The Doctrine of the Generational Curse
And it’s inaccuracies.
Let’s talk about the inaccuracies of the topic of generational curses.
This is a topic that is floating around in many evangelical and charismatic circles and churches. Sometimes it’s mentioned lightly, in a passing story. Sometimes it’s taught on in depth. But are generational curses a real thing and what should we do if we hear a church, teacher, or pastor speaking on them?
Let’s start with biblically defining a curse and then drawing a line between what curses are and what consequences are.
The first curse that plagued humanity is a curse God gave as a consequence of sin, found in Genesis 3. Later, when Noah was born, his father named him saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands (Gen 5:29).”
God flooded the earth to take away an unchanging and an unwilling people, but He found favor in Noah’s faith and spared him and his family to continue a lineage that would bring forth the Messiah. After the flood, it is written, “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease (Gen 8:21-22).’”
We are building a pattern here that is worth paying attention to. Now, let’s look at some other prominent passages discussing actual generational curses in the Bible.
During the time when the Israelites were in the desert under the leadership of God, He made known that He “was a jealous God,” “slow to anger,” “loving,” and “forgiving,” but that He would, “by no means clear the guilty, visiting iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations (Exodus 20:5, 34:7, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9).”
But what have we long established that God desires from humanity? Repentance and faith for obedience to Him. By the rebellion of the few, he would show “steadfast love to thousands of those who love [Him] and keep [His] commandments. Exodus 20:6)”
So, to define a curse based on the pattern we saw earlier reveals that it is a punishment for transgressions in a just manner and the placer of curses affecting humanity for extended periods of time are placed by God Himself. Sin, itself, is still the curse that continues to plague humanity, but we will get to the solution to sin later in this lesson.
Now that we’ve seen a glance at biblical generational curses, let’s talk a little about generational consequences.
When someone teaches that people can have a generational curse or describes someone as having “generational curses lifted off of them” from the pulpit or on YouTube, they do the gospel a major disservice. It’s a worry factor that manipulates or pressures congregants or people into feeling like they need more than the finished work of Christ, like extra deliverance.
Most of the time, I think the “Christianese” language gets passed down into churches with a limited vocabulary that is trying to explain generational consequences, but sounds more “biblical” or “spiritual” using the word “curse.”
Let’s talk about it.
It is no secret that people must deal with generational trauma or the consequences of actions in family history like alcoholism, drug use, intimidation or physical/sexual abuse, and other things which leave lasting emotional, physical, and spiritual impressions on a person.
With proper biblical counseling by a knowledgeable pastor or leader, discipline and spiritual healing comes with the knowledge of Christ through the gospel. Resolution to this trauma can be found and healing made by the “Great Physician.” This is not meant to make light of past trauma, but do not be mistaken, it is not due to God causing you to suffer for the sins of your family. This is a result of sin existing in the world.
There are a few passages which we will look at that address this topic, a few more that explain one curse we are all guilty of being under, and one person who became a curse in our place.
Note: Sometimes reading scriptures at length can be boring, but bear with the texts in order to be freed from misunderstandings in false teachings.
In Ezekiel 18, a question is made about a proverb which says, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.” In layman’s terms, men might do wrong yet the children, or offspring, would bear their consequences. But the Lord answers the prophet Ezekiel saying in verses 3 and 4, “As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 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.” (I encourage you to read the entire chapter for yourself.)
In the proceeding verses, God goes on to explain that “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right…he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.”
If he has a son “who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols” and “commits abomination,” among other things, “his blood shall be upon himself.”
Now, if the unrighteous man has a son who doesn’t follow in the footsteps of his father, “he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live.”
God established a severing of generational style punishments. He says in verse 30, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin,” and ends the chapter with this, “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
Sins causes generational consequences. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” The consequences of one man led to the ability of sin to be birthed continually.
What is God’s solution?
God’s solution for sin and the redemption of fallen mankind through faith was the promise of a Savior. Many times through history, God made covenants, or bonds in blood, that He would honor until better covenants were made. At the fall of man, God made curses that affected all of life and the earth, but he also made a promise, that one day the offspring of Eve would bruise the head of the snake, meaning that it would be the death of sin and Satan; the death of death.
This offspring was Jesus.
Many years after creation, God spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah in regard’s to His covenant with King David (read 2 Samuel 7), that from him would come the Savior of the world.
God said this interesting line, “Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers (Jeremiah 33:19-21).”
Remember that God had made a covenant, after the flood, that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” This meant that no one would be able to take away God’s promise to David that his offspring would be enthroned, namely Jesus the Christ seated on His heavenly throne.
This promise of salvation to all of mankind was realized in Jesus who became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). In God’s justice, sins must be punished. In Romans 3:21-26, it is revealed that righteousness in God’s sight, which is unachievable by man on his own, is achieved “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We “are justified by His grace as a gift” which “God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.”
The breaker of the curse of sin came in the redemption of Jesus. “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19).”
If there is any worry in your mind about the possibility of a generational curse on your life, be freed from that burden by the power of the gospel unto salvation. God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11). When you are born again into the family of God, you leave behind all that was and take up all that is, which is the gift of God’s mercy and grace. He gives you a new heart with a new purpose, freed from the bondage of sin. Remember that Jesus said that “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36).”
If you find that you are hearing the doctrine of generational curses more in your church services or Christian conversations, remember the scriptures that declare freedom from that teaching. Do not be afraid to ask questions, using the scriptures, to those leaders who are willing to speak on them.
1 Peter 3:14-15 teaches us to have no fear of those who would do harm to us, including those who would teach against the gospel, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
If they are willing to teach it, they must be willing to defend it, but they will not prevail because we have a King who already won the fight.
May your faith in the finished work of God be strengthened, encouraged, and emboldened by your freedom in Him to be who God has called you to be, a son or daughter of the Creator of all things. He broke the curse that bound us to death so that we may be bound to the giver all of all life.