Watch the video above and talk about it with a group or mentor. Learn more.

Were you raised in a broken home with abusive parents? Don't worry. You can break that chain by simply living according to God's truth.

Key Points:

  • A cursory reading of certain Old Testament (OT) passages might lead some to believe in the concept of a generational curse. Is this a proper interpretation of the Bible?
  • The purpose of Exodus 20:4-6 is to indicate that God will limit the influence of a person on successive generations. Fools train up other fools (Proverbs 20:7).
  • You don’t deal with demons by casting them out. It’s not a power encounter but a truth encounter. You don’t need to be delivered from a demon – except the demon of disbelief; what you need is to seek God and love him.
  • This issue is more about learned behavior over time than about an actual curse that carries forward. Grace can interrupt patterns of long-term sin that carry through generations.

Quote This:

Ezekiel 18:19-20 “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.

Talk About It
  1. What is your initial reaction to this topic or to the excursus below? What jumped out at you?
  2. Have you ever known a family or person who seems to be under a generational curse? Explain.
  3. Have you ever known a family or person who seems to be under a generational blessing Deuteronomy 7:9? Explain.
  4. What is the significance of God cursing to the third or fourth generation but blessing to the thousandth generation? Explain.
  5. Do you feel like you’re trying to escape a family curse? Explain. How does this information change your view of this issue?

Excursus

  1. The original audience of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy was the wandering Israelites, and the “generational curse” passages largely apply to the Israelites’ particular sins (idol worship) and circumstances. A clear example of its application is Korah’s rebellion in Numbers 16.
  2. We know that God’s ultimate plan was that individuals, not families, would be punished for sin, as shown in later scriptures like Ezekiel 18 and Jeremiah 31:29-30.
  3. Because of Jesus, we are now under a greater, royal law of Christ which is the law of love (Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 6:2; James 2:8), and much of the Law of Moses does not apply to us, for the statutes of the Law of Moses have been placed within our hearts thanks to Jesus’s work (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
  4. When Jesus teaches that he causes division amongst families (Luke 12:51-53) one takeaway is that people are judged by God as individuals, not as families.
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