Ezekiel 18

Notes

As the observance of God's law was the covenanted condition upon which the Jews held the land of Canaan, and prospered in it, the rewards and punishments here mentioned may immediately respect temporal safety and prosperity annexed to sincere observance, and miseries annexed to gross violations, of God's law. It is certain the righteousness, from which a person can fully and finally fall away, ver. 24, 26, cannot consist in truly gracious dispositions of heart, or conduct in life, the saints being infallibly preserved in these, 1 Pe. 1. 5; Job 17. 9; Pr. 4. 18. And though men may reform their external behaviour, without supernatural influences from Christ, yet it is not supposed that they can truly repent of their sin, and renew their hearts, ver. 23, 30-32; but that it is their duty to have gracious and penitent hearts, and therefore to attend the ordinances of the gospel, and receive newness of heart and repentance, as the free gifts of Jesus Christ offered therein, and implanted by his Holy Spirit.

Ver. 2. This proverb of Israel threw the blame upon Adam in paradise; or those who murmured in the wilderness; or upon Jeroboam or Manasseh—and by misinterpreting the second commandment, concluded that though they suffered, they had not sinned. The second commandment, no doubt, threatens to 'visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children;' but this threatening is not against the children that love him, but unto the third and fourth generation of them that (actually continue to) hate God, inheriting not merely the blood and property, but, through education and example, the wicked principles and practices of their fathers. C.

Ver. 9. He is just. How may this description be reconciled with Ec. 7. 20, which declares 'there is not a just man upon the earth that liveth and sinneth not?' There is no contradiction. Solomon asserts a fact to which Scripture, conscience, and history bear united testimony. Ezekiel—the Spirit speaking by him—describes a perfect character, negatively and positively; which, if any can claim, he is just. The consciousness that none can claim it by law brings 'the knowledge of sin,' and turns the eye of the sinner to 'look unto Jesus' for atonement and salvation. C.

Ver. 13. He shall surely die. But do not all die alike? No doubt 'one event happens to all,' Ec. 2. 14, 16, but that event is varied by the relative conditions of them that die. To the believer, death is a deliverance; to the sinner, condemnation. To the sinner, death is an end of joy and commencement of eternal misery; to the believer, an end of misery and commencement of eternal joy, Mat. 25. 46. C.

Ver. 22. In his righteousness that he hath done. How is this to be reconciled with Ps. 14. 1-3; 53. 1-3; Ec. 7. 20; Ro. 3. 10, which all concur in denying that there is any righteous—any that doeth good? There is no contradiction. The sinner who has sought a Saviour, Ac. 16. 30, has been 'justified freely by grace,' Ro. 3. 24, and is accounted righteous in the sight of God. But how can the sinner be said to have 'done' this righteousness? Observe, in answer, what, through grace, the sinner has done—actually done. Through faith in Jesus, and led by the Spirit, Ro. 8. 14, he hath penitently forsaken his sin, ver. 21; Ac. 10. 43. And because, through grace, he has done this, the prophet speaks of 'the righteousness that he hath done.' But all his doing (see Phi. 2. 13) lies in rejecting his own righteousness, Phi. 3. 9, and receiving as a gift (Ro. 5. 15-17) 'the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that do believe,' Ro. 3. 22. C.

Ver. 31. Make you a new heart. This statement detracts nothing from the necessity of being 'born again' 'of water, even of the Spirit,' Jn. 3. 3, 5 (so the kai is translated, Ro. 8. 23; 1 Co. 15. 34; 2 Co. 1. 3; 10. 13; Ja. 3. 9), nor does it attribute to the deceitful heart of man, Je. 17. 9, the power of self-renewal, which is as much a new creation in the heart, as was the first creation of the world, 2 Co. 5. 17. It merely describes that grace whereby 'God works in the believer both to will and to do,' as his instrument; and whereby the believer, not of his own inclination or power, but 'through the Spirit,' mortifies the deeds of the body that he may live, Ro. 8. 13. C.

Reflections.—Hardened sinners readily dare to strive with their Maker, and charge him with injustice, when he but justly punishes them. Nor can anything less than the ruin they deserve silence their presumptuous murmurings. Let God reward or punish men's behaviour as exactly as he can, prejudiced criminals will hold his conduct unjust, and their own equal How extensive is the amiable character of a truly good man! Cordial worship of the true God alone, chastity, honesty, equity, mercy, and withdrawing from fellowship in wickedness, jointly taken, are the necessary lines of it. And none can expect a glorious reward, unless by grace he persevere in his righteousness. But it is vain to seek righteousness as it were by the works of the law, which requires of us what only infinite power can effect. And it is infatuated to attempt holiness of life while our hearts are unrenewed by grace. But infinitely dangerous is it to rush upon death and damnation, notwithstanding the most earnest warnings, entreaties, and offers of a gracious God; or to indulge ourselves in neglect of the most difficult duties, when God hath graciously promised to work them in us.