Ezekiel 18:21

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. BUT IF THE WICKED SHALL TURN FROM ALL HIS SINS ... BUT WHEN THE RIGHTEOUS TURNETH AWAY FROM HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ... 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). (, "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.") `To threats the stu...

In this sentence God proposes the hope of pardon, and invites and exhorts to penitence all the transgressors of his law. But this doctrine is specially worthy of notice, that God extends his arms, and is prepared to meet and receive all who betake themselves to good fruits: for despair hurls us into madness, and then hardens our hearts by abandoned obstinacy. Hence it is necessary that God should extend his hand towards us, and animate us to penitence. This is the meaning of this passage of the Prophets, _as soon as the impious is turned away from his impiety, God will be at peace with him. _Now we see that no excuse remains for us if this humane invitation of God does not stir us up when he bears witness that he is propitious to us when we heartily desire to be reconciled to him. But he here requires serious repentance when he says, _if the impious has turned away from his impiety, and...

21-29 The wicked man would be saved, if he turned from his evil ways. The true penitent is a true believer. None of his former transgressions shall be mentioned unto him, but in the righteousness which he has done, as the fruit of faith and the effect of conversion, he shall surely live. The question is not whether the truly righteous ever become apostates. It is certain that many who for a time were thought to be righteous, do so, while ver. Ezekiel 18:26; Ezekiel 18:27 speaks the fulness of pardoning mercy: when sin is forgiven, it is blotted out, it is remembered no more. In their righteousness they shall live; not for their righteousness, as if that were an atonement for their sins, but in their righteousness, which is one of the blessings purchased by the Mediator. What encouragement a repenting, returni...

Verse Ezekiel 18:21. _BUT IF THE WICKED WILL TURN FROM ALL HIS SINS_] And afterwards walk according to the character of the righteous already specified; shall he find mercy, and be for ever saved? YES....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 18:1, EZEKIEL 18:2 WHAT MEAN YE, THAT YE USE THIS PROVERB, etc.? Another and entirely different section opens, and we see at once from what it started. Ezekiel had heard from the lips of his countrymen, and had seen its working in their hearts, the proverb with which they blunted their sense of personal responsibility. They had to bear the punishment of sins which they had not committed. The sins of the fathers were visited, as in Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7;...

BUT IF THE WICKED,.... So far is the Lord from punishing the sins of one man upon another, that he will not punish a man for his own sins: if he WILL TURN FROM ALL HIS SINS THAT HE HATH COMMITTED: if he truly repents of them, and thoroughly forsakes them; for it must not be one sin only, but all; every sin is to be loathed and mourned over, and sorrow expressed for it, and to be forsaken; not one sin is to cherished and retained, but all to be relinquished: or the repentance and conversion may be justly questioned whether they be sincere: AND KEEP ALL MY STATUTES, AND DO THAT WHICH IS LAWFUL AND RIGHT; as the repentance and turning from sin must be general, so also obedience to the commands of God, both moral and positive; respect is to be had to all his ordinances, which are all of them to be esteemed as right and lawful, and to be observed: this is bringing forth fruits meet for repe...

Ezekiel 18:1. In Ezekiel 18:1, we find the false accusation against God and the divine answer, and this is followed in Ezekiel 18:5 by the conditions of life, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). But the conditions to have life and to be just cannot be fulfilled by sinful man; nor is In these verses “eternal life” in view; these are not conditions to secure “eternal life,” but to escape physical death in the announced judgment. The conditions which bring death are given in Ezekiel 18:10. The son does not die for his father's sins, as th

ALL HIS SINS. Hebrew text reads "any sin of his"; but the margin, some codices, and two early printed editions, read "all his sins". HE SHALL NOT DIE, Note the Figure of speech _Pleonasm_ (App-6), here, Some codices, with one early printed edition, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and not die"....

B. The Potential of Personal Repentance 18:21-32 TRANSLATION (21) But if the wicked one turns from all his sins which he has done, and keeps all My statutes, and deals justly and righteously, he shall surely live, he shall not die. (22) All of his transgressions which he has done shall not be remembered against him; in his righteousness which he has done he shall live. (23) Do I have delight in the death of the wicked? (oracle of the Lord GOD); is it not when he turns from his way and lives? (24) But when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and does iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked has done, shall he live? All his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered for his trespass which he committed, and for his sin which he has sinned, in them he shall die. (25) And you say, The way of the Lord is not even. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My...

GOD'S EQUITY VINDICATED The popular view of Israel's calamities, as expressed in a current proverb, was that they were the punishment of the sins of former generations. Though there was a measure of truth in this, the proverb was used in a false and mischievous sense. It led the present generation to ignore their own sin, to doubt the justice of God's providence, to despair of escape from the working of a blind fate. Ezekiel, consequently, emphasised in the strongest way the truths of individual responsibility, and of God's impartiality in dealing with every man according to his own character (Ezekiel 18:1). If a man is righteous he shall live (Ezekiel 18:5). If a righteous man has a wicked son, the son will not be saved by his father's righteousness, but will die ...