From the early Church Fathers to now.
5 Patristic · 1 Jewish · 1 Catholic · 1 Reformed
“But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die.”
“Observe every one of the sins for which the Lord makes threats; you will at once see that they are current ones. But if someone's past righteousness is not beneficial to the righteous individual in the time of his sin, then neither will the sin that has been forsaken harm the wicked individual in the time of his righteousness.”
“O such strictness toward the righteous! O such abundant forgiveness toward the sinner! He finds so many different means, without himself changing, to keep the righteous in check and forgive the sinner, by usefully dividing his rich goodness. And listen how. If he frightens the sinner who persists in sins, he brings him to desperation and to the exhaustion of hope. If he blesses the righteous, he weakens the intensity of his virtue and makes him neglect his zeal, since he considers himself already blessed. For this reason he is merciful to the sinner and frightens the righteous.”
“As a sinner who is now just is not harmed by his earlier offenses, so previous righteous deeds do not help a sinner who was once righteous; as each is found, so will it be judged in him.”
“(Verse 24) But if the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity according to all the abominations that the wicked person usually does, will he live? None of the righteous deeds that he had done will be remembered. In the transgression that he has committed, and in the sin that he has sinned, he shall die. Just as the previous sins do not burden a righteous person who has sinned, so the previous righteousness does not benefit a sinner who was previously righteous. For each person will be judged according to what is found in them.”
“But behold, while we search out the secrets of the heavenly citizens, we have digressed far from the order of our exposition. Let us therefore sigh toward those of whom we speak, but let us return to ourselves. For we ought to remember that we are flesh. Let us be silent meanwhile about the secrets of heaven, but before the eyes of our Creator let us wipe away the stains of our dust with the hand of repentance. Behold, divine mercy itself promises, saying: There shall be joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance; and yet through the prophet the Lord says: In whatever day the just man shall sin, all his righteousnesses shall be in oblivion before me. Let us consider, if we can, the dispensation of heavenly loving-kindness. To those who stand, if they should fall, he threatens punishment; but to the fallen, that they might desire to rise, he promises mercy. He terrifies those, lest they presume upon their good works; he comforts these, lest they despair in their evils. You are just—fear wrath, lest you fall; you are a sinner—trust in mercy, that you may rise.”
“All his righteous deeds, etc., shall not be remembered Our Sages qualified this as referring to one who regrets them.”
“Remembered, to procure him pardon; yet he will suffer less than if he had never done any good. (Calmet)”
“righteous--one apparently such; as in Mat 9:13, "I came not to call the righteous," &c., that is, those who fancy themselves righteous. Those alone are true saints who by the grace of God persevere (Mat 24:13; Co1 10:12; Joh 10:28-29). turneth away from . . . righteousness--an utter apostasy; not like the exceptional offenses of the godly through infirmity or heedlessness, which they afterwards mourn over and repent of. not be mentioned--not be taken into account so as to save them. his trespass--utter apostasy.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.