The Apostles' Doctrine of the Atonement (Smeaton)

George Smeaton was one of the great luminaries in the theological galaxy which graced New College, Edinburgh, in the second half of the nineteenth century. His colleague James MacGregor said that he possessed ‘the best constituted theological intellect in Christendom’. His invaluable study of our Lord’s teaching on the significance of his death gives substance to that claim. In it we find Smeaton’s sensitive theological acumen, his skill in judicious exposition, and his evident devotion to the person of Jesus Christ — all combined in a masterly survey of the Gospel texts which illumine the doctrine of the atonement. 

Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement, like its companion volume on the Apostles’ doctrine, is a work to be read and re-read. Those who possess it will often find themselves instinctively turning to consult Smeaton for insight on passages where other works have failed them.

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Author

GEORGE SMEATON (1814–1889) was born in Berwickshire in the south of Scotland, and later studied at the University of Edinburgh. He became the minister of Falkland in 1839. At the Disruption in 1843, Smeaton demitted his charge in the Established Church and later that year became the minister of the Auchterarder congregation of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1853, he took up the Chair of Divinity at the Free Church College in Aberdeen, and in 1857, was transferred to the New College in Edinburgh, where he held the position of Professor of New Testament Exegesis until his death.

Smeaton was held in high regard by his contemporaries—his colleague James Macgregor thought that Smeaton had the best-constituted theological intellect in Christendom, and Dr Alexander Stewart of Edinburgh said that he was ‘perhaps the most learned theologian in the Free Church and a man of deep and unaffected godliness.’

Endorsement

"George Smeaton’s magnificent studies of the New Testament’s teaching on the work of Christ-Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonementand The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement [are] two books which I am convinced ought to be in the possession of every minister of the gospel, preacher, teacher and student for the ministry.

These books are reliable, but they are also wonderfully readable. Ministers at every age and stage will benefit from them, and be led by them through careful, biblical, spiritual exposition of the cross. They combine biblical exegesis, doctrinal exposition, spiritual meditation, depth without dense style, clarity without technical clutter."