Ezekiel 18:26

King James Version (KJV)

When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

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 ver. 26,27 speaks the fulness of pardoning mercy: when sin is forgiven, it is blotted out, it is remembered no more. In their righteousness they shall live; not for their righteousness, as if that were an atonement for their sins, but in their righteousness, which is one of the blessings purchased by the Mediator. What encouragement a repenting, returning sinner has to hope for pardon and life according to this promise! In verse 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.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

30. Repent, and turn. Verses 30-32 constitute an appeal based on the principles of the justice of God’s dealings. When the counsel is given, “Make you a new heart and a new spirit” (v. 31), the prophet does not mean that man can save himself by his own power. But there is a part that man just act in the work of salvation. God can do nothing for man without man’s consent and cooperation (see DA 466). The meaning of repentance is not so clearly expressed by the Hebrew root, shub, as it is by the Greek, metonia. Nor does the English word always convey all that is bound up in this spiritual experience. The basic idea of shub is “to turn.” According to this definition, men turn from their sins (see SC 26). Metanoia is built on two words, the first, meta, which means “after,” and the second, nous, which means “mind.” The resultant meaning is to have a different mind afterward.

Sin has its seat in the mind. The soul must purpose the sinful act before passion can dominate over reason. The root of sin, then, is a bent of mind that causes man to choose the evil course. The solution to the problem is to correct this basic disposition. This is what repentance is intended to accomplish. A change must take place in the thinking of the individual. Since God never coerces the will, this act must be voluntary, but the Holy Spirit is given to aid the soul. It is quite impossible for the individual of himself to accomplish the transformation. But when he chooses to make the change and in his great need cries out to God, the powers of the soul are imbued with power from above and the propensity of the mind is corrected.

True repentance, then, is a function of the mind. It includes a thorough scrutinizing of the situation to discover what factors led to the defection, and also a study as to how similar errors can be avoided in the future. Repentance is the process whereby sin is expelled from the life. Once repented of, it can be confessed, and it will be forgiven. But confession without repentance is meaningless. God cannot forgive sins that are still active in the heart. This is the reason why the basic emphasis of the Scriptures is upon repentance rather than confession. Jesus’ fundamental teaching was, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15). Peter’s counsel was, “Repent, and be baptized” (Acts 2:38).

A proper grasp of the true meaning of repentance in its relationship to confession is essential to a successful spiritual experience. The reason many Christians fall so repeatedly into the same error is that they have never truly permitted the Holy Spirit to change their basic thinking with regard to that sin; they have never taken their sins to heart, to discover how, by the enabling grace of God, they might have complete victory over those sins.

Shall not be your ruin. Israel charged that God was unjust and caused their ruin. God declared that sin itself, which the sinner voluntarily chose, was their ruin (see 5T 120). He may not acknowledge the justice of God’s ways now; but in that awful moment, when he conforms the Judge of all the earth, there will be heard from his lips the acknowledgment that God’s ways are just (see GC 668, 669).

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Ellen G. White
Christ's Object Lessons, 251

“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:15. Nothing can justify an unforgiving spirit. He who is unmerciful toward others shows that he himself is not a partaker of God's pardoning grace. In God's forgiveness the heart of the erring one is drawn close to the great heart of Infinite Love. The tide of divine compassion flows into the sinner's soul, and from him to the souls of others. The tenderness and mercy that Christ has revealed in His own precious life will be seen in those who become sharers of His grace. But “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Romans 8:9. He is alienated from God, fitted only for eternal separation from Him. COL 251.1

It is true that he may once have received forgiveness; but his unmerciful spirit shows that he now rejects God's pardoning love. He has separated himself from God, and is in the same condition as before he was forgiven. He has denied his repentance, and his sins are upon him as if he had not repented. COL 251.2

But the great lesson of the parable lies in the contrast between God's compassion and man's hardheartedness; in the fact that God's forgiving mercy is to be the measure of our own. “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?” COL 251.3

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Ellen G. White
Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4a, 87

I was shown that it was when David was pure, and walking in the counsel of God, that God called him a man after his own heart. When David departed from God, and stained his virtuous character by his crimes, he was no longer a man after God's own heart. God did not in the least degree justify him in his sins, but sent Nathan his prophet, with dreadful denunciations to David because he had transgressed the commandment of the Lord. God shows his displeasure at David's having a plurality of wives by visiting him with judgments, and permitting evils to rise up against him from his own house. The terrible calamity God permitted to come upon David, who for his integrity was once called a man after God's own heart, is evidence to after generations that God would not justify any one in transgressing his commandments, but that he will surely punish the guilty, however righteous, and favored of God they might once have been while they followed the Lord in purity of heart. When the righteous turn from their righteousness and do evil, their past righteousness will not save them from the wrath of a just and holy God. 4aSG 87.1

Leading men of Bible history have sinned grievously. Their sins are not concealed, but faithfully recorded in the history of God's church, with the punishment from God, which followed the offenses. These instances are left on record for the benefit of after generations, and should inspire faith in the word of God, as a faithful history. Men who wish to doubt God, doubt christianity, and the word of God, will not judge candidly, and impartially, but with prejudiced minds will scan the life and character, to detect all the defects in the life of those who have been the most eminent leaders of Israel. A faithful delineation of character, God has caused to be given in inspired history, of the best and greatest men in their day. These men were mortal, subject to a tempting Devil. Their weakness and sins are not covered, but are faithfully recorded, with the reproof and punishment which followed. “These things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 4aSG 87.2

God has not allowed much said in his word to extol the virtues of the best men that have lived upon the earth. All their victories, and great and good works, were ascribed to God. He alone was to receive the glory, he alone to be exalted. He was all and in all. Man was only an agent, a feeble instrument in his hands. The power and excellence was all of God. God saw in man a continual disposition to depart from, and to forget him, and worship the creature, instead of the Creator. Therefore God would not suffer much in the praise of man to be left upon the pages of sacred history. 4aSG 88.1

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Ezekiel 18:26