[[Jesus]] was careful to avoid wording that committed the crime of [[blasphemy]], which was punishable by death under the [[Old Testament]] and by a lesser penalty under Roman law,<ref>http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02595a.htm</ref> and which would have resulted in the prosecution of Jesus before he completed his ministry. Hence he implied his divinity without expressly saying so.
The Greek version of how Jesus described himself is "'''ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου'''," which is best translated as "'''The Son, a human being''' or, more simply, '''The Son, a man'''. A full, wordy translation of the Greek would be " The Son, with the character of man." The Greek is likely a translation of an Aramaic phrase "bar enosha," which has the connotation of "a human."<ref>https://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2011/08/son-of-man-or-human-one-tough-translation-questions-raised-by-the-common-english-bible/</ref> The Greek wording implies the divinity of Jesus in a non-blasphemous manner, without Jesus expressly claiming to be God. [[Faith]] is then required to accept the obvious implication that Jesus was divine, and his opponents thereby had a difficult time catching him in the crime of blasphemy during his ministry. Another possible translation to capture the original meaning is "The Son, with the character of man," or more simply, "the Son, a man."<ref>Other possible translations are less consistent with the Greek, and would have constituted the crime of blasphemy: "God as a man," "Son of Man from God," "God became man," "God descended as man," or "Christ, Son of [[God]]."</ref>
John 9:35 does not make sense as merely "Do you believe in the Son of Man?", and the Greek manuscripts disagree at this verse, some stating "Son of Man" (ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου), others "Son of God" (ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ). A fuller translation might be, "Do you believe in The Son, a human being?"