Sin and Slavery: The Generational Cycle

First Generation: From Freedom to Slavery

In the second generation, the first generation may nostalgically recount a time of freedom but that time has passed as they were unable to break free from their condition of slavery. The second generation is born into submission and into slavery, there may be glimmers of hope left from the previous generation, but the firsthand knowledge of freedom is lost and the light of hope of a better condition has all but gone out. The fear of reprisal and consequences of resistance are also passed on. There may be thoughts of resistance but they never give rise to action as there is no firsthand experience of anything else.

Second Generation: Born into Slavery

By the third generation, slavery is normality, there is no one left with firsthand knowledge of anything other than slavery. Freedom has become a thing of the past and submission to slavery is completed. The master dictates and imposes his tyranny through force, resistance is no longer ingrained into the thought patterns of the people, they have nothing better to aspire too as slavery is all they have ever known, nothing else has been communicated to them.

Third Generation: Slavery as Normality

Sin works exactly the same way on individuals, communities and nations. It ties down a first generation who may try to resist but if it eventually submits to the pressure, sin takes dominion over that generation through the power of agreement. The second generation struggles to break free as they are conditioned by the behaviour of their parents and the examples they set. The third generation knows nothing else and therefore considers sin normal.

Free Men

It takes a free man to bring freedom to an enslaved generation. The bible says everyone is born into sin (slavery) because of Adam’s sin. Jesus was a free man because he was born of God, not of Adam, so he was born free. He was able to offer and exemplify freedom, what it looked like and the benefits of it to man so that man had something new to aspire too. He also paid the price to get man out of the “contract” he made with sin when he agreed through Adam to submit to it.

The Role of the Church

The body of Christ is under constant attack to silence it because it is the only voice that speaks real freedom which is the forgiveness from sin and the breaking of its chains through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ who paid the cost for the liberation of every human being from the oppression of sin, fear and death. The church needs to be that voice, no matter the risks, no matter the cost, in the same way that the Underground Railroad, the British abolitionist movement and countless anti-trafficking movements today cry freedom for their fellow humans.

Biblical Examples of Freedom

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all married free women (Sarah, Rebeccah, Rachel and Leah) and Israel’s lineage was through free women for the first three generations. Jesus is coming back for a bride that is free. She is said to be without spot or wrinkle which are analogies for sin, so she will be free of sin when He comes to take her.