0792. Christ, As the Son of Man, Distinct From a Son of Man

Christ, As the Son of Man, Distinct From a Son of Man

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luk_19:10).

Very seldom do we stop to consider articles, but it is absolutely vital to notice that our Lord is not a Son of Man, but the Son of Man. As Son of Man He is identified with the race. As the Son of Man, He is differentiated from the race. Jesus Christ was a man, but He was not a man as other men are men. He was the God-man.

1. Had Jesus Christ been born of Joseph and of Mary, He would have been called a son of man, just like the other sons of Mary; Judas, Joses, and James could each be called a son of man. None of them, however, could have been called the Son of Man. They were all sons of Mary but not of Mary the virgin. They were also sons of Joseph. Jesus Christ stands alone as the Son of Man because He alone was born of a virgin.

2. Had Jesus Christ been clothed upon with sinful flesh, He would have been a son of man, He was identified with the race in that He became flesh, yet He was differentiated from the race in that He had a flesh apart from sin. He was the Son of Man because He had only the "likeness of sinful flesh;" He did not have sinful flesh. Paul said, "In me (that is in my flesh) there dwelleth no good thing," This is true of all the race. David said: "In sin hath my mother conceived me." This is true of all the race. Neither statements were true of Christ. Christ was God manifest in flesh, but not God manifest in the flesh. The article "the" does not occur in the original Greek of 1Ti_3:16. Jesus Christ could truthfully say: "Who convinceth Me of sin?" He knew no sin, He did no sin, in Him was no sin.

3. Our Lord was made in all things like His brethren; He was tempted in all points like as we are. At the first reading of Heb_2:17 and Heb_4:15, one might think of Christ as a son of man just as any other man is a son of man; but when we remember that He, Who was made in all things like His brethren, and was tempted in all points like as we are, was, in all of this apart from sin; we see at once that He was differentiated from His brethren, and must be known as the Son of Man. Jesus Christ was impeccable. That is, He could not sin. He was not tempted, in the sense that He wanted to sin; He was tested from without not from within. The devil wanted Him to sin, but Christ was impervious to sinful suggestions–the matchless, sinless Son of God!

4. Had Jesus Christ died as other men died, He would have been a son of man. His death did identify Him with the race; He yielded up the ghost; He bowed His head and died. However, our Lord died as the Son of Man, because His death was differentiated from all other deaths. No man ever died as He died. In His death He became sin for us. It was there the Lord placed upon Him the iniquity of us all. All down the ages lambs had been slain. In Exodus 12, we read, "Thou shalt take every man a lamb." When, however, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming along by the river Jordan, he cried: "Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world." John did not speak of Christ as a lamb because He was the only, the exclusive Lamb of God. None other ever died as Christ died.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR