Several titles were used to describe and address Jesus during his life time. We have to realise that the full significance of some of the titles of Jesus was not immediately realised by his contemporaries, even those close to him. As the story of Jesus unfolds, the true meaning of the titles given to him becomes more clear.

This title is used in the first sentence of the gospel, so it is the description by which the writer wants us to know Jesus. As Jesus is baptised God confirms his approval of Jesus by the vision of the Holy Spirit and declares that Jesus is his Son. Jesus is thus singled out from among all the righteous of Israel as the one approved by God. Yet the meaning of the term Son of God was not clear. It was a term which could be used to describe any holy person, such as a prophet. It could be taken to mean Son of God in the sense of one begotten by God, but this text cannot tell us which meaning is correct. In the Transfiguration God again confirms that Jesus is his Son. However, the words differ from the words at Jesus' baptism. This experience represents an unfolding of the true nature of Jesus, and is a stage in the revealing of the true nature of Jesus' sonship. The Trial before the High Priest. This is the culmination of the process through which Jesus' sonship is revealed.

The term Son of Man is much misunderstood, and this misunderstanding causes students to lose marks in examinations. The term son of man can mean an ordinary human being, and in the Aramaic language which Jesus spoke it could mean "I", but there was another usage which denoted a being definitely not ordinary. In the book of Daniel the prophet Daniel sees a vision of the Ancient of Days (God), and coming on the clouds of heaven. There is brought into his presence one like to a son of man. This person is given glory and eternal kingship by God. For Jesus the Son of Man would only attain his glory and kingship through suffering. It seems clear that Jesus used the term Son of man to describe himself. What is correct is that Jesus used this term in preference to messiah, which had a political meaning. Anyone who claimed to be messiah was executed for treason by Rome. Thus using the term Son of Man in preference to messiah avoided trouble and bought him extra time to preach and to teach his disciples.

You will see that although the title saviour is not used, Jesus is presented as one who saves. Firstly, the apostles are caught in a severe storm, from which Jesus rescued them by his command of the winds and the sea. Secondly, in the feeding of the five thousand Jesus is shown as one who has such power over nature that he can provide for people in need and rescue them from hunger. Thirdly, he is shown as the one who can cast out a demon. This is a sign that his power extends to his being able to defeat the forces of evil. To a great extent, the word saviour describes Jesus' life.

The most important aspect of Jesus' role as saviour is to save mankind from sin and death. The Christian faith is that by dying he saved us from bearing the burden of our sins, and by rising from the dead he offers us the chance of eternal life, which we obtain by being joined to him in baptism.

It came to be hoped that one day God would send this ruler, the messiah, a term which means the anointed one, a title which denotes that its possessor is special and chosen for an important task. The Greek for messiah is Christos, from which we get the word Christ. He would be a descendant of David and would become king of the Jews. Hence the messiah could be called Son of David, and this was a well-known messianic title. He wanted to be a peaceful messiah who would establish a kingdom of love and forgiveness. Jesus would have preferred converting the Romans to defeating them. The Jews saw the messiah as a glorious ruler, Jesus saw him as a suffering servant.

The question is how relevant are these titles to modern Christians. Some titles are specifically Jewish titles of the first century, and have little relevance in our time.

The term Christ is different. Although it was used to refer to the messiah, it means the anointed one. Anointing is still practised today as a sign that a person is commissioned for a special task, so to call Jesus the anointed one would indicate that he is God's chosen messenger to his people. Most people, however, do not fully see this and just use Christ as though it were part of Jesus' name.

The title Son of Man gives us an indication of how Jesus saw himself. The Son of Man was a heavenly figure who would be sent at the right time to establish God's rule on Earth and to bring judgement.

The title Son of God is used by orthodox Christians, those who believe that Jesus is divine, as they see it as indicating that Jesus has his origins in God. Christians believe that Jesus is an integral part of the Trinity, the three persons in one God, so that Jesus is not just a person with a message (although he did bring a message), but is the way in which God gets involved with the world by entering it as a participant.