Those who are familiar with the bible, have certainly noticed that in many places, it actually refers to Jesus not as the “son of God,” but as the “son of man.” (It also refers to him as “teacher” or “rabbi” in other places.)
I did a Google search on this topic, and found that indeed, Jesus typically referred to himself as the “son of man.”
Here is what Google says about this matter: “The Bible calls Jesus “the Son of Man” because it is the main title He used for Himself—appearing about 81–84 times in the Gospels—and it highlights both His true humanity and His identity as the divine, messianic figure prophesied in Daniel 7:13–14.
Where the Title Appears
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Gospels: The term “Son of Man” appears 81–84 times, almost always spoken by Jesus Himself.
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Elsewhere in the New Testament: Used by Stephen (Acts 7:56) and in Revelation (1:13; 14:14).”
This entry goes on to talk about humanity, humility, divine authority, and fulfilling prophecy, but let’s be real, any one of us can say that our father was a man, without conferring humility, divine authority or the fulfillment of prophecy on us. The relevant part is the first one: Humanity.
I have long thought it strange that Jesus would call himself “son of man,” while his followers were proclaiming his divinity. Perhaps I am missing something here in this religious gobbled gook, but I don’t think so. After all, the bible also talks about “the father, son and holy spirit” as though they were synonymous.
Like Thomas Jefferson, I think that the actual words ascribed to Jesus are the real message, and the most important words in the bible. According to scholars, Jesus referred to himself as “son of man,” which made him a man. If there was divinity in Jesus, that would be equally available to all human beings.
That brings me to the point of this post. The bible was written by men (not women), in a time when not many people were literate, and in fact, were ignorant of basic scientific facts such as that the earth is spherical and revolves around the sun. Jesus was a human son of man, and so were the people who wrote the bible, which is the word of man regarding Jesus and whatever else they felt worthy of writing about. It carries no special, divine significance. Although an argument can be made that it was “inspired by God,” how much of that inspiration was actually understood by these men – who were quite ignorant by today’s standards — is highly questionable.
Those of us who are familiar with church proceedings are accustomed to hearing preachers read from the bible, and conclude by saying “the word of God,” as though God wrote what they just read. No, God – whether one believes in this entity or not – did not write the bible, as should be evident to anyone who reads it.
We are free to believe what we want, as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others (actually a major qualification, given how religion has been abused), but we should never set the progress of human knowledge back – as so many Christians and adherents of other religions do in their religious zeal – by insisting that ancient peoples knew more than we now do, and had wisdom or connections to God that we now lack.
If one wishes to have inspiration from the bible or other holy texts, I urge people to look at what their leaders such as Jesus actually said and did, not what those who followed them said out of devotion to them, or as a ploy to grow a religion and gain followers of their own, and the power and riches that come with that. Of course, this is a problem that continues to this day.