Expert: Scott Talbot - 1/17/2009

Question
What are generational curses? and how can we get rid of them?

Answer
Hi Mary,

There are a few passages in the Bible that seem to allude to a "generational curse," as you mention. The two most notable are mentioned in Exodus:

Ex 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;

Ex 34:7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

The question we need to ask ourselves is this: Is this a curse, or is it something else?

I believe it may be referring to something else--namely, the natural consequences of sin. The decisions one person makes, and the lifestyle he lives, has an impact on his children. Whether we realize it or not, we learn a lot from our parents. Who are parents are has a lot to do with who we become. Then we, in turn, impact our children, and those children impact their children.

Considering the average lifespan, in one's old age, there could easily be three or four generations living at the time. Not only will one's lifestyle, actions, and character have an indirect impact on those descendants, but there may also be a direct impact due to the firsthand association with the grandfather or great-grandfather. Perhaps that's what God is referencing in the "third and fourth generation."

So the principle is that our choices and lifestyle have an impact on our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But does that mean that our descendants will automatically suffer the consequences for our sins? Or that we will automatically suffer the consequences of the sins of our fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers?

No, I don't think so. We all make our own choices. And, while our upbringing and the heritage of our ancestry may have a significant impact on who we become, ultimately we are responsible for our own lifestyle, choices, beliefs, actions, etc.

Here are some passages that clearly state this to be the case:

De 24:16  The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

2Ki 14:6  But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

2Ch 25:4  But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

I hope this helps. Feel free to write back.

Scott