THE FALL OF MAN 143 



and inborn propensities;^ (4) the prevalence, after the 

 time of Ezekiel at least, of the antithetic beliefs in 

 human solidarity as to sin, and in the exclusive re- 

 sponsibihty of individual sinners for their own trans- 

 gressions — this mysterious antithesis of revealed truths 

 also being discoverable in Christian doctrine.^ 



(c) Behevers in plenary inspiration, whatever their 

 theory of its method may be, have to assume that 

 bibhcal doctrines harmonize with each other. Accord- I 

 ingly, when the New Testament is found to teach 

 clearly the need for all the race of redemption from sin, 

 and the necessity that all who are born of the flesh 

 should be re-born of the Spirit, the inference is inevi- 

 table that our individual sins do not constitute the sole 

 basis of our need of redemption. We are led, there- 

 fore, to emphasize the spiritual implications of the 

 Eden narrative, and the teaching of the Old Testament 



Sources, pp. 102, 103. It certainly is not contrary to the catholic 

 doctrine which treats the fall as a loss of grace and reversion to 

 unassisted natural weakness. ^ Psa. li. 5; Job. xv. 14, 15. 



2 See Tennant, op. cit., pp. 97-105. On human solidarity, and 

 the solidarity of families and tribes in sin, cf. Gen. ix. 25; xx. 9; 

 Exod. XX. 5; xxxiv. 7; Deut. v. 9; 2 Sam. iii. 29; xxi. 5 et seq.; i Kings 

 ii. ^y, Isa. vii. 17; Jerem. xiv. 20; xv. 4; xxii. 28-30; xxvi. 15; xxxii. 

 18; Lam. V. 4; Hos. i. 4. The frequency with which the principle of 

 inherited liability for the sins of previous generations is set forth is 

 noticeable. On the counter truth that each soul is responsible for 

 its own sins, and for those only, see Jerem. xxxi. 29, 30; Ezek. xviii. 

 Catholic doctrine leaves place for both of these truths, teaching 

 inherited consequences of Adam's sin, but limiting personal guilt to 

 those who commit actual sin. Cf. pp. 147, 148, below, on the readi- 

 ness of ancient writers to emphasize either of these doctrines, as occa- 

 sion seemed to demand. 



