"The Son of Man": Why Jesus Chose This Title

"The Son of Man" was Jesus's own name for Himself. This documentary counts every use in the four Gospels (with the method shown), traces the title back to Daniel 7:13–14, follows it into the trial before the high priest in Mark 14, and then through the Gospel of John, where the Son of Man comes down from heaven and shares the Father's glory. Each interpretation is credited to a named scholar: Darrell Bock, Richard Bauckham, Benjamin Reynolds, and David Kirk, who offers a contrasting view. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Question at Caesarea Philippi 1:19 How Often Jesus Used It 3:07 Son of Man in the Old Testament 3:58 Daniel's Vision 6:07 The Night of the Trial 9:07 John: The One Who Came Down 12:19 The Case for "Humanity" 13:30 What the Record Shows HOW THE COUNT WAS MADE Greek: SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT) via the MorphGNT database, singular "the Son of Man" / "son of man". Results: Matthew 30, Mark 14, Luke 25, John 13, total 82. Spoken by Jesus: 79. Not by Jesus: Luke 24:7 (angels) and John 12:34 ×2 (the crowd). A KJV English count gives 85 (it includes Mt 18:11, 25:13 and Lk 9:56, supplies the phrase in Mk 13:34, and reads "Son of God" at Jn 9:35). Ezekiel: 93 singular uses of ben adam in the Westminster Leningrad Codex (OSHB). Counts change with the base text and with what you count as one instance. SOURCES SBL Greek New Testament; MorphGNT (github.com/morphgnt/sblgnt). Westminster Leningrad Codex, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (github.com/openscriptures/morphhb). Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, entry pelach (biblehub.com/bdb/6399.htm). Richard Bauckham, Son of Man, vol. 1 (Eerdmans, 2023), pp. 161–64. Darrell L. Bock, Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus (WUNT 2/106; Mohr Siebeck, 1998). Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:5, William Davidson Edition (Sefaria). Benjamin E. Reynolds, The Apocalyptic Son of Man in the Gospel of John (WUNT 2/249; Mohr Siebeck, 2008); SBL John, Jesus, and History Group abstract (2013). David R. Kirk, "Heaven Opened: Intertextuality and Meaning in John 1:51," Tyndale Bulletin 63.2 (2012), which quotes C. H. Dodd. IMAGE CREDITS Caesarea Philippi (Banias), Harry Fenn (illustration) · Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Wikimedia Commons) Christ before the High Priest, Gerard van Honthorst, c. 1617 · National Gallery, London · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) Jacob's Dream (Jacob's Ladder), William Blake, c. 1805 · British Museum · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) Papyrus 66 (P.Bodmer II) · Fondation Martin Bodmer · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons) Text cards and tables are original to The Faithful Record. The Faithful Record is independent and isn't affiliated with any church or publisher. Narration is a synthetic voice (xAI Grok TTS). Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.