February 27, 2014

Christ's doctrine of the atonement - Smeaton - XII - Chapter 3 continued

Required reading
Christ's doctrine of the atonement by George Smeaton (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue Chapter 3 by reading Sections XX to XXII.

My summary
Today Smeaton looks at the single expressions used by Christ in reference to the nature of the atonement as a mediatorial work given Him to do.

Smeaton demonstrates that the Christ must be holy to stand for the unholy and that his purity is shown by the statements:
(i) Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Luke 2:49;
(ii)
I seek not mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me John 5:30;
(iii) I seek not mine own glory John 8:56;
(iv) I do always those things that plaase Him John 8:29.

What grabbed me
I appreciated Smeaton's comment upon the limitation of our understanding of the atonement: 'for we cannot give an exhaustive outline of satisfaction - no finite mind can define God's representation of sin to Himself. '

As we cannot fully understand the heinousness of sin, we cannot fully understand the atonement.

Next week's reading
Conclude
Chapter 3 by reading Sections XXIII and XXIV.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

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