Page 299 - Systematic Theology - Louis Berkhof

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The name “Christ” was first applied to the Lord as a common noun with the article, but
gradually developed into a proper noun, and was used without the article.
3. THE NAME SON OF MAN.
In the Old Testament this name is found in Ps. 8:4; Dan. 7:13, and
frequently in the Prophecy of Ezekiel. It is also found in the Apochrypha, Enoch 46 and 62, and II
Esdras 13. The dependence of the New Testament usage of it on the passage in Daniel is now
quite generally admitted, though in that prophecy it is merely a descriptive phrase, and not yet
a title. The transition from the one to the other was made later on, and was apparently already
an accomplished fact when the book of Enoch was written. It was the most common self-
designation of Jesus. He applied the name to Himself on more than forty occasions, while
others all but refrained from employing it. The only exception in the Gospels is in John 12:34,
where it appears in an indirect quotation of a word of Jesus; and in the rest of the New
Testament only Stephen and John employ it, Acts 7:56; Rev. 1:13; 14:14.
Dr. Vos in his work on The Self-Disclosure of Jesus divides the passages in which the name
occurs into four classes: (a) Passages which clearly refer to the eschatological coming of the Son
of Man, as for instance, Matt. 16:27, 28; Mark 8:38; 13:26, etc. and parallels. (b) Passages which
speak particularly of Jesus’ sufferings, death, and (sometimes) resurrection, as, for instance,
Matt. 17:22; 20:18,19,28; 12:40, etc. and parallels. (c) Passages in the Fourth Gospel, in which
the heavenly superhuman side and the pre-existence of Jesus is stressed, as for instance, 1:51;
3:13,14; 6:27,53,62; 8:28, and so on. (d) A small group of passages, in which Jesus reflects upon
His human nature, Mark 2:27, 28; John 5:27; 6:27,51,62. It is hard to determine why Jesus
preferred this name as a self-designation. Formerly the name was generally regarded as a
cryptic title, by the use of which Jesus intended to veil rather than to reveal His Messiahship.
This explanation was discarded when more attention was paid to the eschatological element in
the Gospels, and to the use of the name in the apocalyptic literature of the Jews. Dalman
revived the idea and regarded the title once more as “an intentional veiling of the Messianic
character under a title which affirms the humanity of Him who bore it.”[Words of Jesus, p.
253.] The supposed proof for this is found in Matt. 16:13; John 12:34. But the proof is doubtful;
the latter passage even shows that the people understood the name Messianically. Dr. Vos is of
the opinion that Jesus probably preferred the name, because it stood farthest removed from
every possible Jewish prostitution of the Messianic office. By calling Himself the Son of Man,
Jesus imparted to the Messiahship His own heaven-centered spirit. And the height to which He
thus lifted His person and work may well have had something to do with the hesitancy of His
early followers to name Him with the most celestial of all titles.[The Self-Disclosure of Jesus, pp.
251 ff.]