Group Guilt

(Exodus 20:5b)– I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,” See also ( Exodus 34:6-7) and (Deuteronomy 5:9)

Or no Group Guilt

(Deuteronomy 24:16)–“Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers;” also Ezekiel 18:20a)–“The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity;”

There is a difference between the penalty of sin and the consequences of sin. Both are unpleasant but they are different.

For Example: A man is a bank robber, he gets caught and sent to jail. His children are not penalized by the Judge, they are not sent to Jail – but because Dad is in jail, money is hard to come by and they grow up in poverty. The judicial penalty was not visited on the children, but the natural consequences were. This can create inter-generational dysfunction.

Inter-generational Dysfunction can bring pressure on new generations to fall into older habits of sin. The guilt is not passed from one generation to another but the consequences of the sin may flow down the generations corrupting each in its turn.

1) For those in Christ forgiveness of the penalty of sin is freely available.

2) We are subject only to the penalty of our sins, but we are subject not only to the consequences of our sins but the consequences of others sins as well.

3) God wants us not only to be free of the penalty of our sin, but also free of the consequences of sin. {Jesus wept for Lazarus}.

Therefore it is our responsibility as Christians, not only to repent of our own sins, but to hold up the consequences of all sin so that God can work.

Example: we may not be guilty of slavery but it is our responsibility to work to end racism.