How are the phrases 'Son of God' and 'Son of Man' used in Mark? Anonymous College

Throughout Mark's Gospel, we see Jesus referred to as the 'Son of God' and the 'Son of Man' on numerous occasions, the former occurring a total of eight times within the text, and the latter, being 'the most frequent of the Christological images in the Gospel of Mark[1]', a total of fourteen times. With the author of Mark making such regular use of these phrases, scholars have been naturally inclined to investigate them further in an attempt to decipher their intended Christological meaning and ultimate purpose. In this essay I will seek to sustain the line of argument that the phrases 'Son of God' and 'Son of Man' within the Gospel are relatively ambiguous, after considering the multiple ways in which the phrases were utilized pre-Mark it is perhaps difficult to assess how much of his use of the terms was intended to be theologically significant. However, whether intended or not, it is undeniable that the phrases are loaded with potential Christological significance and we can postulate numerous theories of how the writer of the Gospel may have been utilizing the terms for effect.

Prior to embarking on an exploration of the potential theological significance of the phrases 'son of God' and 'Son of Man', it is perhaps worth...