υἱός

Two titles for Jesus in the New Testament, both built on the Greek word for son: huios theou — “Son of God” — and ho huios tou anthrōpou — “the Son of Man.”

The first sounds divine. The second sounds human. The natural assumption, taught in many Sunday school classes, is that the New Testament balances these two titles to confess Christ’s two natures — fully God, fully man. The Son of God title teaches His divinity; the Son of Man title teaches His humanity.

The assumption is half right.

The Son of God title does teach Christ’s divinity. But the Son of Man title is not the human counterpart to the divine title. It is, if anything, an even more exalted title than Son of God. The phrase comes from Daniel 7:13, where the prophet sees “one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven,” given dominion and glory and an everlasting kingdom by the Ancient of Days. The “son of man” of Daniel 7 is not merely human; he is the heavenly figure who receives universal sovereignty from God Himself.

When Jesus calls Himself “the Son of Man” — His most frequent self-designation, used about eighty times in the gospels and almost exclusively on His own lips — He is not stooping to confess His humanity. He is laying claim to the Daniel 7 prophecy. He is identifying Himself as the figure who comes with the clouds and receives the kingdom from the Father.

Both titles, properly understood, are claims to exalted identity. One names His eternal relation to the Father within the Trinity. The other names His eschatological role as the Son of Man who will return in glory. Christ’s two natures (divine and human) are confessed in the New Testament — but they are not what these two titles primarily teach.

This chapter is about the word that both titles share.

The Word

The Greek word is υἱός (huios), pronounced in the Erasmian convention of this book as hwee-OSS, with the accent on the second syllable. The initial rough breathing produces the h- sound; the upsilon-iota combination yields the -wee- glide.

The word family is relatively compact:

Huiothesia (υἱοθεσία) — adoption as a son. The Pauline doctrine, treated in Chapter 19 of this volume. The word is compound of huios + thesis (a placing) — literally “the placing as son.”

Huiopoieō (υἱοποιέω) — rare, to make a son of, to adopt. The verb that huiothesia implies.

Bar — not Greek, but worth mentioning. The Aramaic word for son, used in compound names: Bar-nabas (son of consolation), Bar-jonah (son of Jonah), Bar-Abbas (son of the father, ironically). The New Testament occasionally preserves Aramaic forms for atmospheric purposes.

The etymology of huios is uncertain. Greek lexicographers debate whether it relates to an Indo-European root meaning “to give birth” or “to nurture.” Whatever the deep etymology, by the New Testament period huios was simply the ordinary Greek word for “son” in all senses — biological, social, religious, and theological.

The Septuagint background is essential. The LXX uses huios to render Hebrew ben (בן), the ordinary Hebrew word for son. Both Hebrew ben and Greek huios are used in a wide range of senses — biological son, descendant, member of a group, possessor of a quality. This semantic breadth carries directly into the New Testament.

The phrase “son of God” in its various forms appears at several critical points in the Old Testament:

Genesis 6:2, 4 — “the sons of God (huioi tou theou) saw that the daughters of man were attractive.” The notorious passage that has produced centuries of debate: are these sons of God angels (the older Jewish reading), the godly line of Seth (Augustine), or royal/divine kings? The passage is real but its exegetical resolution is contested.

Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7 — the sons of God in the divine council. Heavenly beings (likely angels) who present themselves before the LORD.

Psalm 2:7 — “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” Spoken by God to the Davidic king. Quoted in the New Testament at Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5, and Hebrews 5:5 — each time applied to Christ.

Psalm 89:26-27 — the Davidic king as God’s firstborn son. The royal-messianic background.

2 Samuel 7:14 — the dynastic promise to David: “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.” Quoted in Hebrews 1:5 alongside Psalm 2:7.

Hosea 11:1 — “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Israel as God’s corporate son, quoted in Matthew 2:15 as fulfilled in Jesus.

Exodus 4:22-23 — “Israel is my firstborn son.” Corporate sonship of the covenant people.

Psalm 82:6 — “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.’” A difficult passage, cited by Jesus in John 10:34 in the controversy over His own divine claims.

The phrase “son of man” in its various forms also has critical Old Testament background:

Psalm 8:4 — “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man (huios anthrōpou) that you care for him?” Synonymous parallelism: “son of man” simply means “human being.” This is the ordinary OT usage.

Ezekiel — God repeatedly addresses the prophet as “son of man” — about ninety times. Here too the meaning is “human being,” in this case used to address the prophet in his creaturely status before God.

Daniel 7:13 — “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” Aramaic bar enash (rendered huios anthrōpou in the LXX). This is the foundational text for Jesus’s self-designation. Not the human-creature usage of Ezekiel, but the eschatological-heavenly figure of Daniel.

The double background is critical. “Son of God” carries forward the OT royal-messianic theology (Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7) into Christological confession. “Son of Man” carries forward the Daniel 7 vision of the eschatological heavenly figure. Both phrases name Christ’s exalted identity — though from different angles.

Range of Meaning

Huios in the New Testament covers a meaningful range:

Biological son. The ordinary use. The sons in the parables, the sons in the genealogies, the son who returns from the far country.

Descendant. “Sons of Israel” (the Israelites). “Son of Abraham” (a descendant of Abraham, or, by Pauline reading, a person of Abraham’s faith).

Member of a group. “Sons of the prophets” (disciples of the prophetic schools). “Sons of the bridechamber” (wedding guests, Mark 2:19). “Sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2 — those who belong to the company of the disobedient).

Possessor of a characteristic. “Sons of light” / “sons of the day” (1 Thessalonians 5:5 — believers, who belong to the light). “Sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17 — the nickname Jesus gives James and John). “Son of consolation” (Acts 4:36 — Barnabas).

Heir. “Sons of the kingdom” (Matthew 8:12, 13:38). The one who is to inherit.

Christ as Son of God by eternal generation. The unique and irreducible NT usage. Christ is not “a son of God” in the sense the angels or Israel or the Davidic king are sons of God; He is THE Son, eternally generated from the Father.

Christ as the Son of Man. His distinctive self-designation, drawing on Daniel 7. Used about eighty times in the gospels.

Believers as sons of God through adoption. Romans 8, Galatians 4, Ephesians 1. Real sonship, derived from and dependent on Christ’s sonship.

Israel as God’s son corporately. Matthew 2:15 (citing Hosea 11:1) applies the title to Christ as the true Israel; the NT pattern of Christ recapitulating Israel’s history.

Negative spiritual sonship. “Son of the evil one” (Matthew 13:38). “Sons of the devil” (Acts 13:10 — Paul’s rebuke of Elymas). The same lexical structure used to name the spiritual paternity of those opposed to God.

The theologically loaded uses are the sixth, seventh, and eighth — Christ as Son of God, Christ as Son of Man, and believers as sons through adoption. The chapter focuses on these.

Where You’ll Meet It

Matthew 3:17. “And behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” The voice at Jesus’s baptism. The Greek: Houtos estin ho huios mou ho agapētos, en hō eudokēsa. Three phrases echo the Old Testament: “my Son” (Psalm 2:7), “the beloved” (the Aqedah of Genesis 22, the only-beloved Isaac), and “in whom I am well pleased” (Isaiah 42:1, the chosen servant). Three OT streams converge on the baptismal voice. The Father is identifying the Son at the inauguration of His public ministry, drawing on the royal-messianic Psalm 2, the patriarchal sacrifice typology of Genesis 22, and the servant-songs of Isaiah. The Sonship of Christ is at the center of His ministry from the beginning.

Matthew 16:16. “Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” The first apostolic confession. Jesus’s response (Matthew 16:17): “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” The Sonship of Christ is recognized only by divine revelation, not by human inference. Peter does not figure it out; the Father reveals it. This text is the foundation of the church’s confession of Christ as Son.

Mark 14:61-62. “Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” The most concentrated combination of the two titles in the gospels. The high priest asks about “Son of the Blessed” (= Son of God). Jesus answers affirmatively and immediately escalates by adding the Son of Man title from Daniel 7 — the heavenly figure coming with the clouds, the one to whom dominion is given. This is what the high priest condemns as blasphemy. Jesus is not merely claiming the messianic Son of God title; He is claiming the Daniel 7 heavenly figure for Himself. Both titles together, in one exchange, lead to His condemnation.

John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The most famous use of huios in the New Testament. The Greek phrase is ton huion ton monogenē, “the only-begotten Son.” The monogenēs term is treated at length in Chapter 4 of Volume One; the present chapter notes that the huios of John 3:16 is the unique Son, the one Son in the eminent sense, distinct from the many sons by adoption.

Romans 1:3-4. “Concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” An early Christian confessional formula about Christ. Critical to note: “declared” (horisthentos) does not mean “made.” The Greek verb means designated, appointed, demonstrated. The resurrection did not create Christ’s Sonship; it vindicated and demonstrated it. The Christ who rose from the dead is the same Son who was descended from David in His incarnation — and the same eternal Son who was eternally begotten of the Father before the foundation of the world.