“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Ezekiel 18:20
The short answer is no, from what I see in Scripture. It is true that God can do as he pleases so He might just discipline us, and in doing so, our children or children’s children may suffer the consequences. (Numbers 14:18) However even in that Numbers verse, the punishment for the parents is meant for the parents. It’s a warning for parents not to sin, because their children and grandchildren may suffer consequences for it. In other words, my sin doesn’t just affect me. That’s a good message.
Ezekiel 18:20 is the other side of the coin, to remind us again, that God is just, but for another reason: It’s clear even in Old Testament times, God does consider the individual. Whenever talking about an entire people or nation in the Old Testament, it does not mean every single person was lumped together, guilty to the same exact degree, and that there were no exceptions.
Ezekiel 18:20 shows that if our circumstances are bad, we’re not to blame our parents for it, or others in our community, or our country, etc. If we are suffering for sin, we are to examine ourselves. We are not responsible for our parents sin, even though we may suffer the consequences (unless we are calling Adam a parent, which I will explain next). Our own parents sin is their sin. As a Christian I do not own the sin of all the people in my city. We are however very responsible for what we individually do. In both Ezekiel and Numbers we are being taught our sin affects others and that God is doing something about it. We ought to repent of our own personal sin, and do what we can to protect future communities and generations from collateral damage. But for those that confess Christ, Jesus has taken away all corporate guilt on the cross, and “it is finished” for believers. As much as our world would like to yell at us and make us feel guilty about the sins of others in the past or present, we don’t carry any corporate guilt anymore. (Ephesians 2:14-16, Romans 8:1-2, Colossians 2:13-14, 1 John 1:9)
The real corporate guilt that had eternal impact and still has the most daily consequences for us all was the sin of Adam, which was nailed to the cross for those who have repented and believed. For everyone else, the enormous and eternal corporate guilt they carry is still with them by way of being a son or daughter of Adam. The answer is Christ, who brings comprehensive and eternal freedom from all guilt and shame, past present and future.
Verses for further study:
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. – Ephesians 2:14-16
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:1-2
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Adorn the Gospel 