The Soul That Sins, It Shall Die Text: Ezekiel 18:19-20
Introduction: The Blame Game Is Over
We live in an age that has perfected the art of blame-shifting. It is the original sin of Adam, "the woman you gave me," and it is the native tongue of our therapeutic culture. We are told that our problems are the result of our upbringing, our environment, our economic status, our unfortunate brain chemistry, or systemic injustices. Everyone is a victim, and consequently, no one is responsible. We have become masters at explaining our sins away, which is a clever way of trying to explain God's judgment away. We want to be able to say to God on the last day, "You can't hold me accountable; my father ate sour grapes, and that is why my teeth are on edge."
This was precisely the attitude of the exiles in Babylon to whom Ezekiel was prophesying. They had a cynical proverb on their lips: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." What they meant was this: "We are in exile because of the sins of our fathers, particularly the great apostasy under King Manasseh. God is punishing us for things we didn't do. His justice is arbitrary and unfair." It was a complaint, a murmuring, and a slander against the character of God. It was a self-pitying excuse designed to evade the call to personal repentance.
Into this swamp of self-justification, God speaks through Ezekiel with bracing and glorious clarity. He demolishes their proverb and with it, the entire framework of victimhood. God declares that the game is up. The blame-shifting stops here. He is a just God, and He deals with every man according to his own deeds. This chapter is a magnificent declaration of individual accountability before the holy Judge of all the earth. It does not contradict the biblical doctrine of federal headship or corporate solidarity. Rather, it clarifies the precise nature of God's justice. God's justice is not a blind, impersonal force. He sees every individual soul, and He judges righteously.
This passage is therefore a great comfort to the righteous and a terrifying warning to the wicked. It tells the man who turns from his father's sin that he will not be condemned for it. And it tells the man who revels in his own sin that he cannot hide behind anyone else's righteousness, or behind anyone else's sin. The soul that sins, it shall die. This is the fundamental principle of divine justice.
The Text
"Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity?’ But the son has done justice and righteousness and has kept all My statutes and done them. He shall surely live. The soul who sins will die. The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself."
(Ezekiel 18:19-20 LSB)
The Sullen Question (v. 19a)
The passage begins with God quoting the people's defiant question.
"Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity?’" (Ezekiel 18:19a)
This is a piece of insolent back-talk. God has just laid out the principle that a righteous son of a wicked father will live (vv. 14-17). The people hear this and essentially say, "Oh yeah? But isn't it a known fact that sons suffer for their fathers' sins? Isn't that how it works?" They are appealing to a distorted understanding of the second commandment, where God visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him (Ex. 20:5). They had taken a principle of covenantal consequences and twisted it into a doctrine of fatalistic injustice.
They were not asking for information. They were lodging an accusation. Their question was dripping with sarcasm and unbelief. They believed they had God trapped in a contradiction. "You say you are just, but we are here in Babylon because of Manasseh. Explain that." They were using the doctrine of corporate sin as a shield to hide their own personal sin. They were, in effect, demanding the right to be punished for their fathers' sins so they could avoid taking responsibility for their own.
This is the perennial temptation of man. We would rather be a victim of circumstance than a sinner in need of grace. We would rather point to the sour grapes our fathers ate than confess the rotten fruit of our own hearts. But God does not allow this evasion. He answers their question, not by debating their premise, but by restating His perfect standard of justice.
The Divine Answer: Personal Righteousness (v. 19b)
God's response cuts right through their theological fog.
"But the son has done justice and righteousness and has kept all My statutes and done them. He shall surely live." (Ezekiel 18:19b)
God's answer is simple and direct. The righteous son lives because he is righteous. God is not talking about some abstract legal status; He is talking about a man's actual life. This son has seen his father's wickedness and has refused to walk in it. He has actively pursued justice and righteousness. He has kept God's statutes. His life is characterized by obedience. Therefore, God says, "He shall surely live."
This is not teaching salvation by works. Ezekiel is not a Pelagian. The Old Testament saints were saved by grace through faith, just as we are. But here, as everywhere in Scripture, obedient works are the necessary evidence of true faith. Faith is not a bare mental assent; it is a life-transforming trust that results in righteousness. This man's righteous deeds are the proof that he has a righteous standing before God. God judges the tree by its fruit.
The key here is that God's judgment is discriminating. He does not just lump generations together. He looks at the individual. He sees the son who rejected his father's idols. He sees the son who fed the poor and refused to charge interest. He sees the son who walked in His statutes. And God says that this man's personal righteousness, the fruit of his faith, is what matters in the final judgment. The father's sin cannot and will not drag this righteous son down to hell.
The Bedrock Principle of Judgment (v. 20a)
Verse 20 gives us the clear, unshakeable axiom of divine justice.
"The soul who sins will die." (Ezekiel 18:20a)
This is the other side of the coin. If the righteous man lives because of his righteousness, the sinful man dies because of his sin. The death spoken of here is not merely physical; it is spiritual death, eternal separation from God. This is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). And notice the precise wording: "The soul who sins." It is an individual matter. The guilt is not transferable in the way the exiles were claiming.
Now, how do we reconcile this with the doctrine of original sin? Does not Paul teach that in Adam all die (Rom. 5:12)? Yes, he does. We are all born guilty in Adam. We inherit a corrupt nature and a guilty legal standing from our federal head. Ezekiel is not contradicting this. He is addressing a specific abuse of this truth. The exiles were using their corporate solidarity in sin as an excuse to ignore their own personal, actual sins. Ezekiel's point is that while we are all born in Adam, we are not sent to hell for Adam's sin alone. We are sent to hell because we ratify Adam's rebellion with our own. We prove we are sons of Adam by sinning like Adam. The soul that sins, it shall die. And who has not sinned? "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10).
So this verse does not abolish federal theology. It establishes the basis upon which federal theology operates. We are condemned for our own sins, which flow from the sinful nature we received from Adam. God is not unjust to condemn us, because we ourselves have willingly committed the treason for which the death penalty is prescribed.
Justice Is Not Transferable (v. 20b)
The verse concludes by elaborating on this principle of individual accountability.
"The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself." (Ezekiel 18:20b)
God makes it as plain as possible. Guilt is not a communicable disease that you can catch from your father against your will. Nor is righteousness a family heirloom that you can inherit without faith. At the final judgment, every man will stand naked before God, bearing his own record. The father's wickedness will not be imputed to the righteous son. The son's wickedness will not be imputed to the righteous father.
Each man's moral character is "upon himself." This is a terrifying thought for the sinner. You cannot borrow righteousness. You cannot hide in a crowd. You cannot blame your parents. Your wickedness is your own, and you will answer for it. But it is a glorious thought for the believer. Your righteousness is your own, and it cannot be taken from you. The sins of your family, your community, or your nation cannot nullify the grace of God in your life.
This principle of individual accountability is the foundation of true justice. It prevents us from despairing because of our heritage, and it prevents us from becoming arrogant because of it. It forces us to deal with God directly, as individuals who must personally repent and believe.
The Gospel According to Ezekiel
So where does this leave us? If the soul that sins will die, and if all have sinned, then are we not all condemned? If the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself, are we not all crushed under that load? Yes. Absolutely. That is the whole point. Ezekiel 18 slams the door on every human excuse in order to open the one door of divine grace.
This passage, by establishing the terrible purity of God's justice, makes the gospel of substitutionary atonement not just desirable, but absolutely necessary. The principle that "the son will not bear the iniquity of the father" has one glorious, divine exception. There was one Son who was perfectly righteous, who had done justice and kept all His Father's statutes. And this one Son, Jesus Christ, willingly stood in the place of sinful men and bore the iniquity that was not His own.
God did not set aside the principle of Ezekiel 18:20. He fulfilled it. "The soul who sins will die." We sinned, and so in Christ, we died. He became our federal head. He took our wickedness upon Himself, so that His righteousness could be put upon us. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The great exchange of the gospel is this: Our wickedness was put upon Christ, and He died. His righteousness is put upon us, and we live. The justice of God is perfectly satisfied. God does not waive the death penalty; He executes it on His own Son. And He does not waive the requirement of righteousness; He provides it in His own Son.
Therefore, the message of Ezekiel to the exiles is God's message to us today. Stop making excuses. Stop blaming your father, your mother, or your culture. Own your sin. Your wickedness is upon you, and it will crush you. But then, turn and look to the Son who bore the iniquity of us all. Repent of your sin and cast yourself upon Him by faith. For God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). In Him, and in Him alone, the soul that sins can be forgiven, declared righteous, and live forever.