fit for the kingdom of Heaven and alive to God. When he sins he becomes "dead in trespasses and sins" and suffers the first change to that of a deliberate sinner, dead to God and deservedly under His wrath. Eph. 2,1-3 does not speak of men as "dead in sin", but as "dead in trespasses and sins wherein they walked". It was the sins in which they, not Adam, walked which killed them and changed their nature from that of a lamb in the Arms of Jesus to that of the ass of Exod. 13,13, doomed to destruction.

Upon the new birth he suffers yet another change and becomes, not what he was at birth a son of man and a servant of God, but, marvellously, a son of God and a partaker of the Divine Nature. Thus a man may experience 3 natures, that of a pure son of man, that of a dead enemy of God, that of a living son of God.42

These two "Born in Sin" theories, however, mislead by attributing to man at birth the nature which he only possesses after he has sinned and become dead in actual trespasses and sins which he has committed,43 not in a sin which someone else committed centuries before!

The Errors of Theories A and B

The first two theories have in common the imputation to God of injustice and folly: injustice, because they attribute to Him wrath against man, either for what they have not themselves done or for what by their nature they are bound to do: folly, because it is stupid to make something which is only capable of a certain course of conduct, and then blame it for pursuing that course!

If men by their nature are obliged to sin then God is wicked so to create them, foolish to be angry when they do sin, and unjust to blame them for so doing.

Repentance Impossible

Further, repentance is impossible for those born in sin, for if any man really is incapable of avoiding sin, it is impossible for him to repent of it when he has committed it. He cannot possibly be ashamed of doing what he is forced by his nature to do.