Ezekiel 18:23 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Ezekiel 18:23

21 “But ^aif a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

22 ^aNone of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall ^blive.

23 ^aDo I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

24 “But ^awhen a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? ^bAll the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

25 “Yet you say, ^a‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?

26 ^aWhen a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies.

27 Again, ^awhen 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 ^aconsiders and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

29 ^aYet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?

30 ^a“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. ^b“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.

31 ^aCast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a ^bnew heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?

32 For ^aI have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and ^blive!”

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Ezekiel 18:23

(I Timothy 2:4; II Peter 3:9). If men perish, it is because they will not come to the Lord for salvation; not that the Lord is not willing to save them (John 5:40). They trample on not merely justice, but mercy; what farther hope can there be for them, when even mercy is against them? (Hebrews 10:26-29).

Ezekiel 18:21-24

Two last cases, showing the equity of God: (1) The penitent sinner is dealt with according to his new obedience, not according to his former sins. (2) The righteous man who turns from righteousness to sin shall be punished for the latter, and his former righteousness will be of no avail to him.

he shall surely live—Despair drives men into hardened recklessness; God therefore allures men to repentance by holding out hope [CALVIN].

To threats the stubborn sinner oft is hard,

Wrapt in his crimes, against the storm prepared,

But when the milder beams of mercy play,

He melts, and throws the cumbrous cloak away.

Hitherto the cases had been of a change from bad to good, or vice versa, in one generation compared with another. Here it is such a change in one and the same individual. This, as practically affecting the persons here addressed, is properly put last. So far from God laying on men the penalty of others' sins, He will not even punish them for their own, if they turn from sin to righteousness; but if they turn from righteousness to sin, they must expect in justice that their former goodness will not atone for subsequent sin (Hebrews 10:38-39; II Peter 2:20-22). The exile in Babylon gave a season for repentance of those sins which would have brought death on the perpetrator in Judea while the law could be enforced; so it prepared the way for the Gospel [GROTIUS].

Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ezekiel 18:23:

Genesis 18:21
Jonah 3:10

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