408 QUESTIONS CONCERNING JESUl. be in the day when the Son of man is revealed; that is, when Jesus shall appear as the Messiah for the conversion of the Gen- tiles, or for the destruction of the Jews, or for the final judg- ment of the world. III. John v. 26, 27. As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and path given him authority to execute judgment also, becausehe is the Son of man ; that is, because he is the Messiah ; therefore, in order to sustain and fulfil the character of Messiah, it was necessary that he should have power to give life to the dead, and to execute judgment on the world. IV. John xii. 34. The peopleansweredhim, We haveheard, out of the law, that Christ, or the Messiah, abideth for ever ; and how sagest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? It is as much as if the people had said, " We know of no son of manbesides that Messiah or the Christ, who is to have a glorious kingdom, and abide for ever: What other son of man is there, or can therebe, that must be lifted up or put to death ? Is there any other Christ or Messiah besides himwho is to abide for ever? " I might cite several scriptures more to this purpose, but these are sufficient to shew, that as the. Messiah is sometimes called the Son of man, to signify his office with a connotation of his relation to mankind, and being in an eminent sense the seed of the woman, or the Son of man, the chief of all the sons of men ; so it is exceeding probable that he is also called the Son of God, to signify the same office, and withal to shew his sub- lime relation to God, or his being in a peculiar and transcendent manner the Son, byway of absolute eminence, above all menor angels who are sons of God ; even his first-born, his only-be- gotten Son. Objection. But if it be allowed, that there are any placesof scripture where the name Son of man denotes the human nature of Christ, or that he was really and truly man, whymay not the name Son of God as well signify his divine nature, and denote that he is true and real God ? To which I answer, that the case is widely different; for thename Son of man is never applied to any person who is not trueand real man ; and the scripture applying it absolutely and èminently toChrist, spews him to be the chief of the sons of men : But the name Son of God is applied often in the Old Testament and is the New, both to angels and to men, who are called the Sons of God, And yet they are not true and real God; and therefore when this name is given absolutelyand eminently to Christ, it can necessarily be construed to signify no more, than the most eminent and chief of all who are called the sons of God, or one who is above them all, in character and office.
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