Free of Generational Curses

Contents

1 Introduction
2 So-called Biblical Support for Generational Curses
3 Why We Are No Longer Under Generational Curses?
4 Download Audio Message

Introduction

Many Christians believe that some sicknesses are caused by generational curses or genetic diseases and there is not much they can do about it. The purpose of this article is to prove that the born-again believers are no longer under any generational curse, unless they believe they are under one. Moreover, even if they experience a genetic disease or a sickness caused by a generational curse, it can be healed in Jesus’ name.

So-called Biblical Support for Generational Curses

Those who believe in generational curses usually rely on Bible passages like Exodus 20:3-6, Exodus 34:6-7, Numbers 14:16-18, and Deuteronomy 5:7-10:

Exodus 34:6–7 (NKJV)

⁶And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

⁷keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Then in the New Testament we see a situation in which the disciples thought the sickness was caused by a sin passed down from parents. That is found in John 9:1-2:

John 9:1–2 (NKJV)

¹Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

²And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Verse 2 above tells us that the idea of generational curses and sin being the cause of sickness was very prevalent in Jesus’ day. Obviously, the disciples thought that if something like that happened, it had to come from a sin, and it had to be either the person or his/her parents that sinned. So, the parents could pass down their sin to their children. This teaching comes from the Old Testament passages we quoted above.

Why We Are No Longer Under Generational Curses?

We can see that even from the Old Testament beginning with prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah, things regarding generational curses and passed-down sins started to change.

Ezekiel 18:1–4 (NKJV)

¹The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

²“What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

³“As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.

⁴“Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.

Ezekiel 18:20 (NKJV)

²⁰The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

“Parents have eaten the sour grapes, and their children’s teeth are set on edge.” This proverb meant that if the parents did something wrong, their children would reap the consequences. God instructs not to use that proverb in Israel anymore. Everyone will pay for their own sin and not for the sins and curses of their parents. This is happening even before the death and resurrection of Christ.

Jeremiah 31:29–34 (NKJV)

²⁹In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

³¹“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

“In those days” refers to the days of the new covenant when that proverb and saying will no longer be valid. Who is God talking about in v. 33? He’s talking about believers in Christ who are in the new covenant, who have become His people (1 Peter 2:9).

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

For the new creation in Christ, all things are new. Old things are passed away. Generational curses are passed away. The new creation no longer has the third and fourth generation. The new creation goes back only to one generation: God, the Father.