Ezekiel 18:14

Doeth not such like. Verses 14-18 describe the case of a son who, shocked at his father’s sins, is influenced to shun the wickedness of his parent. Here the father has eaten “sour grapes,” and his son’s teeth were not set on edge (see verse 2). The parable is thus directly contradicted. Each man is to be judged according to his own individual character.

Nevertheless it is true that the son of a righteous man may have certain advantages, and the son of a wicked father certain hindrances, with respect to the formation of a righteous character. However, a man’s responsibility is directly proportioned to privilege (see Luke 12:48). But since the gospel contains the power to overcome hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, the effect of an unfavorable heredity can be canceled, at least so far as the attainment of the requisite character is concerned. And since all have the privilege of receiving the gospel, none can validly offer to the Judge in the last day the excuse implied in the parable of the “sour grapes.” The man who is lost will have but himself to blame for his exclusion from heaven.