14 times elsewhere. In thirty two cases the phrase appears in intermediate plural form "sons of men", i.e. human beings. As generally interpreted by Jews, denotes mankind generally, with special reference to their weakness and frailty.
In the Koine Greek of the New Testament, "the son of man" is invariably used as "ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου" with a definite article. The use of the definite article in "the Son of man" in the Christian gospels is novel, and before its use there, no records of its use in any of the surviving Greek documents of antiquity exist. Geza Vermes has stated that "the Son of man" in the Christian gospels is unrelated to Hebrew Bible usages.
In Christian usage, unlike the Son of God title, which has been an essential element of Christian creeds since the Apostolic age, the proclamation of "Jesus as the Son of man" has never been an article of faith in Christianity. The interpretation of the use of "the Son of man" in the New Testament has remained challenging and after 150 years of debate no consensus on the issue has emerged among scholars.
Read more about Son Of Man: Judaism, Christianity, Apocrypha
Famous quotes containing the words son of, son and/or man:
“He certainly must be a son of Aurora to whom the sun looms, when there are so many millions to whom it glooms rather, or who will never see it till an hour after it has risen. But it behooves us old stagers to keep our lamps trimmed and burning to the last, and not trust to the sun’s looming.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I am a cowboy in the boat of Ra. Lord of the lash,
the Loup Garou Kid. Half breed son of Pisces and
Aquarius. I hold the souls of men in my pot. I do
the dirty boogie with scorpions. I make the bulls
keep still and was the first swinger to grape the taste.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“To make a man perfectly happy tell him he works too hard, that he spends too much money, that he is “misunderstood” or that he is “different”; none of this is necessarily complimentary, but it will flatter him infinitely more that merely telling him that he is brilliant, or noble, or wise, or good.”
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950)