The title "Son of Man" occurs in John's Gospel twelve times (1: 51; 3: 13, 14; 5: 27;

6: 27, 53, 62; 8: 28; 12: 23, 24; 13: 31).

The Lord's statement concerning angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man,

evidently relates to the future Mediation of Christ, linking heaven and earth by His Own

dual nature as the God Man. In an earlier article we discussed the statement made in

John 3: 13 "the Son of Man which is in heaven"; its claim to Deity cannot be lightly set

aside. As the Son of Man, He could be "lifted up", "judge all men", "give everlasting

life", give His "flesh and blood", "ascend up where He was before" and "be glorified".

Two acts of very great disservice have been committed by some orthodox Christians,

who, by putting out their hands to save the ark of God, have severed from its scriptural

associations of "only begotten", "Word made flesh", the title "Son of God" and where the

Scriptures use "The Word" or "The Image" made it read as if it were a title belonging to

pre-incarnation times.  This has produced the meaningless expression "The eternal

generation of the Son" to which John 20: 31 gives no support. On the other hand the

title "Son of Man" has been relegated to the realm of the flesh, despite the facts that it

was an O.T. prophetic title, and that the Lord's claim to be the Son of Man in answer to

the question "tell us whether Thou be the Christ the Son of God" instead of tempering the

animosity of the Jews, raised it to the highest pitch.

The title Son of God, has much affinity with the Saviour's manhood and the title Son

of Man, has much that emphasizes His Deity. Such would be an anomaly if the Lord

were "such an one as ourselves". But confessedly great is the mystery of godliness, "God

was manifest in the flesh", and if at the same time He be the Child born, the Son given,

yet also the mighty God (Isa. 9: 6) the mystery is not too much for faith, however, much

it transcends our ability to comprehend. Further more, this is not a matter of purposeful

mystifying, or cloaking of ignorance by the use of high sounding words, but in complete

agreement with and full recognition of the limitations imposed by Matt. 11: 27, a

passage demanding the same implicit acceptance as any other part of Holy Writ. There

remains the title without definition other than the article "The Son". This occurs in

John's gospel eighteen times, (John 3: 17, 35, 36; 5: 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26; 6: 40;

8: 35, 36; 14: 13; 17: 1) and must be considered as all embracive. It refers to the

Saviour viewed as "The Only begotten of the Father", "The Son of God" and "The Son of

Man". This survey of the distinction of these filial titles reveals the intention of the

writer of this gospel, but we must here note the way in which these titles are used. The

references to "The Son" are bounded by verses 19 and 26. The first statement says:

The last says: