Titles in Matthew

You'll remember how radically Kraybill reads Jesus being on titles...at least for human leaders.

Kraybill, The Upside Down Kingdom:

• "In one stroke, Jesus erases titles (Matt. 23:8-10). Tagging each other with titles has no place in the upside-down kingdom where everyone stands on equal ground" (226).
• "Titles are foreign to the body of Christ. Terms like Doctor and Reverend perpetuate status differences unbefitting the spirit of Christ."  Titles pay tribute to position, degree and status rather than to personhood.  Members of flat kingdoms call each other, as the sign of highest personal respect, by our first names" (239, emphasis mine)
• "We call each other by our first name, for we have one Master and one Lord, Jesus Christ" (256).
  

  
  

BUT consider  the "titles" of  Jesus, which clue us in to the "Who is Jesus?" question. Check out this chart and note re: each title 

• where in the gospel  (and why?)
• how often?
• and on whose lips
• where  (what section of gospel) each title clusters
• inclusios etc.

click chart(and then click again once on a new page) to enlarge

-Son of God                         (7x..or 8, if you count 3:17)

-Son of the Living God         (once, hmm)

-Son of Man                         (29x.....and all by one person!)

-Son of David                      (9x)

>>Click to read the context of each time each title occurs:

• Son of God
• Son of the Living God
• Son of Man
• Son of David
• Son of Abraham
• Son of Adam

To get more info on the titles, and a sense of how they are used in other biblical books, see this.

Titles

 Some  titles really kick in in chapters 8-10 section: Son of Man and Son of God particularly.   It would seem obvious that these two titles are opposite in meaning: Jesus as human and God, respectively....but a study of the literary/historical world reveals that "Son of Man" was often used as a messianic connotations (and in a sense could mean "God"..see especially Daniel 7:

NT Wright