What Is Fallennes & How Is It Passed Down?

We tentatively concluded that the fallenness problem is a deficiency rather than a substantive thing. Sin is not something we pass down from generation to generation. Rather it is a healthy, living spirit that we are unable to pass down. Because we are born without a healthy, living spirit, our flesh takes over and our every inclination is selfish and sinful. Even as Paul emphasized, we were “dead” in our sins (Eph. 2.5; Col 2.13). When we understand our fallenness as a deficiency, it helps us appreciate the necessity of the new birth (John 3.3), not only for people today, but for everyone since the time of Adam. To have relationship with God and enter His kingdom, our spirits (the part of us that that enables us to respond to God) must be regenerated, made alive again, by the intervention of God’s Spirit.

Jesus Christ did not have the sin problem because His Father did not have our deficiency. His Father was able to “beget” Him with a fully living and healthy spirit. That vibrantly healthy spirit was able to keep Christ’s soul and body perfectly subject to God’s will.