SUMMARY
The Gospel expression ο υιος του
ανθρωπου = "the son of the man" means "the son of Adam."
The most natural way of construing the double definite article is that it
speaks of the son of a particular man, namely Adam, who is called ο υιος του
ανθρωπου in Genesis 1-2 LXX. The Adam in
question, however, is not just the biblical protoplast but also the figure of
later Jewish and Christian legend, who possessed dominion and divine glory,
which will be restored to him at the eschaton (cf. the exalted Son of Man
sayings), who exercised authority over the created order, which is governed as
the earthly representative of the heavenly king (cf. the present authority
sayings), but who is also associated with the worlds present condition of
suffering and death (cf. the suffering Son of Man sayings).
. . .
One of the big advantages of the
Adamic interpretation of the "Son of Man" is that it permits
integration of these seemingly disparate religionsgeschichtlich
backgrounds. The Adamic interpretation encompasses Category 1 because of the
dominion and divine glory of the prelapsarian Ada, which will be restored to
him at the eschaton. It embraces Category 2 [the earthly activity and/or
authority of the Son of Man] for basically the same reason: before the fall
Adam exercised authority over the created order, which he governed as the
earthly representative of the heavenly king. And it embraces Category 3 [the
suffering and death of the Son of Man] because of the association of the
post-lapsarian Adam with the world's present condition of suffering and death.
. . .
The Adam
Traditions and the Son of Man Sayings
Having surveyed the relevant Adam
traditions, we may now return to the three categories of Synoptic Son of Man
sayings listed above in order to show their consonance with Jewish and
Christian traditions about Adam, most of which can be traced back to the first
Christian century or earlier times.
1) The Son of Man in his exalted
state: At the eschaton Adam will be resurrected and will recover the
glory that he lost at the fall. He (or his son Abel, the "son of
Adam") will become the eschatological judge of all humanity, helped
in his task by the angels. The description of Adam (or his son Abel) in
his role as eschatological judge is parallel to the description of the
"one like a son of man" in Daniel 7.
2) The earthly activity of the Son
of Man: Along with his glory, Adam will recover dominion, the kingly
rule that he had at his creation, his authority over all other
creatures—an authority which he exercised at the earthly vice-regent of
the heavenly king. In the fall, the devil usurped Adam's dominion over
the world; but that dominion will be recovered at the eschaton.
3) The suffering and death of the
Son of Man: Until that recovery, however, Adam will continue to be
associated with the consequences of his act of disobedience, namely the suffering
and death that are an inevitable part of the human condition before the
fall.
Thus, all three categories of the
Synoptic sayings about "the Son of the Man" have close analogues in
the Adam traditions. The "exalted Son of Man" sayings correspond to
traditions about Adam's pre-lapsarian glory and authority, which he will
recover at the eschaton. The "present authority" sayings reflect the
same traditions, but understood from the vantage point of realized eschatology:
Jesus is already exercising the dominion over the world that Adam once
had. And the "suffering" sayings reflect Jesus’ participation in the other
side of Adamic existence, the suffering and death that Father
Adam brought on all humanity through the enmity of the devil and his own sin. (Joel
Marcus, "Son of Man as Son
of Adam," Revue Biblique 110, no. 1 [January 2003]: 38, 48-49, 57-60
; cf. "Son
of Man as Son of Adam, Part II: Exegesis (continued)," Revue
Biblique 110, no. 3 [July 2003]: 370-86
