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.

Stuff Will Always Leave You Empty

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God said in Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Israel turned her back on God. They replaced him with idols. They turned their back on relationship and replaced it with material things. God compares their actions to someone abandoning a spring of running water for a broken cistern. The most reliable and refreshing sources of water in Israel were her natural springs. This water was dependable; and its clear, cool consistency was satisfying. In contrast, the most unreliable source of water was cisterns. Cisterns were large pits dug into the rock and covered with plaster. These pits were used to gather rainwater. This water was brackish; and if the rains were below normal, it could run out. Worse yet, if a cistern developed a crack it would not hold the water. To turn from a dependable, pure stream of running water to a broken, brackish cistern was idiotic – because the broken cistern would always leave the person wanting a satisfying drink empty.

We run after stuff because we believe the lie that if we just accumulate a little more stuff, then we’ll be happy. But the truth is, the more we have the more we want. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.” Simply put: The more you have, the more you want! You see…stuff doesn’t quench our thirst for more, it intensifies it! Trying to find satisfaction from stuff is like trying to quench your thirst with sea water. The more you drink, the more thirsty you become!

Stuff always leaves you empty.

  • We pursue stuff to the detriment of our relationship with God, even though he’s the only one who can truly satisfy. So we’re left empty.
  • We pursue stuff to the detriment of our relationship with our family. Without healthy family relationships, we feel empty.
  • We pursue stuff to the point we have no time for friends. As a result we’re left feeling empty.
  • We pursue stuff and we accumulate it. But to keep it we have to keep working crazy hours so we never have time to enjoy the stuff we accumulate. That leaves us feeling empty!

Stuff isn’t bad in and of itself – it just becomes bad when we look to it for something it can’t provide. God says we’ll find fulfillment in a relationship with Him and in meaningful relationships with others – and that stuff is no substitute for relationships.

Materialism is Deceptive

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The nature of materialism is deceptive. Jesus said in Mark 4:18-19, “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” 

  1. If you believe that the endless accumulation of possessions will lead to a fulfilling life, you’ve been deceived. The truth is: Possessions over-promise and under-deliver (Jeremiah 2:13). Material possessions boast “I will make you happy. I will make you fulfilled.” But they fail to deliver. Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Material possessions are like broken cisterns. They can never truly fill you up. They will always leave you empty.
  2. If you believe that accumulating more stuff will quench your thirst for more, you’ve been deceived. The truth is: The more you get the more you want (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Acquiring material possessions is a lot like drinking sea water. The more you drink the thirstier you become. By drinking deep of material possessions you don’t quench your thirst for more, you intensify it. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.” Simply put: The more you have, the more you want!
  3. If you believe you’re in control as you purchase more and more and more, you’ve been deceived. The truth is: You think you own your possessions, when in reality they own you (1 Corinthians 6:12). What happens when we don’t rectify our materialism? The basic laws of physics give us the answer: The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. This explains why the largest planets are capable of holding so many satellites in orbit. Similarly, the more things we own – the greater their total mass – the more they grip us, hold us, set us in orbit around them. Is there anything wrong with owning possessions? No! It just becomes wrong when they own you. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “I have the right to do anything…but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything.” If your possessions serve you, then you’re good. But if you serve your possessions, you’re in trouble because they have become your master – and that’s a position only God should hold in your life.
  4. If you believe that God blesses you so you can indulge your every whim and desire, you’ve been deceived. The truth is that only a materialistic mindset Leads you to believe God gives us more to increase our standard of living, not our standard of giving. Luke 12:16-21 In the parable of the rich man in Luke 12:16-21 God called the man a fool who hoarded everything he had, as if God had given it to him just so he could hoard it for himself. The Bible teaches that we are blessed to be a blessing, not to selfishly hoard all God gives us for ourselves. When we receive blessing after blessing without ever being a blessing to others, we become toxic. When I was in Israel I took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee which is teaming with life. I also took a swim in the Dead Sea, which cannot support life because of it’s high salt content. Why is one full of life and one dead? Well, the Sea of Galilee both receives water and gives water. The Dead Sea on the other hand only receives but does not give out. You see, when we only receive but don’t give we become toxic.

Three Wrong Places to Put Your Hope

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When we’re in need we often put our hope in things that don’t have the power to save. So the Bible gives us three wrong places to put our hope…

  1. Man. When you have a problem run to the throne before you run to the phone. That is, turn to God first, not man. Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” When you have a problem what’s the first thing you do? Do you call your spouse? Do you call a friend? Do you call your parents? Or do you call God? Where do you place your hope? In man or in your Maker? Man often lacks the ability to turn your situation around, but not so with God.
  2. Military strength. Regarding deliverance you don’t want to trust in military strength. Psalm 33:17-22 says, “A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” God used 300 Israelites to beat 132,000 Midianites. The application of these verses for us is this: The human odds don’t have to be in our favor when we have God on our side. As Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God specializes in the impossible, so why would we turn to anyone other than Him to help when we’re in need?
  3. Money. Regarding provision you don’t want to trust in money. Job said in Job 31:24 that he refused to trust in his gold and refused to find security in his wealth (even though he had more than any other man on earth). Christians put their hope in God to provide all they need, not money in and of itself. Paul commanded a young pastor named Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

When you have God you have all you need, so don’t put your hope in man, in military strength, in money, or in anyone or anything else!

Hope Defined

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Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Now you might be familiar with this verse, you may have heard it before, but most people don’t know the situation the Israelites were in when they heard these words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. Because of willful disobedience, God allowed the Babylonians to defeat the Israelites and take them captive to Babylon for 70 years. The Israelites were so discouraged, they felt like failures and the bad times just seemed like they would never end. In was in this situation that Jeremiah told the Israelites: God has a wonderful plan for your life! In God you have a hope and a future!

So here’s my user-friendly definition of hope based off Jeremiah 29:11 – Hope is confidence that God will turn your situation around.

What situation do you need God to turn around?

1. Do you need your family situation turned around? 

  • Maybe your marriage is hanging on by a thread and if something doesn’t change you’ll know you’ll end up divorced.
  • Maybe you have a problem child (to put it mildly) and you’re at your wits end.
  • God wants to give you hope today that he can turn your family situation around!

2. Do you need your financial situation turned around? 

  • Are you trying to save for a downpayment on a home but keep having setbacks?
  • Are you trying to get out of debt?
  • Are you trying to sell your home?
  • God wants to give you hope today that he can turn your financial situation around.

3. Do you need a health related issue to be turned around? 

  • Are you sick?
  • Do you need healing? God wants to give you hope today that he can turn your health situation around!
  • Just this week I received the following testimony via the “share your story” link on our website: Three weeks ago I was healed of a back injury when I asked for prayer after service. I had pain that went down my leg, the top of my foot and toe. The pain had been with me a month, but after we prayed, it was gone within the week. Praise the Lord for his healing power!

4. Do you need a work situation turned around?

  • Some of you are very unhappy at work.
  • You may or may not need to leave the company, but you know that something has got to change.
  • God wants to give you hope today that he can turn your work situation around!

Whatever the situation you need turned around, know this: In God you have a bright and hopeful future!