INTRODUCTION
Do the sins of parents get passed down to their believing children? Is there such a thing as “generational sin” in the life of the Christian? Should believers be concerned that sinful patterns identified in their own lives are a direct result of sins somehow transferred from previous generations? What are the similarities and dissimilarities of generational sin and originale peccatum (original sin)? Or, does generational sin somehow only apply to the unregenerate?

On a popular level, generational sin is typically treated in the context of spiritual warfare. Countless times, believers are encouraged to pray for freedom from the bonds of generational sin and gain the victory that is theirs in Christ. Neil Anderson's Freedom In Christ Ministries has gained a huge following because of this teaching. Moreover, in an interview with Evander Holyfield, New Man magazine records the heavyweight champion’s victory over generational sin (from “The Power Inside,” New Man, March/April: 1998). Biblical support for the notion of generational sin includes Ex. 20:5 and 34:6,7 (cf., also Num. 14:18; Deut. 5:9).

Ex. 34:6,7 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 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 fathers to the third and fourth generation."

Moreover, Abraham deceived Abimelech about Sarah (Gen. 20:2-13), Isaac deceived Abimelech about Rebekah (Gen. 26:7-11), Jacob deceived Isaac regarding Esau’s blessing (Gen. 25:27-34), and Simeon and Levi deceived Hamor and his son Shechem regarding the promise of marriage to their sister Dinah (Gen. 34:7-26). Some may even go so far as to suggest that Stephen blamed resistance to the Holy Spirit on generational sin (Acts 7:51). It appears, therefore, that generational sin carries the weight of Scripture behind it.

PROBLEMS WITH GENERATIONAL SIN
How does generational sin mesh with the following texts? In announcing the new covenant made with Israel, God says in Jeremiah 31:27-30:

"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," declares the LORD. "In those days people will no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes--his own teeth will be set on edge. "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah."

The Jews of Jesus’ day saw a close connection between the sins of parents and their children.

Jn. 9:1-3 reads: "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.'"

However, Jesus flatly denies any antecedent cause to the beggar’s blindness (v.3). Any argument suggesting Jesus did not explicitly disavow generational sin is made entirely from silence.

Peter, in highlighting the effects of the cross for believers states "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect" 1 Pt. 1:18-19. And, the law of individual responsibility is clearly demonstrated in Deut. 24:16, "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin."

Commenting on Ex. 34:6,7, Wayne Grudem claims:

“This statement shows the horrible nature of sin in the way it has effects far beyond the individual sinner, also harming those around the sinner and harming future generations as well. We see this in tragic ways in ordinary life, where the children of alcoholics often become alcoholics and the children of abusive parents often become abusive parents. Christians who are forgiven by Christ should not think of these phrases as applying to them, however, for they are in the other category of people mentioned just before this section on “the guilty”: they are among the “thousands” to whom God continually shows “steadfast love,” and in continually “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (v.7). When someone comes to Christ the chain of sin broken (1 Peter 1:18-19)” Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem. Zondervan: 1994, 209-210.

SOLUTION TO GENERATIONAL SIN
Those who suggest believers are under some spiritual bond or stronghold brought on by sinful parentage fail to distinguish conditions from causes. For example, the statement “four is an even number because it is divisible by two” expresses a logical, not causal, relationship between the numbers four and two. The condition under which four is divisible by two is “evenness,” however, four is not caused to be even because of the number two. Similarly, a believer’s sinful pattern may have been accommodated because of the conditions under which he/she grew up, but one would be hard-pressed to demonstrate any causal chain of events, outside of the Fall, that generate sinful patterns (notwithstanding scientific evidences of chemical/genetic predispositions).

Although significantly influenced by them, believers are not slaves to their environment, circumstances, nerve endings, psyche, chemical soup, or parents. Regeneration so radically transforms the human soul that the “old is gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17) and “the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (Jn. 3:5). For the believer, the Spirit victoriously wars against the flesh and, slowly but certainly, prevails in God’s people. This is not to make light of the complexity of the socio-psychological/environmental matrix that all are subject to. But, without question, deference to God’s rule in the lives of his chosen must be taken more seriously than any psychological or social impact/influence. After all, the reign of God through his Spirit is the apostle Paul’s basis for appeal to all believers and what is behind every NT imperative written to the Church (Rom. 8:2-4).