One whose disposition is sinful will, quite naturally, follow the “north star” of such a nature. We are moral beings given choices to make. But God grants free agency to his creatures. There is nothing that is outside of his sovereign will. God is completely free to govern his universe. Such a view of God and His universe has nothing to do with the doctrine of predestination or the sovereignty of God. God is just and righteous in all of his ways. God does not will suffering upon human beings. Some might even be led to think that a philosophy of determinism is evident in the Bible. The phrase, unexamined, has led some to foolishly charge the Almighty with a capricious nature. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: 'The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children.' Horace, Odes: 'For the sins of your fathers you, though guiltless, must suffer.' 485-406 B.C.) Phrixus: 'The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.' For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and doing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments” ( Deuteronomy 5:9-10)Įuripides (c. “You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. “The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation” ( Numbers 14:18). “You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” ( Exodus 20:5). One thinks of abuse, alcoholism, and other sins of personal assault, violations of the image of God in the human being. Moreover, certain sins carry intergenerational consequences. The children of those who sin do in fact inherit the seed of sin and the sin nature.

But the phrase is also a concept that is observed sin does have consequences.

So, the phrase is linked to the keeping of the commandments and the consequences of sin passing through the generations. The phrase also appears in the book of Numbers and in Jeremiah. The phrase, 'sins of the fathers' appears in the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy and Exodus. Where the Bible Mentions 'Sins of the Father'

The phrase itself and the concept of the consequences of sin passing from one generation to another are found throughout English literature, film, and even popular music. But “sins of the father” also appears in select works of antiquity. The phrase, “the sins of the father,” is of Biblical origin.