The Crux of the Issue
(Ezekiel 18:4) Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
This phrase is repeated again in verse 20.
(Ezekiel 18:20) The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Christians who believe this verse is part of the Old Testament message of justification also look to other verses in Ezekiel 18. They do this to demonstrate their viewpoint that soul salvation (justification unto eternal life) was partly based on continued compliance with the Mosaic Law. We must be very careful in the terminology used. There are different types of salvation and justification in Scripture based on the context of the passage. Those who believe there was a works message for salvation in the OT point to additional verses in Ezek 18 such as:
(Ezekiel 18:24) But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
As we consider these verses, we must conclude either God’s response to the proverb points to a soul salvation obtained and maintained on the basis of human performance or it doesn’t. When a careful student considers the context of the passage, comparing Scripture with Scripture, we find six reasons[1] why this passage does not present the Old Testament message of justification unto eternal life.
- “Death” in Ezekiel means physical death, not spiritual death.
- “Soul” in Ezekiel refers to the whole person, not just the spirit of man, and so cannot refer to eternal death.
- The terms of the contract between God and Israel in the context of Ezekiel 18 refer to physical punishment.
- No one could ever perfectly comply with the Law enough to earn eternal life.
- If this chapter was about spiritual death, there would be a direct contradiction between the words of Ezekiel and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
- God’s response to the proverb is pointing Israel to her need for national repentance. Individual salvation is not in view.
[1] We are not limited to these six reasons. But for the sake of space, I am only including six.
