See on Luke 1:35. Although Jesus accepted this title, He seems to have used it of Himself only infrequently. Jesus commonly referred to Himself as the Son of man (see on Matt. 1:1; Mark 2:10), which was the very title He had used in addressing the question to them upon this occasion (Matt. 16:13). “Who is the Son of man?” Jesus asks; “The Son of the living God,” the disciples answer (see on John 1:1-3, 14; Additional Note on John 1).

 For the significance of the title Christ see on ch. 1:1. Though many had already rejected the idea that Christ could possibly be the Messiah of prophecy (see on ch. 16:13, 14), the disciples were still loyal to Him as such, even though they understood but imperfectly all that was involved in it. Later, of course, they did understand (cf. Luke 24:25-34). Except as they grasped this fundamental truth by faith and held firmly to it, they too would fail utterly to grasp the truth that the Messiah must suffer. As it was, when His hour of extremity came, “all the disciples forsook him, and fled” (Matt. 26:56). Even so, Jesus was basing the future hopes of the church on this little band of witnesses, and unless they believed Him to be the Christ, what hope was there that other men would ever believe this sublime truth? See on John 1:11, 12.

The fiction that Jesus was merely a great and good man, perhaps the best man who ever lived, but nothing more, is as absurd as it is incredible. He claimed to be the very Son of God, and expected His followers to concur in this belief. Either He was or He was not. And if He was not, He perpetrated the greatest hoax and fraud of history. One who would make such a claim and encourage others to consider Him the Saviour of the world, when He was not, could hardly be worthy of admiration, to say nothing of worship. Jesus of Nazareth was either the Christ, the Son of the living God, or He was the most colossal impostor of all time.

 That is, not on his own behalf alone (DA 412, 415), but as spokesman for the Twelve, as upon previous occasions (see John 6:69; see on Matt. 14:28; Mark 3:16).