To The Third and Fourth Generation
The sins of the father. It’s a saying heard in the church and preached from the pulpit from time to time but do we really know what it means? Well, yes. I believe everyone knows exactly what this is and how it has affected them to their cores.
Now, let me first clarify that I am not blaming fathers or parents in any way. This is not an attack on them for how they raised us or what they did. The “sins of the father” is much bigger than that and has affected our parents just as it affected theirs.
So, where does this start? Let’s start at its source, the Bible.
Numbers 14:18 - “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generation.”
Jeremiah 32:18 - “You show steadfast love to the thousands, but you repay the guilt of the fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts.”
And perhaps maybe most telling, John 9:1 - “As he passed by he saw a man born blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
The idea of the sins of the father came originally from the Old Testament. It’s the belief that the sins that you do get passed down through the generations, to the third and fourth.
That’s not entirely true as Jesus points out in the last passage. We are all accountable for our own sins however, there are cycles that can and will be repeated if actions don’t change.
Let’s take this out of church speak to elaborate further.
The cycle of poverty. Those in positions of privilege might not think poverty is a cycle, but it is. Think of the old adage, you can’t get a car without money but you can’t get money without a car. It’s the same idea.
Many in situations of poverty can’t break free because they live paycheck to paycheck. Everything they make goes to pay for the house, the car, the utilities, the wifi, clothes for the kids, school supplies, food. It gets to a point that people can’t do what makes them happy or what will be good for them, like take a vacation or only work a 40hr/5 day a week schedule because they have to pay for bills.
And this is under the assumption that they can even get a job. Sometimes poverty is so intense that people can’t afford to turn on the water to shower or buy a bus pass (if there’s reliable public transportation) or buy interview clothes or keep their cell phone turned on. If they can’t do those basic things - think to high school and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - then no interviewer is going to want to see them.
If they can’t get a job or if they live on minimum wage and barely make ends meet, then what is their child going to do? The child will do a couple of things. They could get a job to help pay bills starting as young as 12. They could push their family away and join gangs who will take better care of them. They could dive into school putting all their hopes on getting a scholarship to get into college so they could have a better job and a better life than their parents.
Do you see where I’m going here?
The fact that these parents couldn’t get a high paying job isn’t a sin. It usually isn’t their fault at all - and I’m speaking from experience here. It’s usually a failing of society. Society in itself is not perfect. It fails its populace time and again because it’s made up of faulty humans.
These types of cycles are seen everywhere in every type of aspect of our lives. Part of getting healthier is noticing these cycles and trying to figure out how to break them.
Do we have a cycle residing in the spiritual? This can look like spiritual warfare or a failing relationship with God (or whatever god you believe in).
Do we have a cycle residing in the emotional? This can look like us pushing away all our friends and loved ones or depression or anxiety or using negative coping mechanisms in order to numb.
Do we have a cycle residing in the physical? Are we taking care of our bodies by getting enough sleep, enough water or do we listen to our doctors. Do we go to the doctor at all? Do we even listen to what our bodies are telling us?
Do we have a cycle residing in the economic? How do we take care of our finances? What does our job look like and if we’re unhappy, why is that and how can we change that.
These and many more are all attributes to how we live and how we perceive the world. And as you pull it a part you can start to see how your actions and emotions do affect those around you.
In trying to become healthier human beings we start to break the cycle of the sin of the father, thus protecting our children further down the line.
Perhaps creating new habits that will last to the third and fourth generation.