The Sins of the Father

Eze 18:20

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Deut 5:9

Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me.

Critics of the Bible like verses like these two because they seem contradictory. But, hold on ye would-be Feurebach, let us think about this a little more deeply. The Bible is a profoundly realistic book. Here these verses articulate the difference between the legal/judicial AND relational consequences of the father's sins upon his progeny.

The relational sins of the father will almost always have a negative consequence on his children. If he is a drunk, an adulterer, a thief, a murderer, or all of the above and more, there is a slim probability that his offspring will not bear a serious and harsh price for his misdeeds in one way or another. What God is stating His Word is that these children should not also have to bear the legal and judicial costs of the father's sins. To do so, would almost absolutely guarantee that they would never escape the father's sin.

It would break their back and cause them to see sin as an inescapable Devil's Island of sorts surrounded by the sharks of the Law. The wondrous waves of grace in Christ promises deliverance from both the relational jaws and judicial/legal teeth of sins' consequences.

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