This bible study on fathers and sons also includes a series of case studies and a mini study to explore examples in the bible on various fathers and sons. You can find links to each case study throughout this bible study or you can access them below:
- Bloodshed In The Bible: A Mini Study
- Case Study on Josiah
- Case Study on King Ahab: A Father’s Iniquity Passed Onto His Son
- Case Study on Eli: A Father Paying For The Iniquity Of His Sons
- Case Study on Samuel: A Righteous Father & His Sinful Children
- Jesus: A Righteous Father From A Righteous Son
This Bible Study On Fathers & Sons Requires Self Reflection
Self reflection is not an easy task. Especially when the mirror you’re looking into is the perfection that is, the bible. Most of our beliefs, how we live and what we know about the bible has come from others; namely our parents, grandparents and forefathers.
It’s hard to examine our lives and admit that many or perhaps even all of our views on the bible fall short of Jesus. In some way or another, we have iniquity and identifying it is not a pleasant process.
Not everyone likes to admit that they may currently have a philosophy that they believe in and practice, that is not biblical.
Ezekiel 18 teaches us how we can break free from the bondage of an inaccurate philosophy and view of God. We don’t have to remain this way.
Ezekiel 18 gives us hope that we can change if we have the courage to be repentant and stand strong in our faith.
Ezekiel 18
The Soul Who Sins Will Die
1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
The people of Israel were using this proverb in the wrong context. God is asking what the people mean and in what context are they using this proverb, because they did not understand how the passing on of iniquity works when it comes to their forefathers’ sins and punishment.
Even Christians today do not understand how iniquity can be passed on from one generation to the next. How can one generation be guilty of another generation’s iniquity/sins? Can a father be guilty of his son’s iniquity and vice versa?
Many of today’s Christians do not believe that they can be guilty in any way of their forefathers’ iniquity.
John 9:1-3 Jesus says “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Jesus does not state that such a thing as being punished for your parents’ sin is unheard of. Rather that this is not the case in this particular scenario. The people during the prophet Ezekiel’s time believed that they could be held responsible for their forefathers’ direct sinful actions.
Subsequently, both views are biblically wrong.
Jeremiah gives us insight as to what context the people were using this proverb and in what context it should be used in.
Jeremiah 31:29 & 30 – 29“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.
Sour grapes means iniquity. Their own teeth being set on edge refers to punishment.
The people were using this proverb to mean that a son could be punished for the exact sins that his father committed in action, rather than being punished for believing in his father’s wrong philosophies.
If you think like your father/forefathers, you will commit their same actions. This is how a father passes on iniquity to his son and that son pays for the sins of his father/forefather also.
However, if you condemn your forefathers’ and parents’ wrongful beliefs (this is discerned by comparing your parents’ views to the teachings of Jesus and if they do not match, you no longer follow your parents’ ways) and declare Jesus’ beliefs as the truth, you will not bear their iniquities.
If you condemn your forefathers’ and parents’ wrongful beliefs and declare Jesus’ beliefs as the truth, you will not bear their iniquities.
Lamentations 5:7 – “our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities.”
Now we can see that Lamentations 5:7 is not a contradicting scripture. If we believe in the same wrong, inaccurate philosophies as our forefathers, we will naturally, also bear their iniquities.
We must believe in Jesus’ philosophies and not our parents/forefathers or we will bear their sin (iniquity). This concept is explained further in Ezekiel 18.
Ezekiel 18:3-4
3As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
God is stating that the one who believes inaccurate philosophies about God’s word will be punished.
In the next verses, the prophet Ezekiel gives us examples of how iniquity can be passed on from father (or forefather) to son and vice versa.
Ezekiel 18: 5-9
5Now suppose a man is righteous and does what is just and right:
6‘He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.
7He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor.
He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
8He does not engage in usury or take excess interest, but he withholds his hand from iniquity and executes true justice between men.
9He follows My statutes and faithfully keeps My ordinances.
That man is righteous; surely he will live,’ declares the Lord GOD.
This means that a man with no iniquity is righteous and will have eternal life.
Ezekiel 18:10 – Now suppose that man has a violent son, who sheds blood who does any of these things, though the father has done none of them:
Ezekiel 18:11-13 – though the father has done none of them: ‘Indeed, the son eats at the mountain and defiles his neighbor’s wife.
12He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge.
He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.
13He engages in usury and takes excess interest.’
Will this son live? He will not!
Since he has committed all these abominations, he will surely die; his blood will be on his own head.
Deuteronomy 7:10 says “But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.”
Nahum 1: 2 says “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.”
The son of a righteous father will be punished for his sin, but the father himself will be spared.
What Is A Righteous Father?
God’s idea of a righteous father is one who knows the meaning of the scriptures and how to keep the commandments. He accurately teaches them to his son. A righteous father does not lack diligence and persistence in teaching his son as it mentions in the following two scriptures:
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says “and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Proverbs 13:24 says “whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
The only way to ensure that you, as a father, are righteous and not held responsible for the sin of your children is to ensure that you have taught them the word of God diligently and accurately.
It would have to be the child, who after being diligently and accurately taught the word of God by his father, chooses not to obey it. In this instance, the son would be considered a blasphemer of the Holy Spirit and his blood would be on his own head. The father will remain blameless before the Lord.
This kind of son will be punished for his blasphemy. The son’s blasphemy will not affect the righteous father’s salvation since the father did not believe in the same way his son did. The father, being righteous, did not teach him these evil ways. Instead, he taught his son the word of God with diligence and accuracy but the son disobeyed.
Ezekiel 18:14 – Now suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, considers them, and does not do likewise:
In verse 14, to “see all the sins his father committed” means to understand and acknowledge the things that your father/forefathers have believed in and taught you, are sins when compared to Jesus’ teachings.
This kind of son does not think that the things his father does or believes are right and just. He does not believe in his fathers’ philosophies which cover up and justify his ways.
This son, “considers them”, meaning he analyzes and examines his father’s ways in comparison to the word of God to determine if they are right or not. When he determines that his father’s ways are against God, he does not do or believe likewise.
Instead, he follows the word of God. As for us, we must choose and follow Jesus’ teachings rather than our parents’ flawed ways, so that we do not take on their iniquity in our thinking.
King Hezekiah tells the people of Judah in 2 Chronicles 29:6-7,
“Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him.”
Ezekiel 18:15
15‘He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor’s wife.
16He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
17He withholds his hand from harming the poora and takes no interest or usury.
He keeps My ordinances and follows My statutes.’
Such a man will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.
18As for his father, he will die for his own iniquity, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was wrong among his people.
19Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’
Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.
This is the mistake the people had made; in regards to understanding the concept of a father passing on iniquity to his son and vice versa.
Deuteronomy 24:16 – “parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.”
2 Kings 14:6 says “yet he did not put the children of the assassins to death, in accordance with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses where the Lord commanded: “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.”
Ezekiel 18:20 – 20The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.
Check out the following Case Studies, click on each button:
If a son evaluates his father’s ways and does not follow them but follows God’s ways instead, then the sins of the father shall not affect the son’s salvation. However, the father will die for his own blasphemy, twisting and compromising of the word of God.
This is what the children of Israel had wrong; they thought that a son bears the iniquity of his father, regardless of whether he followed his father’s way or not.
In its essence, the actual sin of blasphemy is passed down by teaching future generations a compromised, twisted version of the word of God, rather than a specific action a forefather committed.
If we don’t look at it in this way, the following scriptures can seem contradictory:
Exodus 20:5 – “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.”
Deuteronomy 5:9 – “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.”
However, these two scriptures help to explain it more clearly:
Exodus 34: 7 says “maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
As we can see in Ezekiel 18, this text spans three generations: a righteous man, his son and that son’s son.
Numbers 14:18 says “the Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
A son is punished for believing and following his father/forefathers’ ways and not their actual actions. For example, if a father murdered someone, the son will not be held accountable for this sin.
However, if the son believes that what his father did was right (even if it was self-defense), that son will be held accountable for the father’s sin. The son didn’t necessarily have to commit the actual murder to be guilty of it.
Simply believing in the same philosophy as the father makes the son guilty of iniquity.
What Is A Righteous Father And A Righteous Son?
Read on to discover the perfect example of a righteous son AND a righteous father
