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Individual Responsibility

Ezekiel 18.1-4, 25-32

Good News Translation (GNT)

  1  The Lord spoke to me
  2  and said, "What is this proverb people keep repeating in
   the land of Israel? 'The parents ate the sour grapes,
   But the children got the sour taste.'
  3  "As surely as I am the living God", says the Sovereign
   Lord, "you will not repeat this proverb in Israel any more.
  4  The life of every person belongs to me, the life of the
   parent as well as that of the child.
  The person who sins is the one who will die."

25  "But you say, 'What the Lord does isn't right.'
   Listen to me, you Israelites. Do you think my way of doing
   things isn't right? It is your way that isn't right.
26  When a righteous person stops doing good and starts
   doing evil and then dies, he dies because of the evil
   he has done.
27  When someone evil stops sinning and does what is right
   and good, he saves his life.
28  He realizes what he is doing and stops sinning, so he will
   certainly not die, but go on living.
29  And you Israelites say, 'What the Lord does isn't right.'
   You think my way isn't right, do you? It is your way that
   isn't right.
30  "Now I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you Israelites
   that I will judge each of you by what you have done.
   Turn away from all the evil you are doing,
    and don't let your sin destroy you.
31  Give up all the evil you have been doing, and get
   yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites
   want to die?
32  I do not want anyone to die, says the Sovereign Lord.
   "Turn away from your sins and live."

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IVP New Testament Commentaries are made available
by the generosity of InterVarsity Press.

'The accountability of the individual'

This oracle is aimed directly at destroying the belief that people are bound by the guilt or merit of their parents. This belief took expression in the form of a proverb which is cited in v 2. 'The parents ate the sour grapes, but the children got the sour taste.'

Such a view could work in two ways. The oracle goes on to expound an example of each: (a) an evil son will not escape punishment because of the righteousness of his father and (b) a righteous son will not be punished for the evil done by his father.

The principle is declared in v 4: 'The soul who sins is the one who will die.'

Ezekiel also counters the idea that salvation is solely a matter of storing up merit throughout the lifetime of an individual, and using that store to balance out iniquities. This notion is firmly rejected.

If an evil man turns from his ways, he will live. If a righteous man turns to evil, he will be punished.

This set of pronouncements was apparently thought to be unfair.

The word of the Lord runs contrary to popular saying for the person that commits sin will also be the one to be punished for it. In spite of what Israel says, this teaching is not unjust.

Each will be judged according to what he/she has done. So repent -
get a new heart and spirit.
The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of anyone.

This issue seems to have been one where the prophet's pronouncement was questioned. The great significance of inheritance and community in middle-eastern cultures would have made such views harder to accept than in today's individualist societies.

Today we blame 'society', rather than our ancestors, for our woes. In either case we are attempting to shift the blame from ourselves.

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