Was He not the eternal Son of God? This was unalterable: He could no more cease to be the Son in the Father’s bosom, than the Father could cease to be His Father. Had it been possible and fact, His atonement had been vain for God, or for man; but it could not be otherwise than it is.
Was He not God? He who is God can never cease to be God; just as a man can never become God.
Had our Lord Jesus been a hair’s-breadth less than God the Father, He could not have been an adequate sacrifice for sins before God the Judge; nor could He have fully declared God to man. Only God could meet what God requires. That the Son did it, in and as Man, was part of His perfection.