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of the title "The only Begotten Son" yet this is by no means all. Over against the title
"The Son of God" we must place the ever recurring title "The Son of Man", and the
simple reference to the Saviour as a "Man", and until we do, we shall not have before us
the Scriptural picture of the Son of God. The title "The Son of Man" occurs in the N.T.
88 times. The first occurrence is in Matt. 8: 20 where the Saviour uses the title of
Himself and of His great humility, not having where to lay His head. The last occurrence
in Matthew is where the Saviour claims the prophecy of Daniel to be of Himself and of
His Second Coming:
"Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming
in the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26: 64).
The last reference in the N.T. is in Rev. 14: 14, where He Who once had no place to
lay His head, is now seen `having on His head a golden crown'. The vision of the Son of
Man, given in Rev. 1: 13-18, was of One Who was dead, but Who is alive for evermore,
and has the keys of hell and of death. Every reference to Christ as the Son of Man in the
N.T. goes back to the great prophetic use of the title in Psa. 8: There by comparison
with I Cor. 15: 23-28, Heb. 2: 5-9 and Eph. 1: 22, 23, we see the Lord as the second
Man and the last Adam, with `all things under His feet', the Head of the universe. The
two titles "The Son of God" and "The Son of Man" are complementary. Neither can be
held apart from the other. Both belong to the One Person "The Only Begotten of the
Father". Though He called Himself the Son of Man (Matt. 8: 20), the devils addressed
Him as the Son of God in the same chapter (Matt. 8: 29). When He challenged His
disciples, saying,
"Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?"
Peter declared, by the revelation of the Father:
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16: 13, 16).
When Nathanael confessed "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God", the Saviour told him
that he would see greater things than this, and said "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1: 49, 51).
Throughout the record, He Who is the Son of Man is the Son of God. There are one or
two passages in the N.T. which speak of the relationship of the Son with the Father
`before the world was' which obviously must refer to pre-incarnation times, and these are
important enough to demand a study to themselves. For the moment we stay to
acknowledge that the Son of God is the Son of Man, one blessed and glorious Person.