I try my best to not look around me and judge others. Far be it from me to fall into the trap of the Pharisee Jesus described in Luke 18:11 “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”
However, I am susceptible for trying to explain why there seems to be so many people doing bad things. As a perfect parent myself (grin), I tend to want to blame the wrong doers’ parents and seem to recall some biblical reference to “the sins of the parents visiting their children for generations”. A quick google finds a quote in Exodus 20:5 Yeah, that sounds right. But is it?
Herein lies the risk of quoting bible verses out of context. Should we blame parents? In one scenario, disciples ask Jesus if a blind man is being punished for his own sins or for those of his parents. Jesus explains that the man’s blindness cannot be blamed on him nor his parents, principally because he is explaining how by healing the blind man it will be regarded as a miraculous wonder, testifying to the identify of the healer. Not exactly a yes or no answer to the question.
For better context, we have to go way back into the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31. The prophet reports the Lord saying one day in the future a new covenant will replace the old, and an old proverb will no longer be valid to be quoted. The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’ All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker. Ezekiel corroborates this in his own writing in Chapter 18 which strongly emphasizes personal responsibility for one’s actions and the importance of repentance and turning away from sin.
With each new generation, we “children” are tempted to feign innocence and blame any problems on our “parents” (anyone but ourselves!). Despite our inheritance of original sin (the belief that all humans inherit a sinful nature from Adam and Eve’s original disobedience in the Garden of Eden. This concept is primarily derived from the New Testament, specifically the teachings of Paul in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22), the new covenant teaches us that each person is accountable before God, and each person can be righteous in God’s sight only by putting his or her belief in Jesus.
Thank you for this clarification. We are responsible for our own sins!