Jesus is the Son of God. Why do the Scriptures refer to him as the "Son of Man" as well? Is it just another way of saying Son of God, or is it a translation difficulty from the ancient greek original?

-- Anonymous, July 04, 1998

Answers

Jesus is True God and True Man. As Man He died for the sins of man as God He was able to make atonment for the sins against God.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 1998

Rich, of course, hit it right on the head.

I suggest reading para. 464-478 in the Catechism. It is understandable that you find this mystery of the Church hard to understand, as it becomes complicated when you consider the Two Natures but One Hypostasis of the Second Person of God... nearly all of the earliest heresies delt with the divinity of God.

As orthodox Catholics (little "o"), we recognize that the Second Person of the Divine Trinity became man: Jesus Christ, but there is still only one Hypostasis (person) and not two. Thus, Christ has two Natures: the Divine and the Human. In this sense he is both the Son of God and the Son of Man, but one person (hypostasis).

The Nestorians, an early heresy, recognized one Person, two hypostases, and two natures. They used this is an argument that Mary should not be called the "Mother of God," in that she only mothered the human hypostasis of Christ. The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431) declared Nestorianism hersy.

The Monophysites, another early heresy, recognized only one Person, one Hypostasis, and on Nature in Christ. This heresy gradually faded almost on its own, but was formally declared heretical in 680-1.

-- Anonymous, July 04, 1998