But  His  response  is  the  perfect  filial  response,  which
makes  satisfaction  and  completes  reconciliation.  Through
the  awful  darkness  He  passes  unscathed.  His  "it  is
finished"  is  crowned  by  His  "Father,  into  Thy  hands  I
commend  My  spirit."     His  answer  to  the  Father's  dealing


278     The  Spiritual  Principle  of  the  Atonement

with  Him  is  in  perfect  self-surrender,  in  the  presentation
of  Himself  to  God,  in  His  unfsdiing  trust,  in  His  abiding
in  the  fellowship  of  the  Fathfer  as  His  eternal  life.  Here,
indeed,  is  the  triumphant  opposite  of  alienation  and
rebellion.  In  death — the  death  of  the  cross — our  Lord
dwells  in  God,  surrenders  Himself  to  God,  renders  back
the  life  of  sinful  man  to  Grod,  restores  it  to  God  in  a
supreme  act  of  submission,  and  thus  makes  complete
satisfaction  for  sin.
Herein  a  completed  obedience  was  set  against  the  dis-
obedience of  mankind.  He  ''  became  obedient  unto  death,
even  the  death  of  the  cross.'*  The  last  clause  shows  that
the  words  "  unto  death  "  are  to  be  understood  as  signifying
the  degree  and  not  the  termination  of  the  obedience.
"Death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross,"  was  the  climax
of  the  obedience,  the  supreme  test  to  which  it  was
exposed.
