I was reading Exodus and cross referencing when I ran into the concept of Generational Curses.
This was something new to me, and I am curious how others see this. The idea is that, if your family line is marked by divorce, incest or other ungodly patterns such as idol worship, you are likely to suffer from a generational curse.
I personally don’t subscribe to this view and if there was ever any OT validity then I believe that the blood that Jesus shed to forgive our sins has the power to remove any generational iniquities.
This passage from Exodus (and a few others: Exodus 34:17, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9) seem to be the germ of the idea of generational curses :
KJV, 20:5
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”
The context is in the case of graven images and idol worship which is broadly defined in the preceding verse (Exodus 20:4)
So the questions are:
Can we inherit a father’s, a grandfather’s, a great-grandfather’s sin and the debt, and then share in the effects of their iniquities, regardless of our own merits; or is this only true if we tread in our father's steps?
If not, which is what I must believe, then what is Exodus 20:5 saying regarding the sins of the father passing to the son?
This was something new to me, and I am curious how others see this. The idea is that, if your family line is marked by divorce, incest or other ungodly patterns such as idol worship, you are likely to suffer from a generational curse.
I personally don’t subscribe to this view and if there was ever any OT validity then I believe that the blood that Jesus shed to forgive our sins has the power to remove any generational iniquities.
This passage from Exodus (and a few others: Exodus 34:17, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9) seem to be the germ of the idea of generational curses :
KJV, 20:5
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”
The context is in the case of graven images and idol worship which is broadly defined in the preceding verse (Exodus 20:4)
So the questions are:
Can we inherit a father’s, a grandfather’s, a great-grandfather’s sin and the debt, and then share in the effects of their iniquities, regardless of our own merits; or is this only true if we tread in our father's steps?
If not, which is what I must believe, then what is Exodus 20:5 saying regarding the sins of the father passing to the son?