Ezek 18:1

“It is not possible, if one person has sinned, for another to be punished. Besides, if we grant this, we shall assent to that other supposition as well, namely, that he committed sin before his birth. Therefore, just as by saying "neither has this man sinned," he did not mean that it is possible for anyone to sin before birth and be punished for this; so by saying "nor his parents" he did not imply that it is possible for anyone to be punished on account of his parents. Now, I say this because he removed this erroneous suspicion through Ezekiel.”

“(Chapter XVIII. — Verses 1, 2.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is that you turn a parable among you into this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge? LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ÷ Son of man, what is this parable in the children of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge? What the Seventy have said, son of man, is not found in Hebrew. However, divine Scripture warns about what was said in Exodus: I am the Lord your God. I am a jealous God, who punishes the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and shows mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments (Exod. X, 5; Deut. V, 9, 10). And again: The Lord descended in a cloud and stood with Moses, and Moses called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord passed before his face and called him, saying: O Lord, God, merciful and compassionate, patient, full of mercy and true, preserving justice and mercy to thousands, forgiving iniquities, injustices, and sins; and yet he will not cleanse the iniquities of fathers upon children and children's children, to the third and fourth generation (Exod. XXXIV, 5 seq.). Thus, it should be understood as a proverb and a parable, where the words may have one meaning but the sense another; as we mentioned in the parable of the two eagles. And the Lord also in the seventy-seventh psalm says: "I will open my mouth in parables: I will declare a proposition from the beginning" (Ps. LXXVI, 2[1]). And in the Gospel, the parable of the sower, and of the tares, and of the mustard seed, which, though it is the smallest of all seeds, rises up into a large tree (Matt. XIII, 31). He sets them forth in such a way that in the words one thing is presented, and another is held in the meaning. And even until the present day we thought that the two testimonies of Exodus, which we have placed above (Isa. XXIX, 13), were not a parable, but a simple explanation of the meaning. And although we dared not say anything, nor does a clay pot speak against a potter, why did you make me this way, either this way or that: nevertheless, we tolerated the hidden scandal, that the injustice of God seemed to make one person sin and another person suffer for sins. For if the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation, it seems unjust for one person to sin and another person to be punished. But from what follows: to those who hate me, the scandal of threat or command is resolved. For indeed they are not punished in the third and fourth generation because their fathers sinned, since it is their fathers who were sinners that should have been punished; but because they became imitators of their fathers and inherited their evil and impiety, even as the branches grow from the root. Heretics, who do not accept the Old Testament, often say in this place against the Creator: How good and just is the God of the Law and the Prophets, who, by remaining quiet and silent about the sins of the fathers, renders punishment to those who have not sinned; rather, what cruelty is in Him that He extends His anger even to the third and fourth generation! To whom shall we respond, and in this the clemency of God the Creator is demonstrated. For it is not of cruelty and severity to hold anger until the third and fourth generation, but a sign of mercy to defer the punishment of sin. For when it says, 'Lord God, merciful and compassionate, patient and full of mercy,' and adds, 'repaying the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children,' it indicates that its mercy is so great that it does not immediately punish, but defers the sentence of punishment. But if the punishment of sinners is delayed to the third and fourth generation, what more does it do for the righteous and holy ones? It follows: And keeping justice and mercy for many thousands, for those who keep his commandments and follow his precepts. It is written in Proverbs: Just as a sour grape is harmful to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is iniquity to those who use it (Prov. 10:26). From this it is clear that it is not the teeth of others that ache and become numb, but those who have eaten the sour grape. But the sense of this passage is as follows: just as if someone were to say, 'The fathers ate sour grapes, and the teeth of the children have become numb,' it is ridiculous and has no consequence; in the same way, it is unjust and perverse for the fathers to sin and for the sons and grandsons to be tortured. There are those who interpret what is written in Exodus, 'Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation,' in such a way that they refer it to the human soul, saying that the father is a light point of sense and the incitement to vices within us; the son, if he conceives sinful thoughts; the grandson, if he carries out in action what you have thought and conceived; and the great-grandson, that is, the fourth generation, if not only do you do what is evil and wicked, but you take pride in your own wickedness, according to what is written, 'When the wicked man comes into the depth of evils, he despises it.' Therefore, God does not punish the first and second impulses of thoughts, which the Greeks call 'προπαθείας' and without which no one can exist. But if someone decides to act on their thoughts or refuses to correct what they have done by repentance, then they will be punished. Hence it is written: No one is without sin, not even if their life is only a single day. But the years of their life are numerous (Prov. XX, 9). And in another place: Who can boast of having a pure heart? And again: Even the stars are not clean in his sight: and concerning his angels he found darkness. (Job 25:5) But if that exalted nature is not free from sin, what are we to say about human beings who are surrounded by fragile flesh, who should say with the Apostle: Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24) And that we should say when we have done all things: We are useless servants; we have done what we ought to have done. (Luke 17:10) And: Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain (Psalm 127:1, 2). But for the proof of this matter, that not the first impulse of thought, or rather a small instinct of the mind, is punished by God, but if you consume in action what you have conceived in your mind, that is to be brought forth from Genesis: Ham sinned, mocking the nakedness of his father; and the sentence was not passed on him who laughed, but on his son Canaan: Cursed be Canaan, he shall be a servant of servants to his brothers (Genesis 9). For what justice is there, that if a father sins, the judgment should be pronounced upon the son? Moreover, the Apostle states (1 Timothy 2) that a woman will be saved if her children remain in faith, holiness, and chastity. This seems to go against the concept of justice, that the parents should be saved if their children and grandchildren are good. For how many holy parents have wicked children, and on the other hand, how many sinful parents have righteous and holy children? Therefore, according to this meaning, all the sins of parents and ancestors must be punished in the branches, not in the root, as we have said above. It is enough to have said this about the proverb or parable: that the Law and the Prophets, that is, Exodus and Ezekiel, indeed God Himself, who spoke here and there, does not seem to disagree in their teachings, or to correct here what He said wrongly there. But if anyone can find a better or different meaning that removes the scandal of conflicting testimonies, it is better to agree with that person's opinion.”

“In the word of God contained in this chapter, the delusion that God visits the sins of fathers upon innocent children is overthrown, and the truth is clearly set forth that every man bears the guilt and punishment of his own sins (Eze 18:1-4). The righteous lives through his righteousness (Eze 18:5-9), but cannot save his wicked son thereby (Eze 18:10-13); whilst the son who avoids the sins and wickedness of his father, will live through his own righteousness (Eze 18:14-20). The man who repents and avoids sin is not even charged with his own sin; and, on the other hand, the man who forsakes the way of righteousness, and gives himself up to unrighteousness, will not be protected from death even by his own former righteousness (Eze 18:21-29). Thus will God judge every man according to his way; and it is only by repentance that Israel itself can live (Eze 18:30-32). The exposition of these truths is closely connected with the substance and design of the preceding and following prophecies. In the earlier words of God, Ezekiel had taken from rebellious Israel every support of false confidence in the preservation of the kingdom from destruction. But as an impenitent sinner, even when he can no longer evade the punishment of his sins, endeavours as much as possible to transfer the guilt from himself to others, and comforts himself with the thought that he has to suffer for sins that other shave committed, and hardens himself against the chastisement of God through such false consolation as this; so even among the people of Israel, when the divine judgments burst upon them, the delusion arose that the existing generation had to suffer for the fathers' sins. If, then, the judgment were ever to bear the fruit of Israel's conversion and renovation, which God designed, the impenitent generation must be deprived even of this pretext for covering over its sins and quieting its conscience, by the demonstration of the justice which characterized the government of God in His kingdom. The proverb and the word of God. - Eze 18:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 18:2. Why do you use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying, Fathers eat sour grapes, and the sons' teeth are set on edge. Eze 18:3. As I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, this proverb shall not be used any more in Israel. Eze 18:4. Behold, all souls are mine; as the father's soul, so also the soul of the son, - they are mine; the soul which sinneth, it shall die. - On Eze 18:2 compare Eze 12:22. מה־לּכם, what is to you, what are you thinking of, that...? is a question of amazement. על־אדמת , in the land of Israel (Eze 12:22), not "concerning the land of Israel," as Hvernick assumes. The proverb was not, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes," for we have not אכלוּ, as in Jer 31:29, but יאכלוּ, they eat, are accustomed to eat, and אבות has no article, because it applies to all who eat sour grapes. Bōsĕr, unripe, sour grapes, like bēsĕr in Job 16:33 (see the comm. in loc.). The meaning of the proverb is self-evident. The sour grapes which the fathers eat are the sins which they commit; the setting of the children's teeth on edge is the consequence thereof, i.e., the suffering which the children have to endure. The same proverb is quoted in Jer 31:29-30, and there also it is condemned as an error. The origin of such a proverb is easily to be accounted for from the inclination of the natural man to transfer to others the guilt which has brought suffering upon himself, more especially as the law teaches that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children (Exo 20:5), and the prophets announce that the Lord would put away Judah from before His face on account of the sins of Manasseh (Kg2 24:3; Jer 15:4), while Jeremiah complains in Lam 5:7 that the people are bearing the fathers' sins. Nevertheless the proverb contained a most dangerous and fatal error, for which the teaching of the law concerning the visitation of the sins of the fathers, etc., was not accountable, and which Jeremiah, who expressly mentions the doctrine of the law (Jer 32:18), condemns as strongly as Ezekiel. God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children who hate Him, and who also walk in the footsteps of their fathers' sins; but to those who love Him, and keep His commandments, He will show mercy to the thousandth generation. The proverb, on the other hand, teaches that the children would have to atone for their fathers' sins without any culpability of their own. How remote such a perversion of the truth as to the transmission of sins and their consequences, viz., their punishment, was from the law of Moses, is evident from the express command in Deu 24:16, that the children were not to be put to death with the fathers for the sins which the latter had committed, but that every one was to die for his own sin. What God here enjoins upon the judicial authorities must apply to the infliction of his own judgments. Consequently what Ezekiel says in the following verses in opposition to the delusion, which this proverb helped to spread abroad, is simply a commentary upon the words, "every one shall die for his own sin," and not a correction of the law, which is the interpretation that many have put upon these prophetic utterances of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In Eze 18:3, the Lord declares with an oath that this proverb shall not be used any more. The apodosis to 'אם יהיה וגו, which is not expressed, would be an imprecation, so that the oath contains a solemn prohibition. God will take care that this proverb shall not be used any more in Israel, not so much by the fact that He will not give them any further occasion to make use of it, as by the way in which He will convince them, through the judgments which He sends, of the justice of His ways. The following is Calvin's admirable paraphrase: "I will soon deprive you of this boasting of yours; for your iniquity shall be made manifest, so that all the world may see that you are but enduring just punishment, which you yourselves have deserved, and that you cannot cast it upon your fathers, as you have hitherto attempted to do." At the same time, this only gives one side; we must also add the other, which is brought out so prominently in Jer 31:29., namely, that after the judgment God will manifest His grace so gloriously in the forgiveness of sins, that those who are forgiven will fully recognise the justice of the judgments inflicted. Experience of the love and compassion of the Lord, manifesting itself in the forgiveness of sin, bows down the heart so deeply that the pardoned sinner has no longer any doubt of the justice of the judgments of God. "In Israel" is added, to show that such a proverb is opposed to the dignity of Israel. In Eze 18:4, the reason assigned fore the declaration thus solemnly confirmed by an oath commences with a general thought which contains the thesis for further discussion. All souls are mine, the soul of the father as well as that of the son, saith the Lord. In these words, as Calvin has well said, "God does not merely vindicate His government or His authority, but shows that He is moved with paternal affection towards the whole of the human race which He created and formed." There is no necessity for God to punish the one for the other, the son for the father, say because of the possibility that the guilty person might evade Him; and as the Father of all, He cannot treat the one in a different manner from the other, but can only punish the one by whom punishment has been deserved. The soul that sinneth shall die. הנּפשׁ is used here, as in many other passages, for "man," and מוּת is equivalent to suffering death as a punishment. "Death" is used to denote the complete destruction with which transgressors are threatened by the law, as in Deu 30:15 (compare Jer 21:8; Pro 11:10). This sentence is explained in the verses which follow (vv. 5-20).”