needy. And we should probably think of the designa- tion 'Bridegroom' (3~^) in the same light: but in this Gospel our Lord's application to Himself of this designation with a reference to His death, familiar to us from the Synoptics, is not recorded: there is only an employment of it of our Lord by the Baptist with no reference to the days to come when the ' Bride- groom ' should be taken away.
In this Gospel, however, as in the Synoptists, the title ' Son of Man ' comes forward as one of our Lord's favorite self-designations; and it is *Son of Man' charged here, too, with the implication of a mission, involving suffering and death but issuing in triumph. If we seek the guidance here, as we did in the case of the Synoptist use of the title, of the substance of the passages in which It occurs, we shall learn that the ' Son of Man ' Is no earthly being. He came down from heaven whither He shall ultimately return (6^-). His sojourn on earth Is due to a task which He has undertaken, and to which He is "sealed" (6"^). This task is to give eternal life to men (6-^) ; and He accomplishes this by giving them His flesh to eat and His blood to drink, whence they obtain life in themselves {6''^^ cf. 6~^) . Of course this is symbolical language for dying for men. Accord- ingly our Lord declares that It is necessary that the * Son of Man ' be " lifted up," that whosoever believes In Him may have eternal life (3^^), and He announces it as His precise mission, received of the Father, to be thus "lifted up" (8"^ 12^^). Nevertheless, it is only that He may enter His glory that He dies (12^^ 13^^) > and it Is given to Him to exercise judgment also (5"'). Here there is open proclamation of His preexistence,
The Designatio7is in John 195
of His humiliation for an end, and of His passage through this humiliation to His primitive glory.
The culminating Messianic designation in John, however, is ' the Son of God,' which comes fully to its rights in this Gospel. This designation * Son of God * occurs not only, as in the other evangel- ists, in the more technical form of ' the Son of God' (i^* i*^ 525 935 io36 ii4,27 j^7 2o3i), and the simple absolute 'the Son' (3".35.36,36 ^19,19,20,21,22. 23,23,26 540 g36 j^i3 171)^" but also Ih a form peculiar to John, 'the only begotten Son,' or simply (3^^'^^) 'the only begotten' (i^'*, cf. i^^ 'God only begotten'). That the title ' Son of God ' is a Messianic title is clear from such passages as i^^ 1 1"^ 20^\ in which it is used side by side with ' the Christ,' ' the King of Israel,' ' the Coming One,' as their synonym, although not neces- sarily as a synonym of no higher connotation. There is no reason to doubt that here, too, as in the other evangelists, ' Son of God ' carries with it the Implica- tion of supernatural origin and thus designates the Messiah from a point of view which recognized that He was more than man. What is noteworthy is that fn John ' the Son of God ' becomes very distinctly a self-designation of Jesus' own (5"^ 9^^ 10^^ 11^) : and
1* Dr. Sanday, Hastings' D. B., IV., 571 b., writes: "We should not form an adequate conception of the title ' Son of God ' if we should confine ourselves to the use of that title alone. It is true that it occurs in some central passages [of the N. T.], and true that in these passages the phrase is invested with great depth of meaning. But we should not adequately appreciate this depth, and still less should we under- stand the mass and volume of N. T. teaching on this head, if we did not directly connect with the explicit references to the * Son of God ' that other long series of references to God as preeminently * the Father ' and to Christ as preeminently ' the Son.' These two lines of usage are really convergent."
196 The Designations of Our Lord
it is noteworthy that in connection with this designation He claims for Himself not only miraculous powers (9^^ II*), but the divine prerogative of judgment (5^^ cf. ^^) ; and that He was understood, in employing it of Himself, to " make Himself equal with God," and therefore to blaspheme (lO"^'^^).
It is, however, In the use of the simple * the Son * (^17,36,36 ^.19,22 ^40 g36^ ^ ^fj-^j^ gg|. \^ dircct corrclatlon
with 'the Father' (3=^^ ^ 19.20.21.23.23.26 *Son* 14^^ 17^)5 that the deepest suggestion