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Ezekiel 18:21
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Turn and Live

19 “Yet you say, ‘Why ashould the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.  
20 aThe soul who sins shall die. bThe son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. cThe righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, dand the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.  
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.  
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< Ezekiel 18:20   Ezekiel 18:22 >>


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 18:21:

Jeremiah 18:8
Jonah 3:10

 

<< Ezekiel 18:20   Ezekiel 18:22 >>

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