Jesus’ favorite self-designation was the title son of man, used over 80x. The reason is to remind us of the most quoted and alluded to OT verse by the NT writers, Daniel 7.13! The prophet Daniel was given a vision of a glorified human person who was presented to the Ancient of Days, i.e., God.
There are around 40 NT verses that echo Dan 7.13 and the one that follows it is also another NT favorite, Dan 7:14. In the vision, the glorified human person is given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world and they will obey him. The point of the vision is to show how God, the Ancient of Days, has exalted and given authority to a human person to rule over the nations of the world. Thus, restoring the original plan God had for the first human person.
This type of authority and status is something that by nature should already belong to this son of man if he was also God.
We find Paul always contrasting the first, created human with the second, procreated human in Rom. 5.12-19 and 1Cor. 15.21-22:
There are around 40 NT verses that echo Dan 7.13 and the one that follows it is also another NT favorite, Dan 7:14. In the vision, the glorified human person is given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world and they will obey him. The point of the vision is to show how God, the Ancient of Days, has exalted and given authority to a human person to rule over the nations of the world. Thus, restoring the original plan God had for the first human person.
This type of authority and status is something that by nature should already belong to this son of man if he was also God.
We find Paul always contrasting the first, created human with the second, procreated human in Rom. 5.12-19 and 1Cor. 15.21-22:
The meaning is clear: the 2nd human is no more preexistent than the first human! As we see in 1Cor. 15.45 onward, the chronological order is:
- Adam first;
- Christ second.