Christ's doctrine of the atonement - Smeaton - XVI - Chapter 4 continued

Required reading
Christ's doctrine of the atonement by George Smeaton (Available from Amazon or free here) - Continue Chapter 4 by reading Section XXVIII.

My summary
Today Smeaton examines what Jesus means in the sermon on the mount that he came to fufil the Scriptures.

Firstly Smeaton answers the objection that Jesus was partly correcting, canceling, abrogating the teaching of Moses and putting a better legislation in its place.

Secondly Smeaton unpacks what is meant by Jesus coming to fulfil the:
(i) law;
(ii) prophets.

Thirdly Smeaton concludes that Jesus' fulfilment of the law and of the prophets means that:
(i) the Lord Jesus must be considered as acting in the capacity of a surety or substitute;
(ii) Jesus gave undivided obedience;
(iii) Christ's people are considered as if they had always fulfilled the divine law.

Fourthly Smeaton answers further objections.

What grabbed me
I found Smeaton's answer to this question interesting: 'Thus, it is asked, Was not Christ, as man, bound, in common with every rational creature, to render obedience to God on His own account? The answer to this is not difficult. A right view of Christ's humiliation will suffice to show that He did not owe obedience on His own account, and that He was not under the law by any necessity of nature. He owed obedience, not precisely because He took humanity, but because He willed to be made under the law for us. The law was not given for the human nature in union with a divine person, except as He condescended to be abased, and was made under it by voluntary susception, as a means to an end. Christ became man for no personal object of His own, but only to be a Mediator for others, and in that capacity to fulfil the law. But for this, He would not have come into the world, or have become man. Hence the obedience which He voluntarily discharged was only for His people, not for Himself; and Scripture never deduces His active obedience from any natural or inevitable obligation, but always regards it as the end and scope of His mission. Nor can we regard the Lord Jesus as a mere man. He was still the Son of God, neither bound to assume humanity, nor to submit to the laws of humanity, nor to encounter any of those numerous temptations by which His obedience was to be exercised. And He did all this spontaneously and vicariously in a humanity which He had assumed, not to be a separate person, but merely as a rational and intelligent instrument or organ, by means of which that great work of vicarious obedience could be accomplished. '

If I had to answer the question, I would focus on the fact that Christ's human life is of much greater value than any other person's because Christ was also divine.

Next week's reading
Continue Chapter 4 by reading Sections XXIX to XXXI.

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