Author : Keith Sharp
Background
Three great Old Testament prophets were contemporaries with differing roles: Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel. Jeremiah (ministered 627 B.C. – ca. 586 B.C.), the eldest of the three, was the prophet to the Jews in the land of Palestine. Daniel (ministered 605 B.C. – 535 B.C.) was the prophet in the court of Gentile kings and prophesied to mighty rulers of empires about world rule. Ezekiel (ministered 592 B.C – 570 B.C.) was the prophet to the Jews in exile (3:4-5). His role was to preserve a faithful remnant to God from among the Dispersion (33:10-11).
The prophet Ezekiel was among the captives taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar with King Jehoiachin of Judah in 597 B.C. (1:1). He was placed by the River Chebar (probably a large irrigation canal from the Euphrates) at Tel Abib (1:3; 3:15) not far from the great Chaldean capital, Babylon.
No human tendency is more ancient and common than that of making excuses for our sins. When the Lord confronted Adam with his part in the first sin (Genesis 3:11), Adam replied, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (verse 12). Men have been blaming their wives for their own mistakes ever since. In blaming the woman whom God gave him for his sin, Adam was in reality blaming God. Men have done this from then on as well.
The Jews in captivity in Babylon seemed to have good reason to blame their forefathers for their woes. After all, the Lord God had expressly, repeatedly, and emphatically stated that He visited “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 20:5-6; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:8-9). The Jews in captivity were two generations removed from King Manasseh, and God expressly sent destruction on Judah for the sins of this incredibly wicked king (2 Kings 23:26-27; 24:3-4; Jeremiah 15:4; Lamentations 5:7). What was perhaps even more galling to this generation of Jews was that, when Manasseh finally repented of his sins, God restored him (2 Chronicles 33:10-13), but here they were in Chaldea suffering from Manasseh’s sins.
But other passages explain more precisely the meaning of this principle. It is the natural but not inescapable course for children to follow the path in which their parents walk (Proverbs 22:6; Ezekiel 16:44). Furthermore, succeeding generations tend to go further along the trail blazed by their forefathers. It took four generations from the day of Abraham for the Amorites to become sufficiently wicked to justify God in expelling them from Canaan (Genesis 15:16). Judah of Ezekiel’s day fully partook of the sins of Manasseh, being more wicked than her elder sister Israel, whom God cast off over a century earlier, indeed, even more vile than Sodom, whom God utterly destroyed (Ezekiel 16:45-52). Israel of the day of Christ was more hardened in heart than Assyria (Matthew 12:41) and fully partook of the rebellious attitude of their fathers (Matthew 23:29-32). Upon them, therefore, came the punishment due a nation who had utterly rejected the Lord and whom thus God had utterly rejected (Matthew 23:33-36).
The Forbidden Proverb
But the Jews of the day of Ezekiel and Jeremiah sought to excuse themselves from guilt by a clever proverb. They claimed:
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge (Ezekiel 18:2; Jeremiah 31:29).
Down South someone might say, The fathers have eaten green persimmons, and the children’s mouths have drawn shut. (You’d just have to have had the misfortune to bite into a green persimmon.) This just means they were suffering for what their parents did, but it implies God was holding them accountable and punishing them for the sins of their fathers. They were thus charging God with maintaining a standard of justice less fair than He imposed upon them (Deuteronomy 24:16). Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah rebuked the Jews for this blasphemous charge (Ezekiel 18:3; Jeremiah 31:29-30). Ezekiel forbid them to keep saying it (Ezekiel 18:3) and set out to state in opposition to their charge the truth of the justice of God (Ezekiel 18:4-29).
Principle of Divine Justice
First, the prophet asserts the principle of divine justice. It is based on the Lord’s solemn declaration, “Behold, all souls are Mine” (Ezekiel 18:4). God is sovereign, i.e., He rules over all, and has the right to deal with each soul as He sees fit. No one can escape divine justice.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Galatians 6:7-8).
The Lord uses the same standard for all, fathers as well as children (Ezekiel 18:4). Divine justice is impartial (Romans 2:11). The charge of Calvinism that God wills some individuals to eternal damnation and others to eternal life is blasphemy.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
The principle is, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). The Lord God holds each person accountable for himself and for himself alone.
Of course, Calvinists assert that we all sinned in Adam and thus are all held accountable for Adam’s sin. When confronted with Ezekiel’s inspired assertion of divine justice, they claim our connection to Adam is the exception. Thus, according to Calvinists, God made at the very beginning of time an exception to His own principle of justice and that exception has had unspeakably evil consequences on every soul since. They are making precisely the same blasphemous charge as the rebellious Jews of Ezekiel’s day only on a universal scale.
No Transfer of Guilt or Righteousness
In verses four through eighteen Ezekiel looks at every possibility so far as guilt or righteousness being inherited. First, in verses four through eight is the righteous man. Here is a description of one under the old Testament whom God counted as righteous. He observed the law of God faithfully (verses 5, 9a) in relationship to God (verse 6a; cf. Deuteronomy 12:2; Exodus 20:3-6), and in regard to man (verses 6b-8; cf. Leviticus 18:19-20; 19:13; 25:17; Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 15:7-11; 23:19). What is the divine judgment? “‘He is just; He shall surely live!’ Says the Lord God.” (Verse 9b). Thus, “… whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” One cannot be “right” (verse 5), i.e., “just” (verse 8) unless he lives right (cf. 1 John 3:7).
But what if that just man has a wicked son? Will his father’s righteousness save him? No, if this man’s son practices any of the sins his father avoided or fails to do any of the good his father did, “He shall surely die; His blood shall be upon him” (verses 10-13).
But what if the son (3rd generation) of this wicked man does right? First, the very fact Ezekiel mentions this as a possibility destroys the philosophy that children can’t overcome a bad environment. Yes, parents are obligated to bring up their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), but young people, regardless of their home background, have the ability and obligation to remember their Creator in the days of their youth (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
Furthermore, God does not hold a child accountable for the sins of wicked parents. If that child sees all the sins which his father has done, “and considers but does not do likewise, … He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live!” (verses 14-17)
But will the wicked father of this just son benefit from his son’s righteousness? No, “he shall die for his iniquity” (verse 18)
The Principle Repeated and Emphasized
Why doesn’t the son bear the guilt of the father (verse 19)? Here is the unalterable, unavoidable, undeniable principle of divine justice.
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself (verse 20).
Each person is responsible for his own actions. Neither righteousness nor guilt is inherited or transferred. We each stand before God stripped and bared of all excuses. We can’t blame Adam. We can’t blame our parents. We can’t blame children, husbands, wives, society, friends, or church. Nor do we get credit for their good. God is perfectly just, and eternal judgment is strictly individual. The Lord holds each of us accountable for his own life.
Ability to Repent
Does this mean our present situation before God is unalterable? No, “if 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” (verse 21). This implies the sinner is able to turn from sin to God. There is no need, as Protestants imagine, for a direct, supernatural regeneration of the sinner’s heart by the Spirit of God to enable him to repent. Furthermore, this implies the grace of God, for, even though we repent, we cannot live unless God graciously forgives the sins of which we are guilty (verse 22; Romans 6:23). The prophet specifically denies it is the good pleasure of God that any sinner be lost (verse 23). This is a specific, plain, forceful denial of the Calvinistic doctrine of particular election, i.e., that the eternal destiny of each man and angel was unalterably sealed in the mind of God before time began.
This principle also specifically deals with King Manasseh. Though his sins knew no bounds, late in life he repented, and God forgave him (2 Chronicles 33:12-13). No sinner is so deep in sin nor has lived therein so long but that God will forgive if he will repent. “O, the depth and the riches of God’s saving grace!”
Danger of Falling
But what if “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?” No! “All 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” (verse 24). Thus, Calvinism notwithstanding, it is possible for a righteous person, not simply one who is justified in the eyes of men, but one whom God declares to be right, to fall and be eternally condemned.
God’s Way Is Fair
The Jews, like spoiled children, accused God of being unfair (unequal, unjust, unrighteous) for punishing them. The Lord replied, “O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?”(verse 25-28) What could be unfair about holding each person accountable for himself? To deny the justice of such a principle is itself unfair.
Repent!
So God will judge each of us according to his own ways (verse 30). Stop making excuses. Stop complaining. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin” (Ibid).
Don’t claim you can’t. Change your heart. Repent. “Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die” (verse 31; cf. Jeremiah 27:13)?
God has no pleasure in the death of any lost soul. It is His will that you live. “Therefore turn and live!” (verse 32)
