It is widely believed that babies come into this world having inherited sin from their ancestors. If that is true (which it is not), how many sins does the average newborn baby have? Does he have one, two, three? Does he have 700, 800, 900? For which sins of his ancestors is he guilty? 4,000? 5,000? 6,000? No! The answer is zero!
You see, sins are not some hazy phenomenon that mystically passes from parent to child. In fact, God’s Word emphatically denies such presumption! “A person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. 24:16; 2 Kgs. 14:6). Sin is an act that a person commits himself (1 John 3:4) against God (2 Sam. 12:13), and it is not something that is inherited (Deut. 1:39). Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” There is nothing hazy about that!