Q: Do children answer for the sins of their parents?

A.  In the Old Testament, the Bible does say that the sins of the parents come on the children, but that’s not the end of the story. In the New Testament, we see that when we trust in Jesus — in His blood and His power — He washes us of all sins, even those of our parents.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” So even though the sins or curses of your parents might have come on you, you don’t have to receive them.

I want to give you an example: Five or six years ago, I began to have this rash on the side of my leg, right in the very same place and looking the very same way as something my father had struggled with until he died. It burned, it was ugly, and even when I put medicine on it, nothing helped. It was just like my dad.

Nothing was working, but then my husband one day said to a group of people, “Denise has really been struggling with this thing on her skin. Could you guys pray and agree with us for her healing?” As they all prayed, there was faith in that place, and from that point on, that place on my leg started getting better and better and better until it was gone.

Friend, I want you to understand this. I was being visited by the same thing that had plagued my father, but the power of God, the Word of God, the blood of Jesus, and the agreement of the saints is more powerful.

For some people, it might be the addictions of their parents that they are struggling with. Sometimes when someone’s father was an alcoholic, that person feels herself starting to be tempted, and she just says, “Well my father was like that, so I guess I’m going to be like that too.”

That is not a right way to be thinking! The Bible says that you’re a new creation. Old things have passed away — all things are new. You are new. You may be your father or mother’s child, but when you get born again, you gain power against those temptations or sicknesses or curses that come on you. You have the power to say, “No, I don’t have to be that way. I’m going to stand against this. God has called me to a higher place, and I do not have to repeat the same mistakes or have the same diseases as my parents.”

Friends, the blood of Jesus is powerful. It’s more powerful than your history, it’s more powerful than your DNA, and it’s more powerful than any kind of addiction or disease or anything that was in your grandparents or your parents. You are a brand-new person in Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Friend, this is who you really are in your spirit. Through Jesus Christ, you are not cursed. You’re not an alcoholic. You’re not a drug addict. You are not sick from this disease or that disease that was in your parent or grandparent. Instead you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Whatever you have from your parents, I tell you that in Jesus’ name it is not yours — don’t claim it anymore!