And ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear then, house of Israel. Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
Israel in exile blamed their fathers for their suffering, and God answered by holding each person responsible for his own sin. They called His dealings unfair, so He hands the charge back: the unequal ways are theirs, not His. (Older translations, which the commentators quote, read "the way of the Lord is not equal.")
They did not invent the grievance. A commandment of the law stood behind it.
But they raise the objection: "Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of his father?" Despite many commentators, the second commandment of the law is clearly what is in question here. That commandment gave a seeming excuse for the proverb itself. For God had declared that He was "a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments." Those caught in the nation's present disasters clearly had a resentful thought. They felt that the third and fourth generations were suffering for faults that were in no way their own. They allow the wickedness of former generations, which is not so hard to confess as one's own. So they admit that their fathers ate the sour grapes — but not themselves.
God's reply adds no new evidence. His question leaves them nothing to say, and it shows who makes such a charge.
The mouth of Israel is closed. Their murmurs were only quibbles. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? … It is always apt to be like this. Those who put the ways of the Lord on trial, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light. How humbling for Israel, or for anyone, that God should stoop to justify His own dealings, or to press home on us the conviction of our own sinfulness!
Notice when God comes down to reason with them.
Remember how the godless in Israel dared to challenge the consistency of God's ways in His dealings with the people. He took account of this, and in His grace He came down to reason with them. He did so at a time when their ways had got so bad that they drove Him from His own sanctuary (Ezek. 8:6) … This condescension of the Lord is most telling in the light of Deut. 32:4: "The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He."
Readers often lift the chapter's talk of living and dying out of its setting. One writer ties it to God's dealings with people in this life.
Another thing important to notice here is the misuse of the word "die." As spiritual people we may be quite right in seeing that men may be dead while they live. We may be dead in sin towards God while we are alive. And the sentence of death implies being cut off from God, just as the gift of life brings us, in principle, into blessedness with Him. But dying in its positive sense is never applied to the soul. Good people with good intentions quote Ezekiel 18 again and again to support this. But it speaks only of death in this world — present judgment here, not for a father's sins but for our own.
There is a second misuse to avoid.
It is a call to conscience, not the call of grace, where God promises that He will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them (Ezek. 36). … Misusing this chapter is as common as it is sadly opposed to the gospel.
The rule cuts both ways. Past righteousness cannot cover present sin, and past sin cannot condemn the person who turns.
But God sent the prophets to propose, as it were, new terms … "When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and dies in them, he shall die for the iniquity he has done. Again, when the wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive" (Ezek. 18:26-27). This was the ministry of the prophets.
One writer sets that same pleading beside what God does now.
It is very touching to read His pleadings with His people in Ezekiel 18. Man's trial in responsibility is now at an end. God is free to act according to His own thoughts of love, and He keeps nothing back. He is good, gracious, tender, and kind, and He delights to make Himself known to us as He does in the gospel.
- Accusation. It came from people who would confess their fathers' sins but not their own. They twisted a commandment into an excuse.
- Mirror. God's question closes their mouth: those who put His ways on trial have never yet seen themselves in His light.
- Condescension. At their worst, God comes down to reason with them. Every way of His is justice, yet He explains Himself.
- Scope. Living and dying here mean present judgment in this world. God judges each person for his own sins, not a father's.
- Invitation. The "equal way" is an open door: the one who turns lives. This chapter calls the conscience; in the gospel God keeps nothing back.
When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and practiseth what is wrong, and dieth for it; in his wrong that he hath done shall he die.
Ezekiel 18 puts every person on his own footing before God: judged for his own sins, not for a father's. Verse 26 is the hard half of that rule, and everything turns on what "righteous" and "die" mean here.
The chapter sets two cases side by side, and verse 26 is the darker one.
Here is the case of the sinner turning to righteousness, and, on the other hand, of the righteous turning outwardly to sin. In either case, the judgment must follow how the trial ends. Former sin, or former righteousness, cannot be remembered. Past sin will not make the present righteousness one has turned to useless. And past righteousness will not cancel out present sin.
The word "righteous" here does not mean someone flawless. So who does the chapter have in mind?
"The soul that sins, it shall die" is simply set in contrast with the righteous man, who shall not die but live. And God is not speaking of absolute righteousness. He speaks of those who in heart are His own. Especially in the Old Testament, they are constantly called "the righteous."
People often use Ezekiel 18 in arguments about what happens to the soul after death. One commentator warns that this loads the word "die" with a meaning it does not carry here.
Another thing important to notice here is the misuse of the word "die." As spiritual people, we may be quite right in seeing that men may be dead while they live. We may be dead in sin, as towards God, while still alive. And the sentence of death implies separation from God, just as the gift of life brings us, in principle, into blessedness with Him. But dying in its positive sense is never applied to the soul. So Ezekiel 18 is constantly quoted for this. Good people with good intentions use it. But it speaks only of death in this world, present judgment here — not for a father's sins, but for our own.
Israel's reply to all this was that the Lord's way is not fair. The verses around 26 turn that charge back on them.
Those who put the ways of the Lord on trial, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light. How humbling for Israel, or for anyone, that God should stoop to justify His own dealings! How humbling that He should press home on us the conviction of our own sinfulness!
Kelly then sets this chapter beside a later one in the same book.
This chapter is a call to conscience. It is not the call of grace, in which God promises that He will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them (Ezekiel 36). Comparing the two chapters of the same prophet is strikingly instructive, and the misuse of this one is as common as it is miserably opposed to the gospel.
Many people quote verse 26 to argue that a believer can be lost. One commentator, replying to a reader who did just that, says the mistake is to confuse two different things.
This passage, and countless others in the Old Testament, and similar passages in the New Testament, open up a deeply important subject: God's moral government. Now to be merely a subject of God's government is one thing; to be a subject of His unchangeable grace is another. We should never confuse them.
The verse carries a warning. But the chapter as a whole is driving at something else.
Suppose, then, that one who had been righteous trusted in this past righteousness of his and gave himself up to wickedness. None of his righteous deeds could be remembered. He would surely die in the iniquity he had committed. But the greater emphasis falls on the mercy that awaits even the worst and vilest who turn to God.
- Direction, not record. Judgment falls "according to the end of the trial" — the way a life is now heading, not the file of past deeds, good or bad.
- Righteous. Not sinless perfection, but "those who in heart are His own" — the settled Old Testament description of God's people.
- Die. Present judgment in this world. The chapter is not teaching what happens to the soul after death.
- Government, not grace. Being under God's moral government is one thing. Being under His unchangeable grace is another.
- Mercy. Here is where the chapter's weight falls: mercy waits for even the worst who turn to God.
And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth judgment and justice, he shall keep his soul alive.
Israel complained that God's way was not fair, and that they were paying for their fathers' sins. This verse is part of His answer — the wicked man who turns, does right, and lives.
Note: the writers quoted below use an older translation: "does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive."
Israel had put God on trial. This verse is part of the answer that silences them.
The mouth of Israel is closed. Their complaints were only quibbles. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? ... It always tends to be like this. Those who put the Lord's ways on trial, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light. How humbling for Israel, or for anyone, that God should stoop to justify His own dealings, or to bring home the conviction of our own sinfulness!
God here deals with each person separately, not with a nation or a family line.
Ezekiel 18 contains an important principle of God's dealings, unfolded at that period. God would judge the individual according to his own conduct... In His land of Israel, the rule of government set out in Exodus 34:7 no longer applied. Each soul belonged to Jehovah on its own, and each would bear the judgment of its own sins. God would pardon the repenting sinner, for He has no pleasure in the sinner's death. The government of Israel on earth is still the subject.
The wording sounds like a statement about eternity, and it is often read that way. Commentators here read it against the whole run of Ezekiel's subject.
People commonly take Ezekiel 18:27 to speak of punishment in hell. It does not. It speaks of Divine government in this world.
The same reading is applied to the death threatened in this chapter, with a caution attached about what the passage does not settle.
It must be borne in mind that what is spoken of here is temporal judgment, physical death, because of sin now. It gives us no teaching as to the eternal judgment of sin, which is taught elsewhere.
The offer is real. God binds Himself to the man who turns back, and verse 22 shows how far that goes.
This declares a way of salvation, too — not simply a righteousness that needs none. It speaks of the wicked man — the man who can already be called that, and who as such needs salvation. It announces forgiveness of sins for him: "None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live" (v. 22). So God pledges His mercy to a soul that returns — and He means it in all sincerity and truth, or it could not come from Him.
Mercy deals with his past. The rest of his life is the problem.
Mercy might deal with his past sins and give him a new beginning, but the new leaf he turned over — could he keep it unblotted? Could he ever bring to God the unblotted leaf which He required? Never; he could never save his soul. Even in its mildest form, the law only showed man's deep sinfulness more clearly.
It sounds like an offer of salvation on terms, so people who think they must earn salvation reach for it. One writer describes such a case.
Here is how the law and the gospel get confused in people's minds. A man was told that if he was to be saved, it would not be by working for it. He said, "Now I can prove to you from Scripture that we must do something to be saved." He took a large Bible down from the shelf, turned the pages, found Ezekiel 18:27, and read it out in triumph... "There!" he said, "is not that works?" He did not see that the whole passage was not the gospel at all, but the law, and God's dealings with Israel under law.
The difference shows up in the word repentance.
The repentance of the law was a man trying to forsake all sin and do all righteousness, and so be saved. But the repentance of the gospel is giving up all claim to righteousness... Sorrow for sin, forsaking sin, living to God — if anything counts as works, these do. If you are seeking salvation by works, you can never have enough of this repentance to get saved.
- Setting. Israel said God's way was unfair. He answers by judging each person by his own conduct, not his father's.
- Scope. The life and death here belong to God's government on earth. This is not the final judgment, which Scripture teaches elsewhere.
- Mercy. God pledges Himself to the one who turns back. He will not bring up that man's past sins against him.
- Standard. He must do what is just and right. Mercy can wipe the past clean, but he must then keep the fresh page clean — and no one ever has.
- Limit. So this verse is law with mercy in it, not the gospel. It puts a man on the ground of saving himself, and there he cannot stand.
Because he considereth, and turneth from all his transgressions which he hath committed, he shall certainly live, he shall not die.
God answers a nation that blamed its fathers, and then blamed Him, for the judgment falling on it. Verse 28 names what makes the difference between a man who dies and a man who lives: he sees, and he turns.
The chapter sets aside the idea that one generation must pay for the last. Each person stands before God on his own account.
Ezekiel 18 contains an important principle of God's dealings, unfolded at that period. God would judge the individual according to his own conduct... each soul belonged to Jehovah, and each would bear the judgment of his own sins. God would pardon the repenting sinner. For He has no pleasure in the sinner's death. The government of Israel on earth is still the subject. Everyone shall be judged according to his ways.
The same word appears earlier in the chapter. There it describes a son who watches his wicked father.
Next comes the question of the son of the wicked man. He "sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not do the same." That should always be the result for someone who has had such an object lesson in front of him. Suppose he reads it rightly, so that he turns from his father's sin and walks in the divine statutes. Should he die for his father's sin? No, he should surely live.
The people in this chapter did the opposite. They complained that God's ways were not fair.
It is always apt to be like this. Those who put the Lord's ways on trial, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light. How humbling for Israel, or for anyone, that God should stoop to justify His own dealings! How humbling that He should press home the conviction of our own sinfulness!
God makes this promise to a man who is already wicked.
"When the wicked man turns away from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive." These are the words of God through the prophet Ezekiel. Every word of God shall stand. It declares a way of salvation, too — not simply a righteousness that needs none. God is speaking of the wicked man, the man who can already be called that, and who as such needs salvation. God announces forgiveness of sins for him: "None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live." So God pledges His mercy to a returning soul — and, of course, it must be in all sincerity and truth, or it could not be from Him.
The life and death in view are the ones a man meets now, under God's dealings with His people on earth.
Keep in mind that this passage speaks of judgment in this life — physical death, because of sin now. It gives us no teaching about the eternal judgment of sin, which the Bible teaches elsewhere.
People often take this verse for the gospel itself.
But I can hear you saying, "Isn't this the gospel of God? 'If the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do what is lawful and right, he shall live by it.'" No, my friend, that is not the gospel at all. It is law, and if law could save a man, Christ died for nothing.
The offer clears the record of the past. It does not supply the power to keep the future clean.
Mercy might deal with his past sins and give him a new beginning. But the new leaf he turned over — could he keep it clean? Could he ever bring God the spotless page He required? No, never; he could never save his soul.
Kelly sets this chapter beside a later one in the same book.
This is a call to conscience. It is not the call of grace, where God promises to give them a new heart and to put a new spirit within them (Ezekiel 36). Comparing the two chapters of the same prophet is strikingly instructive. The misuse of this one is as common as it is utterly opposed to the gospel. The Spirit is here overwhelming them with the conviction of their sinfulness.
- Considers. Life begins when a man stops arguing about God's fairness and looks at himself. Those who put God's ways on trial have never seen themselves in His light.
- Turns. He turns from all his transgressions, and God meets him. God pledges mercy to a returning soul, and He means it.
- Lives. The promise is life now, under God's government on earth. This chapter does not teach about eternal judgment.
- Individually. God judges each person by his own conduct, not his father's. No one bears the judgment of another man's sins.
- But. God can wipe the past page clean, yet the new page must stay clean too. That is law, not the gospel. This chapter presses the conscience. The promise of a new heart comes later in the book.
But the house of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Is it not your ways that are unequal?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.