I just had a bit of a discussion with someone who said that a person's sins are carried over from generation to generation and he gave me Exodus 34:7 as proof of this. Yet 2 Chronicles 25:4 would seem to contradict this. How would you answer this?
Sins themselves are not as you say carried over from father to son to grandsons in so much as the sons do not pay for the price of the fathers sins. Ezekiel 18 states
20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
However, the children do tend to repeat the sins of their fathers. So, God “punishing the children” is simply another way of saying that the children are repeating the fathers’ sins.
So, if a man robs a bank, will God punish that man’s son, even though the son had nothing to do with the robbery? Absolutely not. However, it is quite possible that the father who robbed the bank is making life more difficult for his son, through the natural consequences of his crime. Also, if the man is training his son in the techniques of bank robbing, then there is a good chance the son will follow the same path of dishonesty. In that case, the sin is copied by the son, and the punishment for the sin follows.
Exodus 34 is not the first mention of this, it is Ex 20, the giving of the Ten commandements. And one should note that this statement is embeded within the second commandment to not engage in idol worship.
5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
His promise to the nation of Israel is that if one passes their sin down from each generation, training their children in idolatry and disobedience, God will not let His mercy continue, He will stop having mercy and bring punishment. Those who teach what is against Him and His commands will have their children’s children acquire the practice from their parents and be punished for it. Because God will not allow this to continue with the people he is training as a nation to obey his commandments.
They were instructed: “
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
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Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. ” (Proverbs 22:6)