God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, On the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. (Psalms 80:17)

“God is not… the son of man!” Did you catch that? Rather, the son of man is someone whom God makes and uses as His own right hand. That’s what the Bible says. In this chapter, we will look at the phrase “son of man” and see what it means biblically, in contrast to the way Trinitarians and Onenessians typically view it. In the OT, the phrase “son of man” is used 108 times¹. In every single one of them, it means just what it says, male offspring of mortal humanity.

¹The 108 instances of son of man in the OT are: Numbers 23:19; Job 25:6, 35:8; Psalms 8:4, 80:17, 144:3, 146:3; Isaiah 51:12, 56:2; Jeremiah 49:18, 33, 50:40, 51:43; Ezekiel 2:1, 3, 6, 8; 3:1, 3, 4, 10, 17, 25; 4:1, 16; 5:1; 6:2; 7:2; 8:5, 6, 8, 12, 15, 17; 11:2, 4, 15; 12:2, 3, 9, 18, 22, 27; 13:2, 17; 14:3, 13; 15:2; 16:2; 17:2; 20:3, 4, 27, 46; 21:2, 6, 9, 12, 14, 19, 28; 22:2, 18, 24; 23:2, 36; 24:2, 16, 25; 25:2; 26:2; 27:2; 28:2, 12, 21; 29:2, 18; 30:2, 21; 31:2; 32:2, 18; 33:2, 7, 10, 12, 24, 30; 34:2; 35:2; 36:1, 17; 37:3, 9, 11, 16; 38:2, 14; 39:1, 17; 40:4; 43:7, 10, 18; 44:5; 47:6; and Daniel 7:13, 8:17.

This is clearly the bulk of scriptural witness to the truth that “Son of Man” is an idiomatic phrase for a human being. This phrase is used unclearly only once, in a way that causes some mistakenly to believe that it is really just a code word for the unbiblical phrase “God the Son.” Here is the passage:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13)

Three things are stated here that a lot of people seem to overlook. First, the one like the son of man is being given a kingdom. In other words, the authority of the kingdom is not inherent to his person as it is with God. This is perfectly in line with the OT basis of Jesus’ claim in the NT that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him and that he could do nothing of himself. Second, the passage interprets for us who this person is, as we’ll show below. And third, Daniel himself is called “son of man” in the same book (Daniel 8:17). Surely we aren’t to believe Daniel was the person of God Himself because he is called “son of man.”

Let’s take a look at the key verses…

¹³I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. ¹⁴ There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. ¹⁵As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

¹⁷“These great animals, which are four, are four kings, who shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” (Daniel 7:13–18)

²¹I saw, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; ²² until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (Daniel 7:21–22)

²⁶But the judgment shall be set, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. ²⁷The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Daniel 7:26–27)

The interpretation of the identity of the one “like the son of man” is given to Daniel three times: in verses 18, 22, and 27: the saints of the Most High! Not many people are willing to accept it, though. We, however, have plenty of “it is written again” type Scriptures to help us see this great and marvelous truth.

To begin with, this scene has a very close parallel passage in Revelations. Note in particular the outcome of the scene:

¹I saw, in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book written inside and outside, sealed shut with seven seals. ²I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to break its seals?” ³No one in heaven above, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look in it. ⁴And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look in it.

⁵One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals.”

⁶I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. ⁷Then he came, and he took it out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

⁸Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book, And to open its seals: For you were killed, And bought us for God with your blood, Out of every tribe, language, people, and nation, ¹⁰And made them kings and priests to our God, And they reign on earth.”

¹¹I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands; ¹² saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who has been killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!” (Revelation 5:1–12)

The interpretation is incredibly simple and clear. Jesus Christ, the Lamb who has been slain, has not only redeemed his people, but he has also secured for himself and them a kingdom in which they will reign as kings and priests along with him. And furthermore, it is at this time that the Lamb receives the power of the kingdom, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!

We may ask, why then is the “one like the son of man” seen as a single person in Daniel’s vision? The answer is a truth that is clearly spelled out for us in the Scriptures:

¹²For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. ¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body is not one member, but many… ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired. ¹⁹If they were all one member, where would the body be? ²⁰But now they are many members, but one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12–20)

It is clearly stated that there are many persons in one body in Christ. Does that make us incarnations of the Trinitarian person of “God the Son,” or incarnations of God the Father as in Onenessianism? No, a thousand times no. And it is just as unreasonable for Trinitarians and Onenessians to conclude that because Christ operates as the body of God that he must be an incarnation of the person of God. If that is so, then he is not the firstborn of many brothers; rather, he is a pagan form of an incarnation of a deity.

Now let’s read a few other passages that add to our understanding of what is meant in calling Jesus “the Son of Man”:

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:45–47)

He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

Through these Scriptures we can see that God “worked it out” so that the ultimate offspring of humanity (or “Son of Man”) is and was to become the ultimate firstborn among many brothers in the kingdom of the resurrected ones, that he might attain reconciliation for all unto God “in one body.” This is clearly stated in Scripture:

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, ¹⁵having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace; ¹⁶and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby. (Ephesians 2:13–16)

Thus, the NT certainly echoes the theme found in Daniel 7, that one man/one body is given dominion, and which the passage goes on to interpret as the “saints of the Most High” being given a kingdom and dominion:

¹⁰For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, ¹²saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” ¹³Again, “I will put my trust in him.” Again, “Behold, here am I and the children whom God has given me.” ¹⁴Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ¹⁶For most assuredly, not to angels does he give help, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers… (Hebrews 2:10–17)

This is God’s plan, and Jesus is God’s ultimate original prototype. Jesus is the head of the body, the assembly, and the “one body” that is “like the son of man” (that is, the body of Christ made up entirely of human beings) he will bring before God, the true Ancient of Days, where all the saints, the brothers of the Lord Jesus, will receive crowns as kings and priests to reign as heirs with Christ.

So then, all the authority that God has “given” Jesus and which we see displayed in and through Jesus beginning with the testimony of the apostles and continuing to this day, is exactly what God has planned for each of us once we come into our promise, at which time we will rule and reign with Christ and, ultimately, to a time when, “God is all in all.”

Summary: The truth that the phrase “son of man” means a human being is well and thoroughly established throughout the Bible. The one passage in Daniel 7:13 that discusses “one like a son of man” refers to the coming day when Christ, the firstborn among many brothers, will bring all of his fellow saints together as one body before the throne of God to be crowned as kings and priests along with Jesus Christ when he comes into his kingdom. There is no legitimate reason to interpret the phrase “son of man” as a code word indicating that Christ is an incarnation of God, or some other preexistent spiritual being. Rather, such a false interpretation hides the ultimate plan of God, which is the hope and promise that God extends to people who will repent to dead works and turn to God.

Jumping to Conclusions versus “It is written”: The man-made idea that the title “son of man” signifies the deity of Christ based on Daniel 7:13 is a jumping to conclusions. The “it is written again” Scriptures that refute that assumption are Daniel 7:18, 22, 27; Revelations 5:1–12; 1 Corinthians 12:12–20, Colossians 1:18, Romans 8:28–29; Ephesians 2:13–16 and Numbers 23:19, all quoted above, and include all the 108 passages that are listed above wherein “son of man” refers exclusively to human beings.

The OT Schoolmaster: The idea that God the Father would make Himself a “son of man” was simply never taught in the OT, but rather was clearly refuted in Numbers 23:19.

Teach No Other Doctrine: Since the apostles never taught that “son of man” was a mystic “code word” for deity, or the fleshly body of the personality of God Himself, such ideas should be rejected as adding to and taking away from the word of God.

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