Was the atonement of Jesus Christ to only benefit the sinner or did it also benefit our Lord Jesus Christ?
John 15:13
13 Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his
friends.
Doctrine and Covenants 88:6
6 He that
ascended up on high, as also he
descended below all things, in that he
comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the
light of truth;
Alma 7:12
12 And he will take upon him
death, that he may
loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to
succor his people according to their infirmities.
Without sinning, Jesus learned what it was like to sin.
"We say, 'But because He did not violate the law of God as we do, He does not know the burden of guilt and alienation.' The truth is because of His sensitive, uncompromising submission to the Father's will, He was the only one of the Father's family who did not transgress, who in no sense deserved the throes of sin and the withdrawal of the Spirit. Yet through His life, climaxed by those incomprehensible hours in a Garden beyond the brook Cedron, He suffered "according to the flesh" (Alma 7) the pains and afflictions of all forms of human evil doing. He participated voluntarily, in the actual conditions that follow in the wake of deliberate transgression. He experienced the cumulative impact of our vicious thoughts, motives, and acts.
We say, 'But it was easier for Him because of His Divine Sonship.' The truth is it was infinitely harder. He endured 'even more than man can suffer except it be unto death,' (Mosiah 3:7) how exquisite and hard to bear we know not, which caused Him:
to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore and to suffer both body ad spirit. And would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink. Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook, and finished my preparations unto the children of men. (Doctrine and Covenants 19:13,19)
We say, 'But He was never left as we are unto Himself.' The truth is few can comprehend His cry on the cross, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?' Who can fathom His reiterated statement in modern times,
I have trodden the winepress alone, even the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. (Doctrine and Covenants 88:106)
We say, 'But what He did twenty centuries ago cannot affect me now.' The truth is the Christ who was, is the Christ who is. Out of His life came a full knowledge of righteousness and a full knowledge of the effects of sin. This means that no human encounter, no tragic loss, no spiritual failure is beyond the pale of His present knowledge and compassion gained,
According to the flesh -- that he might succor His people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7)
No act in all history has united intelligence, virtue, and mercy in so complete an expression of love, a love which, even dimly glimpsed, will 'draw all men unto him;' a love which underlies His present living roles as Mediator, Revelator, Savior, Redeemer, and Advocate with the Father." --
Christ and the Inner Life by Truman G. Madsen