NewDayvotional

From the pastor for the people

Does God Punish Children For The Sins Of Their Parents?

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Someone asked me recently: Does God punish children for the sins of their parents? In this post I’ll attempt to answer this question.

This idea (that God punishes children for the sins of their parents) comes from the Mosaic Law (the law God gave to the Israelites through Moses):

  • Exodus 20:4–6, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
  • Exodus 34:5–7, Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
  • Deuteronomy 5:8-10, ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Admittedly, these verses, on their own, are a little confusing. So we need to turn to other Scriptures that speak to the question at hand to provide further clarity. For example:

  • Deuteronomy 24:16, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.” 
  • 2 Kings 14:1–6, In the second year of Joash…king of Israel, Amaziah…became king over Judah…he did what was right in the sight of the Lord…Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king. But the children of the murderers he did not execute, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
  • Jeremiah 31:29–30, In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
  • Ezekiel 18:20, “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”

Clearly, the Bible teaches that each person rises or falls on their own merit. Therefore,  Exodus 20:4–6, Exodus 34:5–7, Deuteronomy 5:8-10 cannot mean that God punishes an innocent generation for the sins of a previous generation. What then do these verses mean?

  • In Exodus 20:4-6, “…the iniquities of the fathers upon the children…” refers to sins the parents committed that the children are now repeating.
  • And when Exodus 34:5-7 says “…by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children…” it’s clear that the children are guilty of sin themselves.

Therefore, we conclude that what these verses are affirming is God’s determination to punish successive generations for committing the same sins they learned from their parents. They do not teach that God punishes the children for the sins of their parents.

So in sum, the Bible teaches:

  1. If kids repeat the sins they learned from their parents, God will punish them just the same as the parents (Exodus 20:4–6, Exodus 34:5–7, Deuteronomy 5:8-10).
  2. But kids will not be punished by God for the sins of their parents, because each person will rise or fall before God based on their own merit, not someone else’s (Deuteronomy 24:16, 2 Kings 14:1-6, Jeremiah 31:29-30, Ezekiel 18:20).

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah brings these two truths together nicely in Jeremiah 32:18–19 when he wrote, “You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers’ sins into the laps of their children after them…Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.”

Note: Just because the Bible teaches that God will not punish kids for the sins of their parents, does not mean that kids won’t suffer for the sins of their parents. Many times they do. As they learn bad habits from the example their parents have set, they suffer the natural consequences of sin.

Homosexuality and Hate Speech

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This past Sunday I briefly mentioned something Jesus said on the topic of homosexuality in my sermon How to Interpret Scripture like Jesus (starts at 19:02 and ends at 23:33) to illustrate how some people twist the Scriptures and read meaning into them – to make them say what they want them to say.

The next day I received the following email:

“Your message has taught members of the church and the community to not accept and support the LGBTQ community. There is a lot of hatred going around in the world right now and it’s important that we do our best to love everyone the same.” 

Let’s unpackage this a bit, shall we?

  1. It’s not my message. I’m the server, not the chef. If you don’t like the food, talk to the cook. My job isn’t to prepare the food, only to deliver it. Jesus prepared the spiritual meal in Mark 7:21-23. I just delivered it.
  2. The person who wrote this believes that accepting and supporting the homosexual lifestyle is loving, and to teach what Jesus said on homosexuality is hateful. I would like to propose that precisely the opposite is true.

The Bible teaches plainly that the person who lives the homosexual lifestyle – I’m not talking here about those attracted to the same gender, rather those who sinfully act on that attraction – will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.“
  • Galatians 5:19-20, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” The phrase “sexual immorality” here is a catchall phrase that would include the sin of practicing homosexuality.
  • Revelation 21:8, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Again, the phrase “sexual immorality” here is a catchall phrase that would include the sin of practicing homosexuality.

In light of biblical teaching, how can it be loving to encourage someone down a path that will ultimately lead to eternal seperation from God?

Conversely, how can it be hateful to try and warn someone from heading down a path that will ultimately lead to eternal seperation from God?

If someone’s house is burning down and you don’t warn the people inside, how can that be loving? If you do warn them, how can that be hateful?

I would rather make someone temporarily uncomfortable, by lovingly confronting them with the truth of God’s Word that can save, than have them be eternally uncomfortable in hell.

Now I want to be clear that I don’t write this to justify my actions this past Sunday (I don’t believe sharing the truth of God’s Word ever requires justification). I write for three reasons:

  1. To expose the lie in the line of reasoning that says it’s hateful to share biblical teaching on the topic of homosexuality.
  2. To equip followers of Jesus with how to respond when someone tells them the same thing.
  3. To convince those who are accepting and supportive of the homosexual lifestyle that they are doing more harm than good (from an eternal, biblical perspective).

Jesus and Homosexuality, Part 2 of 2

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I once received the following email:

“In the future when you want to talk about gay people in your sermons, just say what Jesus said about the subject, and that is nothing, nothing at all…Show me a quote by Jesus that is DIRECTLY condemning homosexuality, and the answer is, you can’t.. so don’t you do it either.” 

I can only assume that if I receive such feedback from time to time, you (the people of New Day Church) do as well. I’d like to share a biblical response that I would encourage you to share, as you have opportunity. As you share, don’t forget the biblical guidelines for doing so. For it to be biblical, we have to share with “…gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Now Jesus absolutely said something on the topic of homosexuality, which I covered in depth in my previous post Jesus and Homosexuality Part 1. But let’s pretend for a moment that he didn’t. The argument “Jesus said nothing about homosexuality” is still fatally flawed for the following four reasons: 

  1. It’s an argument from silence. 

There are lots of things Jesus never mentioned that clearly violate God’s moral. Are we really to believe that Jesus didn’t care about incest, rape, abortion, human trafficking, wife-beating or child-molesting just because He said nothing about them? There are any number of immoral behaviors Jesus did not mention by name; surely we don’t condone them for that reason alone! What reason do we have for believing that Jesus’ ostensible silence on any issue, should be understood as his support for it? The answer is “Absolutely none.” 

  1. The argument wrongly assumes that the Gospels are more authoritative than the rest of the books in the Bible. 

At no point did Matthew, Mark, Luke or John say their books should be elevated above the Mosaic Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) or, for that matter, any writings yet to come. What the Bible does say is that “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). This verse assigns equal value to all books of the Bible, which prevents us from elevating some (i.e. the Gospels) over others (i.e. the Torah or the Pauline Epistles). 

Even if the Gospels were silent on the subject of homosexuality (which they are not), that would in no way condone homosexual practice. The entirety of biblical teaching must be taken into account before we can make conclusions concerning what the Bible actually teaches on any given subject. Again, even if the Gospels were silent on the topic of homosexuality (which they’re not), the rest of the Bible certainly isn’t. And the books of the Bible outside of the Gospels are just as authoritative as the Gospels themselves, for they were just as much “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16) as the Gospels.

  1. The argument wrongly assumes that the Gospels are more comprehensive than they really are. 

The Gospels do not provide us with all we need to know by way of doctrine and practical instruction in Christian living. That’s why God gave us the rest of the Bible – the books outside of the Gospels. We need all of it to learn to walk in God’s ways. 

  1. It presumes to know all of what Jesus said. 

The Gospels never claim to include everything Jesus taught. On the contrary, they teach the exact opposite. The apostle John wrote in John 21:25, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” This means that we don’t have in the Bible a record of every miracle or teaching of Jesus.

I’m not claiming that Jesus said something on homosexuality that we don’t have written down, only that based on John 21:25 we cannot rightly conclude that Jesus’ silence on a subject automatically means that he never said anything on that topic.

CONCLUSION: A specious argument is an argument that is superficially plausible, but actually wrong. That is precisely the case when it comes to the argument “Jesus said nothing about homosexuality.” It looks good from far, but turns out to be far from good. At first glance it appears structurally sound, but if you test the foundation by the Word of God, it all comes crashing down.

Jesus and Homosexuality, Part 1 of 2

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I received an email this week that stated the following:

“Although in your eyes, it may not be right to be gay…in God’s and Jesus’s eyes, they are accepting and loving of it.” 

If you received such an email…or if a family member, friend or co-worker said something along these lines…how would you respond? I’d like to share what I believe is a biblical response and would encourage you, as God provides the opportunity, to share this response “…with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

1. Jesus forbid “sexual immorality” which included homosexual behavior. 

Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” [that is, morally unclean] “Sexual immorality” in this context refers to “sexual acts that are morally objectionable.” Since Jesus said these things to his disciples, who were Jews, we must look to the Mosaic Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy) as the standard for right and wrong. In the law of Moses, forbidden sexual sins include (but are not limited to) incest, adultery, homosexuality and bestiality (see Leviticus 18:6,20,22,23).

So: 1) Jesus said that “sexual immorality,” a catchphrase for all sexual sin forbidden in the Mosaic law, was evil and made a person morally unclean. 2) Homosexuality is listed as a forbidden sexual practice within the Mosaic law. 3) Therefore, it is grossly misleading to imply in anyway that Jesus supported the homosexual lifestyle. He wasn’t silent on the subject and what he said explicitly categorized homosexual behavior as immoral. 

Imagine with me a parent grounding his kid from “technology” for a week. Within that time frame the kid is caught using his phone. He tries to justify his actions saying “You never said anything specifically about using my phone!” Would the parent accept his justification? Of course not! The punishment was “no technology.” Technology is a catchall phrase that encompasses phone usage. 

In the same way, Jesus forbid “sexual immorality.” For the homosexual to try and justify homosexual acts saying “Jesus never said anything specifically about homosexuality” is just as dishonest as the kid saying to his parents “You never said anything specifically about my phone.” It doesn’t matter if it’s mentioned specifically or not. “Sexual immorality” is a catchall phrase for all sexual sin that encompasses the homosexual lifestyle. 

2. Jesus taught that God’s created intent for human sexuality was heterosexuality.  

Jesus said in Mark 10:6-9, “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Jesus makes clear here that God’s created intent for human sexuality is heterosexuality. By explicitly pointing to heterosexuality as God’s standard, Jesus implicitly condemns any lifestyle that falls short of that standard – which includes, but is not limited to, the homosexual lifestyle. 

It may be helpful to think of it this way…If the speed limit says 35mph, then 35mph is the standard. Any speed over that standard is breaking the law.

3. Jesus affirmed the Old Testament law, which clearly does not affirm the homosexual lifestyle.  

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Jesus accepted and affirmed the law – the law that forbids homosexual practice (see Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). One of the reasons why proponents of same-sex intercourse think that they can enlist Jesus in their cause is that they labor under a popular misconception; namely, that Jesus was far more tolerant on sexual matters than his Jewish contemporaries. But precisely the opposite is true. On matters relating to sexual ethics Jesus adopted stricter, not more lenient, demands that most other Jews of his time. For example, in Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus said “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus here takes the baseline standard of the Mosaic Law (don’t commit adultery) and then raises it (don’t even lust). So we see that Jesus’ expectations regarding sexual purity exceeded the expectations both of the Mosaic Law and of the traditions prevailing in Jesus’ day. And so we see that Jesus did not overturn any prohibitions against immoral sexual behavior in Leviticus or anywhere else in the Mosaic Law. 

CONCLUSION: The idea that Jesus was, or might have been, personally neutral or even affirming of homosexual conduct is revisionist history at its worst. The portrayal of a Jesus as a first-century Palestinian Jew who was open to homosexual practice is simply ahistorical. All the evidence leads in the opposite direction. In light of the clear teaching of Jesus we can only conclude that those who find in the Gospels a Jesus who is a prophet of tolerance, who forgives and accepts all, regardless of behavioral change, have distorted the historical reality of what Jesus actually taught.

Growth Group Leader Communion Guide

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If you’re a growth group leader at New Day, here’s just one way you can lead your group through taking Communion…

When God brought about a great deliverance for the Israelites from their slavery to Egypt (through Moses), He instituted a commemorative ordinance called Passover.

In the same way, when God brought about an even greater deliverance for us from our slavery to sin (through Messiah), it was appropriate to institute another commemorative ordinance we now know as Communion.

In 1 Corinthians 11 the apostle Paul records the three things Jesus says we’re to remember when we take communion:

1. We’re to remember his body. We read in 1 Corinthians 11:24 that “…on the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In other words, Jesus was saying: When you eat this bread, remember that it represents my body. And remember what I endured in my body for you and for the forgiveness of your sins. Ok, #2…We’re not just to remember his body. Secondly…

2. We’re to remember his blood. We read in 1 Corinthians 11:25, In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” In other words, Jesus was saying: When you drink this wine, remember that it represents my blood. And remember that it was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. Ok, #3. When we take communion we’re to remember his body, remember his blood, and now thirdly…

3. We’re to remember his return. Jesus also said, “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.” (1 Corinthians 11:26) This means that when we take communion, we’re not just to remember Jesus’s first coming where he came to die for our sins, we’re also to remember that Jesus will one day come again! When Jesus came the first time he gave his body and his blood as God’s suffering servant. He came to die for the sins of the world. But when he comes again, it won’t be as God’s Suffering Servant, rather as God’s Conquering King. When Jesus comes he will rule over an eternal kingdom. This kingdom will begin on earth for 1,000 years and will then continue indefinitely into eternity. How do we find the strength to keep living for God in a culture so antagonistic towards him? We remember that one day Jesus is coming again to set things straight – to make things right – to rule with justice and mercy over his eternal kingdom, of which we are citizens forever.

Now according to 1 Corinthians 11:27 to fail to remember these three things (i.e. his body, his blood and his return) is to celebrate communion in an unworthy manner. So as often as we take communion, these thoughts ought to be at the forefront of our minds.

  1. So as we now partake of the bread, let’s remember what it represents – Jesus’ body which was given in service for us – for the forgiveness of our sins…Let’s take the bread with grateful hearts.
  2. And as we now partake of the drink, let’s remember what it represents – Jesus’ blood which was poured out on the cross for us. Jesus’ blood spiritually speaking covers our sins. When God looks down from heaven upon us, He doesn’t see our sin – the blood of Jesus covers our sins and in fact cleanses us from sin. So when God looks at us He sees us with the very righteousness of Christ…So as we take the cup – a symbol of Christ’s blood – let’s remember with grateful hearts what the blood of Jesus has accomplished for us – the covering and cleansing of our sins.
  3. Finally, before we pray, let’s remember that one day Jesus is coming back again. At his first coming, he came to suffer and die. At his second coming, he’s coming to rule and to reign over an eternal kingdom, of which we are citizens. As hard as it is to live for Jesus at times, we must keep in mind that he’s coming back to set things right. So let’s not live for the temporary pleasures of sin, rather for the eternal joys of living in his kingdom forever.

Suggested prayer: Heavenly Father, today we remember how Jesus surrendered his body to your will – even unto death – even unto death on a cross. Today we remember how he willingly shed his blood – so that we could be forgiven of our sins. And today we remember with great anticipation, that one day, Jesus is coming again. God, thank you for loving us so much, and thank you for all you have done for us and continue to do each and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.