Does Jesus need us to sin?

I received an e-mail from a friend a while back (probably a year ago, and unfortunately the original message is long gone) describing a conversation he had with his step-daughter who is not a Christian. He was describing Jesus as Redeemer, and she then asked if the Fall was inevitable and necessary so God would have something to redeem. My friend's response was that no the Fall was not essential to God in some co-dependent way, and then he began to question whether the concept of redemption is actually the central feature of the Son's identity. He told me that this conversation was radically changing the way he understood who Jesus is, but - as is typical - he did not elaborate.

I have often returned to this question over the last year, and strangely this is the first time I have thought of any scripture to go with it. But I thought of Romans 6, particularly verses 1-4: " ¹ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

We don't have to sin for God to express His grace. What then? It's almost 1am - I don't have any answers to these questions at this point! And of course I am coming from the presupposition that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is unchanging - that Jesus is who he has always been and will always be. That means that while human destiny may have changed at the cross, Jesus was who he was before the cross, before creation, after the Fall, after his ascension.

So I am wondering if the role of Redeemer is actually a manifestation of some other part of God's character, like a manifestation of mercy/love/compassion (hesed), justice, and righteousness, and of course grace. I am thinking that if the Fall had never occurred, these traits would be manifest in ways other than redemption of a fallen world. Further, and actually I do remember my friend saying something about this, is the identity of Jesus as God incarnate, Emmanuel - God With Us. I wonder if the incarnation itself is somehow more central to who Jesus is than even his death and resurrection? If so, how does this effect our concept of incarnational ministry? What if Jesus' death and resurrection is more central to who we are than who he is?

What say you, my theologically-minded friends?