The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’? 3 As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
5 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.
10 “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11 (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, 13 lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.
14 “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: 15 he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, 16 does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17 withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 24 But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” Ezekiel 18 ESV
Ezekiel 18: 1-4 Soul Grapes
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? Romans 9: 6-24
1-4 The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge - My dad stuck his finger in an outlet years ago, but today I am the one getting shocked. My mom didn't buy me the bike I wanted, so that is why I took yours. Israel's claim is that they suffer because of their parent's sin, yet they commit the same sins. They confuse God's general mercy and grace, that He causes His rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike in this life, this here and now they hold up as the prize. If their parents lived in the Roaring 20's then it is unfair that they face the Great Depression. Their concern is the temporal, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. They fear losing present comforts, but the eternal ramifications of their sin and unbelief is staggering, that should be the place of all their dread.
Behold, all souls are mine - He is the potter, and He has a right over all that is created, awareness of the self does not negate His right over what He has made. When you say, "it's my body, my life, my soul", you say this without clear title as the originator. He called the world into being. You exist out of His self and eternal existence, that He, Who is being, created time and space with language, and designed you with the words of His eternal decree. I included the argument of Romans 9 for my Arminian and Pelagian friends, since it is similar, yet they will have the temptation to add works to this. It brings good light to the subject here since in Ezekiel we have seen and will see again what Jesus meant, when He said to Nicodemus, "you must be born again," and when He also asked how, he, being the teacher of the Jews, did not know these things.
…17So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: 18‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ 19Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”… Numbers 14: 17-19
It must be owned that there was some occasion given for this proverb. God had often said that he would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, especially the sin of idolatry, intending thereby to express the evil of sin, of that sin, his detestation of it, and just indignation against it, and the heavy punishments he would bring upon idolaters, that parents might be restrained from sin by their affection to their children and that children might not be drawn to sin by their reverence for their parents. He had likewise often declared by his prophets that in bringing the present ruin upon Judah and Jerusalem he had an eye to the sins of Manasseh and other preceding kings; for, looking upon the nation as a body politic, and punishing them with national judgments for national sins, and admitting the maxim in our law that a corporation never dies, reckoning with them now for the iniquities of former ages was but like making a man, when he is old, to possess the iniquities of his youth, Job 13:26. And there is no unrighteousness with God in doing so. - Matthew Henry
The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine - This same people bragged upon heritage, lineage, putting much ado upon being related to Abraham, living in Jerusalem with the temple, and would gladly be counted righteous for any of those things, like being related to someone, or for the sake of a ritual. They had national blessings, the law which they broke, the prophets whom they killed, and later Jesus will call them out for this very thing. They will think in that time that they are not like their fathers, that they would have done it differently, yet when God comes as the greatest Prophet of all time, they crucify Him. This is the circle of vanity that exists still today, what you do in so called moderation, they say, your kids will do in excess. Adam sinned and the whole of humanity fell with him, but each individual has proven his heritage in that the sons also sin. God has created all and owns the retribution of all, both that of the rebel and of the penitent.
…28In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. 30And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’…
…31So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. 33You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?… Matthew 23: 28-33
The soul who sins shall die - Now in our day we refuse to acknowledge such a thing as "sin", except it seems to be a sin to say that such a thing exists or that what God has called sin, is. But this statement, "the soul who sins shall die", this is the fairest statement of all. This is all inclusive, not even given by degrees, no relation, no cultural bias, for what should God care about such things? He has said the souls belong to Him, so it doesn't matter what men may want to believe or think, what grand schemes their collective genius comes up with, for everyone is already dead in their trespasses and sins, yet He has made sin known and given the call to repent. As to the fairness of God, well He gives His word and follows through with it, and the reality of sin is death, grace is but mercy undeserved, fair is the flood, grace is the ark.
…22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6: 22-23
…22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.… Romans 3: 22-24
This is beyond fair, that in one man all of creation has fallen, which brings the wages of sin, yet God takes on human flesh, lives the life I could not, suffers the death that would be eternal damnation for me, yet because He is without sin rises again so that I may be resurrected in Him. So, in One Man, all who believe are redeemed. Listen, stop pretending you are not a sinner; you make God out to be a liar, but rather confess your state and repent. Realize you have nothing to offer God except the sin that makes His atonement necessary. These people claimed they were being punished for the sins of their parents, but the sins of the nation were individual sins. I pray that God opens our eyes, grants us ears to hear, and gives us a new heart that desires to do His will.
…7But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;… John 16: 7-9
…8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.… 1 John 1: 8-10
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