A Man According to God
Each of the four Gospels has its own purpose. In Matthew the Lord meets the Jew as the Messiah. In Mark He meets a needy world as the Servant of that need. In Luke He meets the human family, to speak with them as the Son of Man. In John He meets the church or heavenly family as the Son of the Father, to train them for their heavenly home.
“Son of Man” is a title of very extensive meaning. It expresses man in his perfectness, a man according to God. Man stands a new thing in Jesus, and in Him we see all possible human or moral beauty. Not only is all this moral perfectness expressed by the title “Son of Man” when applied to Jesus, but all His sufferings and all His dignities are connected with Him as such. As Son of Man He was humbled (Psa. 8), but He is also exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high (Psa. 110). As Son of Man He had not where to lay His head (Luke 9:58), but He also comes to the Ancient of days to take the kingdom (Dan. 7:13). Judgment is committed to Him as Son of Man (John 5). As Son of Man He is Prophet, Priest, King, Heir and Lord of all things, and Head and Bridegroom of the Church. As Son of Man He has power on earth to forgive sins (Matt. 9:6) and is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), though, as the same, He lay three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). As Son of Man He was the wearied Sower of the seed and He will be the glorious Reaper of the harvest. As Son of Man He was crucified and raised again (Matt. 17:9,22-23), but all the while, He had His proper place in heaven (John 3:13-14). And, as the Son of Man, He is the center of all things, heavenly and earthly (John 1:51), for it was in man that God had, of old, set His image, and when the first man who was of the earth had broken that image, the Son of God undertook to restore it, to accomplish in man the divine purpose by man, setting man in that place of honor and trust which God had of old provided for him.
This title or name of the Lord, “Son of Man,” links itself with all of His sorrow and with all of His dignities too, except such as are His as being “over all, God blessed forever.” He came as the anointed Man to exhibit man according to the mind of heaven, standing for the blessed God in the midst of the human family, who had deeply revolted from Him. He was the untainted One, and thus, growing up in the midst of others, He exposes all that are unlike Himself. He is the undefiled human temple raised at the beginning by the Holy Spirit and then filled by Him (Luke 1:35; 4:1). He is the humbled Man, who travailed in sorrow here, down to the death of the cross (Phil. 2). He is the exalted Man, crowned now with glory and honor and by and by to have all dominion (Heb. 2).
J. G. Bellett, adapted from The Evangelists