In place of saying He who sows … is the Son of man, it may be better to shift to a simile: “The sower … stands for the Son of Man” (Barclay) or “… is like (or, represents) the Son of Man.”

For the Son of man, see comments on 8.20.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .