Generational Curse and Generational Sin, Do They Apply To Us Today?

1 Peter 1:18 says, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers…” This verse relates to how we are impacted by prior generations of our ancestors. The ESV Study Bible notes that “Christ’s sacrifice breaks the inevitability and power of ‘generational sin’, the idea that the sins of parents & grand-parents are often repeated in later generations (cf. Exo. 20:5-6).” [ESV] Notice the term, ‘generational sin.’ Here we briefly discuss this term & the related concept of “generational curse.” [Edited extracts from Peter Ditzel, wordofhisgrace.org]

Q: What are ‘generational sins or curses’? Should Christians be concerned about them?

A: ‘Generational sins or generational curses’ refer to the Old Testament idea expressed in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:5: "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the 3rd and 4th generation of those who hate me" (cf. Exo. 34:7; Num. 14:18; Deut. 5:9). The last part—“visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the 3rd and 4th generation’—suggests that the guilt for someone's sin would pass from one generation to the next. According to this principle a man’s sin/iniquity (e.g. worshiping idols, witchcraft, occult, sorcery, etc) could result in God’s punishment upon him, his children, grandchildren and/or great-grandchildren. It’s a “generational sin” in that God’s punishment of that sin affects later generations. An Old Testament proverb was associated with this idea; it says ‘The fathers ate sour grapes, & the children’s teeth are set on edge (Jer. 31:29-30; Ezek. 18:2). Of course when we eat sour fruit (e.g. sour grapes or a lemon) that affects us; we taste the sourness. But this proverb says that the children are affected by their father’s action—it’s transmitted across the generations.

The punishment upon his/her descendents is called a “generational curse.” When God would actually execute His punishment on Israel for the generational curse was to be up to Him, not the civil leaders of Israel. It’s not a principle Israel’s leaders (or governments) were to apply; Israel’s leaders were told not to punish people for their fathers’ sins. So God told them in Deut. 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."  Nevertheless it’s an OT principle that applied to God’s punishment. Hence we find Daniel confessing the sins of his forefathers (the nation of Israel) to God (Dan. 9:8).

Generational curses are popular among certain Christian groups...Some preachers, for example, tell people, even Christians, who are having trials that their problems are because they are under a generational curse. They tell these people they’ll continue to have troubles unless they pray a special prayer to break the generational curse…

Claim: “A person’s sin ‘hangs out,’ impacting his descendants, until it’s confessed”

One proponent of this teaching asserts that: “When a person has sinned, that sin stands in need of being confessed. If the person doesn’t confess it, then his children must confess it in order to break the generational pattern. Like an ‘out-standing’ debt, the person’s sin ‘hangs out there,’ impacting his descendants, until it is addressed through confession and cleared away.” We’re not talking here about the direct impacts of parents’ poor lifestyle upon their children and grand-children (e.g., unethical or unhealthy behaviour—e.g., habitual lying/deceit, smoking, alcohol or drug abuse, etc). Strictly speaking, the “generational curse” holds that you may be suffering trouble because your great-grandfather (whom you never met and know nothing about) was involved in some sin/iniquity (e.g. worshiping idols, witchcraft, occult, etc).

Confessing generational sins is an attempt by one generation to be forgiven for sins committed by previous generations. In other words, you believe that guilt from your ancestors' sins has actually been passed to you and you want God to forgive that sin and break the “generational curse.” Ministries that offer generational-curse-breaking prayers teach that guilt for generational sins can be passed from one generation to the next and that these sins can only be forgiven when specifically prayed about or confessed. 

‘Generational Sin & Curse’ belong to the Old Covenant Law, Not the New Covenant

Note that the concepts of ‘generational sin and generational curse’ come entirely from the Old Testament-- Exodus 20:5; 34:7; Num. 14:18; Deut. 5:9. They are associated with the Old Covenant Law given via Moses to Israel. But does the Bible say that generational sins and curses continue today?  Is this a New Testament principle which applies to Christians today?

Peter Ditzel [wordofhisgrace.org] answers based on 3 biblical points:

1. The first point is that Jesus said that He had come to fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17). This means that Jesus completed the law, and that it then ended (Rom. 10:4).  
2. The second point is that the Old Covenant ended and the New Covenant began with Jesus' death on the Cross. At the ‘last supper’ Jesus inaugurated the ‘New Covenant” (Luke 220:20).
3. The third point is that in Jeremiah's prophecy concerning the ending of the Old Covenant and beginning of the New, God clearly announces the ending of generational sins and curses.  Jeremiah says:

“In those days they’ll say no more, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them …out of…Egypt; which my covenant they broke…says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people  (Jer. 31:29-33).

[Notice that this Jeremiah passage puts together the promise of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-33) with the end of the transmission of guilt from one generation to the next. Immediately prior to the New Covenant promise it says, “In those days [i.e., The New Covenant days] they’ll say no more, ‘The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:29-30). We conclude that ‘generational sin and generational curse’ are Old Testament concepts which do not apply under the New Covenant. As Christian believers today, we are under the New Covenant; we are not under the Old Covenant!  Ezekiel chapter 18:1-20 makes the same point.]

The Old Covenant has ended, and generational sins and curses have ended with it. God holds no one guilty for what his or her ancestors did…Today, there is no such thing as generational sin and generational curse for believers…For Christians, "There’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…" (Rom. 8:1).

You were dead through your trespasses...[But] He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; He’s taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; having stripped the principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.  (Col. 2:13-15)

Edited extracts from Peter Ditzel, wordofhisgrace.org