Doc. of Lord (Dick) n. 27

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27. 4. THE LORD IS CALLED THE SON OF MAN WHERE REDEMPTION, SALVATION, REFORMATION AND REGENERATION ARE TREATED OF. This is evident from the following passages:

The Son of Man came ... to give His life a ransom for many. Matt. xx 28; Mark x 45.

The Son of Man is come to save and not to destroy. Matt. xvii 11; Luke ix 56.

The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke xix 10.

The Son of Man came that the world through Him might be saved. John iii 17.

He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. Matt. xiii 37.

Redemption and Salvation are here treated of; and as the Lord effects these by means of the Word, therefore He here calls Himself the Son of Man.

The Lord says

That the Son of Man has power to forgive sins. Mark ii 10; Luke v 24,

that is, to save;

also, that

He is the Lord of the sabbath, because He is the Son of Man. Matt. xii 8; Mark ii 28; Luke vi 5

for He is the Word, which He then teaches. Moreover, He says in John:

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. John vi 27.

By meat is meant all truth and good of doctrine from the Word, and consequently from the Lord. This also is meant in that chapter by manna, and by the bread which came down from heaven; and also by the following words in the same chapter:

Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. verse 53.

Flesh, or bread, is the good of love from the Word; blood, or wine, is the good of faith from the Word, and both are from the Lord.

[2] THE SAME IS SIGNIFIED BY THE SON OF MAN WHEN SPOKEN OF IN OTHER PASSAGES; as in the following:

The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Matt. viii 20; Luke ix 58. By this is meant that the Word had no place with the Jews, as the Lord also says in John viii 37; nor did it abide with them, because they did not acknowledge Him, John v 38, 39. In Revelation also by the Son of Man is meant the Lord as to the Word:

I saw in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Rev. i 13 and foll.

Here by various things the Lord is represented as to the Word and therefore He is also called the Son of Man.

In the Psalms:

Let thy hand be upon the Man (vir) of thy right hand, upon the Son of Man whom thou madest strong for thyself. Then we will not go back from thee: quicken thou us. Ps. lxxx 17, 18.

The Man of the right hand is here also the Lord as to the Word; so, too, is the Son of Man. He is called The Man of the right because Lord has power by virtue of Divine Truth, which likewise is the Word. Moreover, He had Divine power when He had fulfilled the whole Word. Hence also He said

That they should see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Father with power. Mark xiv 62.


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