There is nothing more invigorating than knocking on neighborhood doors in the midst of Idaho winter. People feel sorry for you and let you come inside.

This past week I asked two Bible questions to friends. My contacts were not large in quantity (only thirteen — 8-LDS, 2-Christian, 1-Baptist, 2-no church), but some of the discussions were high in quality.

First question: Did Jesus’ statement to Nathanael (John 1:47) show mere human intuitiveness or messianic insight (the ability to see right into the heart)?

Of the LDS responses, five said Jesus could see right into the heart of Nathanael; three mentioned they didn’t know. Among the three that didn’t know, I observed that two of the households didn’t know much of anything about the Bible. So I am glad to be in the neighborhood to help any way I can.

And let me also clarify that three of the eight LDS were not households but young, Mormon missionaries (from Peru, Kentucky, and North Carolina), kind and patient enough to sit around a table with me for some discussion.

Concerning the non-LDS, one “Christian” and the two not attending any church didn’t know either.

But the other Christian and the Baptist responded strongly that John 1:47 showed Jesus was the Messiah.

Second question: What does the title “Son of man” mean in John 1:51, the last verse in the first chapter?

The three LDS missionaries answered, “He is divine but also man.” “God come down in the flesh.” “The Son with a capital ‘S’ shows His deity; the ‘man’ teaches that He is born of a woman.” (This sounds like what many of my extended family members would say.)

Another LDS stated that John 1:51 refers to Him in the glory of His Second Coming. (This comes closer to what I would say.)

The LDS in four other households didn’t know.

All the others, non-LDS, said they didn’t know either, except the young, Baptist housewife. Smiling in excitement, she shared, “He is the Son of God that has come down to be a man.”

My observations: I noticed that John 1:47 is used in D&C 41:11 in the context of Edward Partridge being ordained the first bishop in the church. “And this because his heart is pure before me, for he is like unto Nathanael of old, in whom there is no guile.” Is there the recording of any other LDS prophet since Joseph who claimed revelation from God where he could see right into the heart of a person? I thought this Messianic insight into human hearts was reserved only for the one true Prophet, Jesus Christ.

Secondly, Ogden and Skinner in The Four Gospels (p. 104) write, “Jesus used the name-title ‘Son of man’ more than eighty times in the Gospels as a messianic title for himself, making it his most commonly used title (see Skinner and Marsh, Scriptural Parables, 154). ‘Son of Man’ always appears in modern revelation with ‘Man’ capitalized because it is a reference to the Father, who is a glorified, resurrected, exalted Man (the phrase ‘Son of man’ is always capitalized in the New International Version of the Bible, one of the best of the more recent scholarly translations of the English Bible). The Father is the ‘Man of Holiness’ (Moses 6:57); his Son, therefore, is the Son of Man of Holiness. Jesus is actually the only man in history who was not a son of man, meaning a mortal man.”

According to the Ogden and Skinner, the “Son” refers to Jesus; the “Man” refers to the Father. But how can this be? Our one reference in the Old Testament (Daniel 7:13), besides all the son of man (son of dust, mortal man) references like in Ezekiel, clearly establishes “the Son of man” title to be distinct from “the Ancient of days.” There is no connection of the Ancient of days to be a man.

For my readers, the best advice I can give you for determining the meaning of the title, “Son of Man” is this. Read for yourself the over 80 references in the New Testament. At least, read the 13 references in John’s Gospel.

The Son of Man is the universal King, the eternal Son, the exalted One to whom I as a son of dust will forever bend my knee to in joyful submission. As it says back in Daniel 7:14, “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”