19 "Yet you say , ' Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity ?' When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live . 20 "The person who sins will die . The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity , nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity ; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
21 "But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness , he shall surely live ; he shall not die . 22 " All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced , he will live . 23 " Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked ," declares the Lord GOD , "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live ? 24 "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness , commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does , will he live ? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed ; for them he will die .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 18:19-24
Commentary on Ezekiel 18:1-20
(Read Ezekiel 18:1-20)
The soul that sinneth it shall die. As to eternity, every man was, is, and will be dealt with, as his conduct shows him to have been under the old covenant of works, or the new covenant of grace. Whatever outward sufferings come upon men through the sins of others, they deserve for their own sins all they suffer; and the Lord overrules every event for the eternal good of believers. All souls are in the hand of the great Creator: he will deal with them in justice or mercy; nor will any perish for the sins of another, who is not in some sense worthy of death for his own. We all have sinned, and our souls must be lost, if God deal with us according to his holy law; but we are invited to come to Christ. If a man who had shown his faith by his works, had a wicked son, whose character and conduct were the reverse of his parent's, could it be expected he should escape the Divine vengeance on account of his father's piety? Surely not. And should a wicked man have a son who walked before God as righteous, this man would not perish for his father's sins. If the son was not free from evils in this life, still he should be partaker of salvation. The question here is not about the meritorious ground of justification, but about the Lord's dealings with the righteous and the wicked.
Commentary on Ezekiel 18:21-29
(Read Ezekiel 18:21-29)
The wicked man would be saved, if he turned from his evil ways. The true penitent is a true believer. None of his former transgressions shall be mentioned unto him, but in the righteousness which he has done, as the fruit of faith and the effect of conversion, he shall surely live. The question is not whether the truly righteous ever become apostates. It is certain that many who for a time were thought to be righteous, do so, while 28 is the beginning and progress of repentance. True believers watch and pray, and continue to the end, and they are saved. In all our disputes with God, he is in the right, and we are in the wrong.