Adam was just a man like any other. He had one spirit, soul and body as any other man would have. The propagative nature of the human spirit was the same in Adam as it is in any man today. It is not that all of the spirits of future mankind were present within Adam, but rather, that the one spirit of Adam has been propagated to all of mankind. In this sense, the union in Adam that we speak of was a virtual union. It is a manner of speaking to describe our relation to Adam as a union. But when we speak of mankind's union in Adam, we do not mean that Adam was some sort of collective of spiritual humanity. Adam only had one spirit, as you and I only have one spirit, and that one spirit of Adam has been propagated to all of us. From one perspective, we all were spiritually in Adam; but the other perspective--just as true--is that the spirit of Adam has been propagated to all of us. A helpful illustration of this is that of one candle lighting another. The flame of the second candle was in the first until the first was propagated to the second. The second flame is equal to the first, and separate from the first, and yet it originated in the first. The first flame did not diminish as the second flame left it, so the first was not divided in any way. Yet the second is no longer any part of the first, but is a separate flame. The first was propagated to the second, and both are equal. There is no limit to how many times such propagation can occur. Though the spirit of Adam is propagated to us, it is not the person of Adam that is propagated. Every newly propagated spirit is its own person, with its own identity.

Thus, every generation and every human being is plagued with the spiritual death and sinful tendencies that came upon Adam when he sinned. When Adam sinned, we all sinned in him. Since we all were begotten of sinful, fallen fathers--sons of Adam--then we all desperately need a New Father--and a new spiritual conception in which the Spirit of that New Father is begotten in us. We were born with a spirit from our fallen, earthly father. When we are (begotten, Fathered, conceived and) born again ("from above"), we are given a New Spirit from a New Father (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26-27; 37:14; John 1:12-13; 3:3;). Gal. 4:6, "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Mankind is no longer in union in Adam. The concept of a federal or covenantal union with Adam maintains that all remain in union with Adam until they are united to Christ. But a realistic or traducianistic union is always "severed" with the conception of the next generation. In other words, mankind was in Adam in the same way that Levi was in Abraham when he paid tithes to Melchizedek (Heb. 7:9-10, "One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him."). How long did Levi remain within the loins of Abraham? Levi was within the loins of Abraham until Isaac was conceived, at which point Levi was then within the loins of Isaac. After Levi was conceived, he was no longer within the loins of any father. So it is with mankind’s union in Adam. When Seth was conceived, all of Seth’s future descendants (all of mankind today) were no longer in the loins of Adam—no longer in a spiritual, traducianistic union in Adam—but were at that point in Seth. This point is crucial to understanding the differences between the union in Adam and the union in Christ.

A spiritual union is a personally identifying union. When Adam sinned, all mankind had the personal identity of the man, Adam. When he sinned, all sinned. But only Adam sinned as an individual. Justice is always personal, and always tied to personal identity . The only personal identity involved in Adam’s sin was Adam, and so the only person who could possibly be held eternally accountable for that sin is Adam himself. As soon as Seth was conceived, that spiritual union of potential humanity within Adam was transferred to Seth, losing the identity of Adam and gaining the identity of Seth. It is the same with each new generation. No man existing as an individual is still within any of his forefathers. Individuals are "in" themselves—individual identities in their own right. A multitude of potential descendants may yet be within any individual man, but the individual is not within anyone else. Every individual is responsible and eternally accountable for his own deeds (Rom. 2:6; Ps. 62:12; Mat. 16:27; Prov. 24:12; Rev. 20:12-13; Ezekiel 18:20; Deut. 24:16). His descendants may have to reap what he has sown in the form of unfavorable natural conditions, but no descendant is ever eternally judged for the sin a forefather.