Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 117
117 choice, take up the sins of men and offer to suffer for them, so that they could be redeemed. And this person was Jesus of Nazareth who was Son of God. He bore the sins of mankind and redeemed them by vicarious atonement through hanging on the Cross. This, in a nutshell, is the theory of vicarious atonement. . Now, if it is established that Jesus is not free from sin, the entire theory of atonement collapses; since if he was not sinless, he was not fit to offer atonement. Christians usually advance the argument that because prophets were not free from sin, they could not therefore atone for others, neither Abram, nor Moses, nor David; they were all sinful and no sinner would atone for another sinner. But we understand from the New. Testament that Jesus too was not free from sin. Naturally, therefore, when he was not sinless, he could not bear the sins of others. . MESSIAH TAINTED WITH ORIGINAL SIN. Christianity declares men sinful on the ground that their forefather Adam had sinned and since men are begotten of him, they are sinful. We say that the Messiah was also of the generation of Adam through Eve and therefore full of sin. . The Christians argue that man inherited sin from Adam, but that Jesus had no father and, therefore, did not inherit. Adam's sin. Our contention is that a heritage is transmitted from both the parents. If, for instance, the mother is syphilitic, the child is liable to carry the germs of the malady; or if, for be affected instance, the mother is consumptive, the child may by T. B. germs. Many a consumptive mother has been the source of the incidence of T. B. among her offspring. A study of conditions in the world shows that defects, whether moral,