Bible Lexicons

υἱός, υἱοῦ, ὁ, from Homer down, the Sept. for בֵּן and Chaldean בַּר, a son (male offspring);

1. properly,

a. rarely of the young of animals: Matthew 21:5 (Psalm 28:1 (); Sir. 38:25); generally of the offspring of men, and in the restricted sense, male issue (one begotten by a father and born of a mother): Matthew 10:37; Luke 1:13; ( L T Tr WH); Acts 7:29; Galatians 4:22, etc.; ὁ υἱός τίνος, Matthew 7:9; Mark 9:17; Luke 3:2; John 1:42(), and very often, as in Greek writings, υἱός is often to be supplied by the reader (Winer's Grammar, § 30, 3, p. 593 (551)): as τόν τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου, Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19. plural υἱοί τίνος, Matthew 20:20; Luke 5:10; John 4:12; Acts 2:17; Hebrews 11:21, etc. with the addition of an adjective, as πρωτότοκος, Matthew 1:25 (R G); Luke 2:7; μονογενής, Luke 7:12. οἱ υἱοί, genuine sons, are distinguished from οἱ νόθοι in Hebrews 12:8. equivalent to τέκνον with ἄρσην added, a man child (Buttmann, 80 (70)), Revelation 12:5; of one (actually or to be) regarded as a son, although properly not one, John 19:26; Acts 7:21; Hebrews 11:24; in kindly address, Hebrews 12:5 from Proverbs 3:11 (see τέκνον, a.β.).

b. in a wider sense (like θυγάτηρ, τέκνον), a descendant, one of the posterity of anyone: τίνος, Matthew 1:20; ὁ υἱός Δαυίδ, of the Messiah, Matthew 22:42, 45; Mark 12:35, 37; Luke 20:41, 44; of Jesus the Messiah, Matthew 9:27; Matthew 12:23; Matthew 15:22; Matthew 20:30; Matthew 21:9, 15; Mark 10:47; Luke 18:38f plural υἱοί τίνος, Matthew 23:31; Hebrews 7:5; υἱοί Ἰσραήλ, Israelites (the children of Israel), Matthew 27:9; Acts 9:15; Acts 10:36; 2 Corinthians 3:7, 13; Hebrews 11:21; Revelation 2:14; Revelation 7:4; Revelation 21:12 (see Ἰσραήλ); υἱοί Ἀβραάμ, sons of Abraham, is tropically applied to those who by their faith in Christ are akin to Abraham, Galatians 3:7.

2. tropically and according to the Hebrew mode of speech (Winer's Grammar, 33 (32)), υἱός with the genitive of a person is used of one who depends on another or is his follower: οἱ υἱοί of teachers, equivalent to pupils (see τέκνον, b. β. (cf. Irenaeus haer. 4, 41, 2 qui enim ab aliquo edoctus est, verbo filius docentis dicitur, et ille eius pater)), Matthew 12:27; Luke 11:19; τοῦ πονηροῦ, who in thought and action are prompted by the evil one and obey him, Matthew 13:38; υἱός διαβόλου, Acts 13:10; with the genitive of a thing, one who is connected with or belongs to a thing by any kind of close relationship (Winers Grammar, § 34, 3 N. 2; Buttmann, § 132, 10): υἱοί τοῦ νυμφῶνος (see νυμφών), Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34 (τῆς ἄκρας, the garrison of the citadel, 1 Macc. 4:2; in Ossian 'a son of the hill' i. e. 'a hunter', 'a son of the sea' i. e. 'a sailor'; cf. Jen. Lit. Zeit. for 1836 No. 58, p. 462f); τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, those whose character belongs to this age (is 'worldly'), Luke 16:8; Luke 20:34; τῆς ἀπειθείας, i. e. ἀπειθεῖς, Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6 (here T Tr WH omit; L brackets the clause) (ἀνομίας, Psalm 88:23 (); τῆς ὑπερηφανίας, 1 Macc. 2:47); βροντῆς, who resemble thunder, thundering (see Βοανεργές), Mark 3:17; τοῦ φωτός, instructed in evangelical truth and devotedly obedient to it, Luke 16:8; John 12:36; with καί τῆς ἡμέρας added, 1 Thessalonians 5:5; τῆς ἀναστάσεως, sharers in the resurrection, Luke 20:36; παρακλήσεως, Acts 4:36; one to whom anything belongs: as υἱοί τῶν προφητῶν καί τῆς διαθήκης, those to whom the prophetic and covenant promises belong, Acts 3:25; for whom a thing is destined, as υἱοί τῆς βασιλείας, Matthew 8:12; Matthew 13:38; τῆς ἀπωλείας, John 17:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; one who is worthy of a thing, as γηννης, Matthew 23:15; εἰρήνης, Luke 10:6 (θανάτου, 1 Samuel 20:31; 2 Samuel 12:5; הַכּות בִּן, the Sept. ἄξιος πληγῶν, Deuteronomy 25:2). (Synonym: see τέκνον.)

STRONGS NT 5207a: υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, the Sept. for אָדָם בֶּן, Chaldean אֲנָשׁ בַּר, son of man; it is:

1. properly, a periphrasis for 'man' especially common in the poetic books of the O. T., and usually carrying with it a suggestion of weakness and mortality: Numbers 23:19; Job 16:21; Job 25:6; Psalm 8:5; Isaiah 51:12; Sir. 17:30 (25), etc.; often in Ezekiel, where God addresses the prophet by this name, as Ezekiel 2:1, 3; Ezekiel 3:1 (Ezekiel 2:10), etc.; plural הָאָדָם בְּנֵי (because אָדָם lacks the plural), υἱοί τῶν ἀνθρώπων, Genesis 11:5; 1 Samuel 26:19; Psalm 10:4 (); Proverbs 8:31, etc. So in the N. T.: Mark 3:28; Ephesians 3:5, (Wis. 9:6); singular ὅμοιος υἱῷ ἀνθρώπου (like unto a son of man), of Christ in the apocalyptic vision, Revelation 1:13 (here υἱόν T WH text); (υἱόν T WH) (after Daniel 7:13).

2. In Daniel 7:13f, cf. 18, 22, 27, the appellation son of man (אֱנָשׁ בַּר) symbolically denotes the fifth kingdom, universal and Messianic; and by this term its humanity is indicated in contrast with the barbarity and ferocity of the four preceding kingdoms (the Babylonian, the Median, the Persian, the Macedonian) typified under the form of beasts (verse 2ff). But in the Book of Enoch (written toward the close of the 2nd century before Christ (but cf. B. D. (especially American edition); Lipsius in Dict. of Chris. Biog. under the word; Dillmann in Herzog (2nd edition, vol. 12, p. 350f); Schodde, Book of Enoch, p. 20ff)) the name 'son of man' is employed to designate the person of the Messiah: 46, 2f; 48, 2; 62, 7, 9, 14; 63, 11; 69, 26f; 70, 1; 71, 17. (The chapters in which the name occurs are the work, if not of the first author of the book (as Ewald and Dillmann think (but see B. D. American edition, p. 740{b}; and Herzog as above, p. 351)), at least of a Jewish writer (cf. Schürer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. § 32 V. 2, p. 626), certainly not (as Hilgenfeld, Volkmar, Keim, and others imagine) of a Christian interpolator.) In the language of the Jews in John 12:34 the titles Χριστός and υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου are used as synonyms.

3. The title ὁ υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, the Son of Man, is used by Jesus of himself (speaking in the third person) in Matthew 8:20; Matthew 9:6; Matthew 10:23; Matthew 11:19; Matthew 12:8, 32, 40; Matthew 13:37, 41; Matthew 16:13, 27; Matthew 17:9, 12, 22; Matthew 18:11 Rec.; (twice); Rec., ; ; Mark 2:10, 28; Mark 8:31, 38; Mark 9:9, 12, 31; Mark 10:33, 45; Mark 13:26; Mark 14:21, 41, 62; Luke 5:24; Luke 6:5, 22; Luke 7:34; Luke 9:22, 26, 44, 56 Rec., ; ; John 1:51 (); (once without the article, John 5:27), doubtless in order that (by recalling Daniel 7:13f — not, as some suppose, Psalm 8:5) he might thus intimate his Messiahship (as is plain from such passages as ψεσθε τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ... ἐρχόμενον ἐπί τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62, cf. Daniel 7:13; τόν υἱόν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν τῇ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ, Matthew 16:28; ὅταν καθίσῃ ὁ υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπί θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ, Matthew 19:28); and also (as appears to be the case at least from Mark 2:28, where ὁ υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου stands in emphatic antithesis to the repeated ὁ ἄνθρωπος preceding), that he might designate himself as the head of the human race, the man κατ' ἐξοχήν, the one who both furnished the pattern of the perfect man and acted on behalf of all mankind. Christ seems to have preferred this to the other Messianic titles, because by its lowliness it was least suited to foster the expectation of an earthly Messiah in royal splendor. There are no traces of the application of the name to Jesus in the apostolic age except in the speech of Stephen, Acts 7:56, and that of James, the brother of Jesus, in a fragment from Hegesippus given in Eus. h. e. 2, 23 (25), 13, each being a reminiscence of the words of Jesus in Matthew 26:64 (to which may be added, from the apostolic fathers, Ignatius ad Ephes. 20, 2 [ET] ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ τῷ κατά σάρκα ἐκ γενοῦ Δαυίδ, τῷ υἱῷ ἀνθρώπου καί υἱῷ Θεοῦ). This disuse was owing no doubt to the fact that the term did not seem to be quite congruous with the divine nature and celestial majesty of Christ; hence, in the Epistle of Barnabas 12, 10 [ET] we read, Ἰησοῦς οὐχ υἱός ἀνθρώπου (i. e. like Joshua)), ἀλλ' υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ (cf. Harnack's note on the passage). On this title, see especially Holtzmann in Hilgenfeld's Zeitschr. für wissenschaftl. Theol., 1865, p. 212ff; Keim, ii, p. 63ff. ((English translation, vol. iii., p. 79ff); Immer, Theol. d. N. T., p. 105ff; Westcott's Commentary on John, p. 33f; and other references in Meyer on Matthew 8:20; B. D. American edition, under the word ).

STRONGS NT 5207b: υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ son of God;

1. in a physical sense, in various applications: originating by direct creation, not begotten by man — as the first man Adam, Luke 3:38; Jesus, begotten of the Holy Ghost without the intervention of a human father, Luke 1:35; in a heathen sense, as uttered by the Roman centurion of Jesus, a 'demigod' or 'hero', Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39.

2. in a metaphysical sense, in various applications: plural, of men, who although the issue of human parents yet could not come into being without the volition of God, the primary author of all things, Hebrews 2:10, cf. vss. 11, 13; of men as partaking of immortal life after the resurrection, and thus becoming more closely related to God, Luke 20:36; of angels, as beings superior to men, and more closely akin to God, Deuteronomy 32:43; for אֱלֹהִים בְּנֵי in the Sept. of Genesis 6:2, 4; Psalm 28:1 (); Psalm 88:7 () (a phrase which in Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7 is translated ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ); in the highest sense Jesus Christ is called ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ as of a nature superhuman and closest to God: Romans 1:4; Romans 8:3; Galatians 4:4; and especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 1:2(1),; . (Cf. B. D. under the word , and references in American edition)

3. in a theocratic sense: of kings and magistrates, as vicegerents of God the supreme ruler, 2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:7; υἱοί ὑψιτου, Psalm 81:6 (); πρωτότοκος (namely, τοῦ Θεοῦ), of the king of Israel, Psalm 88:28 (). In accordance with Psalm 2:7 and 2 Samuel 7:14, the Jews called the Messiah ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ pre-eminently, as the supreme representative of God, and equipped for his Office with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, i. e. endued with divine power beyond any of the sons of men, Enoch 105, 2. In the N. T. it is used of Jesus — in the utterances of the devil, Matthew 4:3, 6; Luke 4:3, 9; in passages where Jesus is addressed by this title by others, Matthew 8:29; Matthew 14:33; Matthew 27:40, 43; Mark 3:11; Mark 5:7; Luke 4:41; Luke 8:28; Luke 22:70; John 19:7; Acts 8:37 Rec.; ; υἱός τοῦ ὑψίστου, Luke 1:32; in the language of Jesus concerning himself, Matthew 28:19; John 9:35; John 10:36, cf. Matthew 21:37; Mark 12:6; besides, in Revelation 2:18; ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ (ὁ) βασιλεύς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, John 1:49 (50); ὁ Χριστός ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, Matthew 26:63; John 11:27; Ἰησοῦς Χριστός υἱός τοῦ (L Tr WH margin omit τοῦ) Θεοῦ Mark 1:1 (here T WH text omit (see WH's Appendix, p. 23)); ὁ Χριστός ὁ υἱός τοῦ εὐλογητοῦ, Mark 14:61; with the added ethical idea of one who enjoys intimate contact with God: ὁ Χριστός ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ ζῶντος, Matthew 16:16, and Rec. in John 6:69. in the solemn utterances of God concerning Jesus: ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; Mark 1:11; Mark 9:7; Luke 3:22; Luke 9:35 (R G L text); 2 Peter 1:17, cf. Matthew 2:15.

4. in an ethical sense with very, various reference; those whom God esteems as sons, whom he loves, protects and benefits above others: so of the Jews, Deuteronomy 14:1; Wis. 12:19ff Wis. 18:4; υἱοί καί θυγατέρες τοῦ Θεοῦ, Isaiah 43:6; Wis. 9:7; πρωτότοκος τοῦ Θεοῦ, Exodus 4:22; in the N. T. of Christians, Romans 9:26; Revelation 21:7; those whose character God, as a loving father, shapes by chastisement, Hebrews 12:5-8; those who revere God as their father, the pious worshippers of God, Wis. 2:13 (here παῖς κυρίου),18; those who in character and life resemble God (Sir. 9:10 υἱοί ὑπιστου; (cf. Epictetus dissert. 1, 9, 6)): Matthew 5:9, 45; υἱοί ὑψίστου, Luke 6:35; υἱοί καί θυγατέρες, spoken of Christians, 2 Corinthians 6:18; those who are governed by the Spirit of God, Romans 8:14 (ὅσοι πνεύματι Θεοῦ ἄγονται, οὗτοι υἱοί εἰσί τοῦ Θεοῦ), repose the same calm and joyful trust in God which children do in their parents, Romans 8:14ff; Galatians 3:26; Galatians 4:6f, and hereafter in the blessedness and glory of the life eternal will openly wear this dignity of sons of God, Romans 8:19 (ἀποκάλυψις τόν υἱῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ), cf. 1 John 3:2 (see τέκνον, b. γ (and references)), preeminently of "Jesus, as enjoying the supreme love of God, united to him in affectionate intimacy, privy to his saving counsels, obedient to the Father's will in all his acts": Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 3:35; John 5:19f. In many passages of the writings of John and of Paul, this ethical sense so blends with the metaphysical and the theocratic, that it is often very difficult to decide which of these elements is predominant in a particular case: John 1:34; John 3:17; John 5:21-23, 25; John 6:40; John 8:35; John 11:4; John 14:13; John 17:1; 1 John 1:3, 7; 1 John 2:22-24; 1 John 3:8, 23; 1 John 4:10, 14; 1 John 5:5, 9-13, 20; 2 John 1:3, 9; Romans 1:3, 9; Romans 5:10; Romans 8:3, 29, 32; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 15:28; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Galatians 1:16; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; ὁ υἱός τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ (i. e. God's), Colossians 1:13; ὁ Χριστός ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ John 20:31; ὁ μονογενής υἱός, John 1:18 (here Tr WH μονογενής Θεός, L marginal reading ὁ μονογονης Θεοῦ (see μονογενής and references)); John 3:18; ὁ υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ μονογονης, John 3:16; 1 John 4:9 (see μονογενής). It can hardly be doubted that a reverent regard for the transcendent difference which separates Christ from all those who by his grace are exalted to the dignity of sons of God led John always to call Christians τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ, not as Paul does υἱοί and τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ indiscriminately; the like reverence moved Luther to translate the plural υἱοί τοῦ Θεοῦ everywhere by Kinder Gottes; (cf., however, τέκνον, b. γ. and references). This appellation is not found in 2 Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, the Pastoral Epistles, nor in 1 Peter or in the Epistle of James.