Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 127
? 120 the Messiah through revelation how a particular disciple of his would betray him. Accordingly, when Judas went there with the soldiers of the enemy and stepped forward to kiss the Master, the Messiah said: "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:28) Clearly it means that when Messiah came first, he was the Son of man, and he will again be the Son of man when he comes next, and he was Son of man, as he himself says, when he was put on the cross. REAL MEANING OF THE TERM When, therefore, the Messiah (peace be on him) himself claims to be the son of man, there can be no justification for interpreting the term 'Son of God' in a sense which is neither sustained by the Old Testament nor by the New Testament. Under the circumstances, we must either say that the Messiah (peace be on him) was a demented person claiming to be Son of God at times and calling himself Son of man at others; or we should find some other solution to it and accept one as a metaphor and the other as a factual statement. If we can discover which of the two is an idiomatic expression and which a factual description, we can reach a correct conclusion without difficulty. If the expression 'Son of man' is an idiomatic