Sour Grapes
- “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.” (Ezek. 18:2)
The sentiment of Israel’s “sour grapes” still reverberates today. Instead of taking responsibility for their choices, multitudes today prefer to be a victim, taking no responsibility for their own actions and having no desire to change. Although heredity and environment do play a role in our weaknesses and temptations, guilt can only be imputed by our own choices and removing that guilt through repentance can also only be done by our choices. “It’s not my fault”, “I’m only human”, and blaming others is the new “sour grapes” proverb today.
Infant baptism is a clear sign many still believe their guilt was incurred from Adam’s sin. Augustine (354 – 430 A.D.) is recognized as the father of the doctrine of original sin. As a youth, he had chosen to follow a path of sinful pleasure. Instead of accepting “he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:8) and seeking to root out the corruption his choices created, Augustine blamed Adam. Essentially he claimed his wickedness was not his fault. Blaming Adam allowed him to feel more comfortable in sin. He resurrected the proverb of “sour grapes.” It became, Adam ate “sour grapes” when he sinned in the garden and all of Adam’s children, including Augustine, are born with their “teeth set on edge.”
About 1000 years later, John Calvin brought these “sour grapes” into the Protestant movement. He used the term “total depravity” to once again put forth the doctrine that Adam had eaten the “sour grapes” and all his offspring have their teeth on edge. In his doctrine, infants are born as wicked as they could possibly be before they were born. Their own choices are meaningless, just the result of their inherent sinful nature.
God long ago swept the “sour grapes” proverb away as error. The teaching was false in the days of Ezekiel, in Augustine’s time, in John Calvin’s time, and is still false today. Note carefully what the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel continues to record in chapter 18:
- What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge?’ 3 I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die. (Ezek. 18:2-4)
The fallacy of their reasoning is simple. The soul does not come from Adam. All souls come from God. It is not possible for the guilt of sin to pass from father to son or daughter. Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden set only his own teeth on edge, not his children! As each of his children sinned, the guilt of that sin was theirs alone.
God then took them through a series of three generations in subsequent verses. It doesn’t matter which three. He could have chosen Adam, Seth and Enosh; or Noah, Ham and Canaan; or even your grandfather, your father and you. God revealed that if any man (the grandfather) is just and righteous He will surely live. If His son (father) chooses evil, he will die in his own sins (spiritually separated from God). When his son, (the grandson) is born to an evil father and refuses to do evil, he will surely live. Note the conclusion in verse 20:
- 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. (Ezek. 18:20)
Only God knows when sin occurs. Only God knows when He renders a verdict of being guilty for sin. He states it plainly: “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father.” If God does not see the son as guilty of a father’s sin, who would dare contradict Him? Thus, it is spiritually and morally impossible for sin or the guilt of sin to pass from one generation to the next. Only the conduct of each man can bring guilt. Each child is born innocent and pure with a soul that came directly from God just like Adam’s. God made this a statute: no punishment can be given to a guilty father’s child.
- Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin. (Deut. 24:16).
When God gave us our eternal soul, we had no guilt and there was no sin. Paul revealed that it was his own choices that brought guilt. Since the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23, infants born guilty of sin would be dead in Adam’s sin. Yet, Paul was born alive. As an infant growing into a child, he had no knowledge of God’s law. As long as he was apart from that law because he did not understand it, sin was dead and he was alive. It was only after he understood the law and chose to violate the commandment that sin came alive in him. It was his own sin, using a commandment he chose to break that killed him (spiritually speaking). When that commandment came (into his consciousness) and he knowingly violated it, he died. He was responsible for his own sin and death. He chose it and incurred guilt as a result.
- For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. (Rom. 7:8-12)
Do we see the parallel? Adam was given a commandment - Don’t eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was warned “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:17). Paul also learned of a commandment and in the day he violated it, he died. It is in this way that “The soul that sins shall die.” When Adam sinned, he died. When Paul sinned, he died. When your father sinned, he died and when you sinned, you died spiritually. No one bears guilt for Adam’s sin. If he had, the day Paul was born, he would be dead. Jeremiah makes the exact same application.
- In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.’ 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. (Jer. 31:29-30)
Conclusion. By first hiding and then blaming Eve for his sin, Adam did not take responsibility for his choices. Today some of his children want to hide behind him. Many simply do not want to take responsibility for their own guilt based on their own choices. God wants each man and woman to take responsibility for their own sin. God concluded his sermon with this warning. Each one will be judged for his own ways. Each chooses their way and each bears guilt for that choice. If, for whatever reason, they choose to stay in sin, iniquity will be their ruin. But if they take responsibility for the sin they chose, admit their guilt, and repent of it, ask for forgiveness, and seek a new heart and spirit, they will live. The proverb of “sour grapes” must be set aside if one would “turn and live.”
- Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, ... Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord God. "Therefore turn and live!" (Ezek. 18:30-32)
- “when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. 28 Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live. (Ezek. 18:27-28)
It is not our father and mother, how we were raised, or our heredity and environment. It is our choices that bring the guilt of sin. The sins we are now struggling with were sown through our own choices. We sowed to the flesh and we reaped the corruption. Yet, regardless of our foolish choices, the gospel is the power of God to salvation (Rom. 1:16). Salvation can still be ours if we accept our guilt, repent, turn, and live in faithful obedience.
- Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Gal. 6:7-8)