Generational Sins / Generational Curses/ Sin Patterns

Things that can affect the development of Godly Character

B. Biblical evidence for generational sin patterns (destructive family patterns)

First: Consequences (not curses or judgment) of generational sins are passed on

There are many Scriptures that carry with them the idea that the sins of our parents and generational line affect us adversely

Exodus 20:5 (NLT)

5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.

Exodus 34:7 NIV

7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

Numbers 14:18 NIV

18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

Deuteronomy 5:9 NIV

9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Lamentations 5:7 NIV

7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.

Jeremiah 32:18 NIV

18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord Almighty,

What our Father’s do can certainly affect the children

Twelve men had been sent into the land of Canaan to spy out the land and bring back a report to Moses.

When they returned ten of the twelve influenced the entire nation to refuse to enter the Promised Land, saying that the peoples living there were too strong to overcome.

God was angry and told Moses to tell the people that He would mete out punishment for their rebellion

And we see that this punishment affected children born to the rebellious parents.

Numbers 14:33 (NIV) Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.

Pointing to Ezekiel 18, some counter that God promised not to judge the children for the parents’ sins.

Ezekiel 18:20-23 (NIV) The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him. 21 "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

Ezekiel plainly says that the child will not share the eternal guilt of the parent or be punished for the sins of the Father.

However, Exodus 20:5

Exodus 20:5 NLT

5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.

Children would bear the consequences of the sins of the fathers.

And we know they did, wandering around in the wilderness for another 38 years, until everyone from their parents’ generation had died.

So then, guilt is not passed on to the children; but the effects are passed on.

Israel’s criminal law (in the Book of Moses) was in harmony with this guilt principle: it indicated that the children were not to be put to death for the sins of their parents

Deuteronomy 24:16 NLT

16 “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.

Predispositions to certain sins are passed on

That’s why we say things like this: “He’s a chip off the old block;” or “The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree;” or “Like father, like son.”

Sometimes these clichés are used to refer to positive traits passed down, but they are also used of negative traits which we observe being passed along through succeeding generations.

But is there any biblical evidence for this?

Example 1: Life of David

David committed adultery (sexual sin).

His son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar (sexual sin)

His son Absalom had sexual relationships with David’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

And what about Solomon – he had over 1000 wives!

David murdered Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.

His son Absalom murdered his brother Amnon for raping Absalom’s sister, Tamar

Later, Absalom not only led a coup against his father, David, he even tried to murder him

Some might dismiss this as an example of modeling

Certainly, modeling is an aspect of generational transference

But it isn’t the only explanation, as will be seen in the next biblical example

Example 2: Life of Abraham.

Abraham deceived Pharaoh concerning Sarah, his wife (Gen 12:10-19)

Interestingly, Isaac his son, wasn’t yet born when Abraham deceived Pharaoh

Yet, later Isaac committed the same sin in exact detail, deceiving Abimelech concerning his wife Rachel (Gen 26:7-11)

Abraham’s sin was now mirrored in the 2nd generation.

But, it didn’t end there.

We can trace the sin of deception as it passed on into the 3rd generation

In an elaborate scheme first conceived by his mother, Jacob deliberately deceived his father Isaac, pretending to be Esau in order to rob him of the first-born’s blessing (Gen 27:1-36).

Here’s an interesting insight about Jacob’s ABILITY to deceive.

Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, was the sister to Jacob’s uncle, Laban.

Now, what do we know about Laban?

That he was very deceptive as well!

At Jacob’s wedding to Rachel, Laban tricked Jacob, switching Rachel for his oldest daughter, Leah.

Jacob inherited this inclination towards deception not only from his father Abraham’s line, but also from his mother Rebekah’s line.

Finally, we even see the sin of deception alive in the 4th generation

Jacob’s sons deceived him, just like he had deceived his father.

After selling Joseph to Midianite traders, they deceived their father Jacob, telling him that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal (Gen 37:12-36)

This sinful predisposition is traced in the Scriptures to the 4th generation – just as Exodus 20:5 had said!

This isn’t a coincidence – the Spirit wanted us to see this!

Something was really transferred from one generation to the next.

Second: Evidence from life experience:

We all know the effects of physical genetics. We pass down not only positive characteristics, but negative disorders.

When you go to the doctor the first thing they begin with is your family history: did your father or mother have diabetes, high blood pressure, and so on.

So, it shouldn’t surprise us to discover that we can and do likewise pass on behavioral traits

D. Tina’s Story:

The following story of Tina, is an example taken from Southland Church ministry in this area

Tina’s son and daughter-in-law were preparing for the mission field (from another church).

Their 5-year old son came to them with a notepad filled with pictures of the demonic realm

He had no exposure from such at school, TV, video games or parental behavior

So, the daughter-in-law questioned Tina if there might be something in the family line

Tina had received years of counseling with minimal impact

So, she met with a pastor who guided her through prayers about destructive family patterns

childhood of sexual, physical and emotional abuse from her father and a cousin

Sometime later Tina was reminded about her grandson’s drawings and asked her daughter-in-law about him.

Her daughter-in-law replied that he had stopped drawing demonic pictures!

When they traced the timeline, they discovered it had stopped at the same time that Tina had been working through the generational sins!

Not only that – he was also healed of his allergies at the same time!

G. What we can do about destructive family patterns

Is there anything we can do about the damage done to us by destructive family patterns?

Provision for this was also made possible by the sacrifice of our Savior at the Cross!

How to discover generational sins which are affecting you:

First: go carefully through the Generational Healing Inventory card, noting any sinful patterns

Second: transfer the sinful patterns to the appropriate places on the Family Tree

Third: listen in prayer throughout, asking the Spirit to reveal anything that you need to know

What we can do once we uncover a destructive pattern:

First: we must forgive those in our lineage, whose sins have affected us

Second: we must confess the sins of our lineage

We must take responsibility for generational curses in our families.

We do this by admitting and confessing the sin, repenting of it and taking ownership of it.

Leviticus 26:40,42,45 (ESV) But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me…then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land… I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

In keeping with this, Jeremiah prayed, “We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.” Jeremiah 14:20 (ESV)

David also confessed the sins of his fathers, fully aware that the consequences for those sins could be realized in his own life

Psalm 79:8 (NIV) Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.

Third: repent of any sinful behavior on our part

Fourth: break the generational curse

Fifth: take authority over any spirit that may have gained a foothold (if applicable)

1 John 3:8 (NIV)

8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.