COMMENTARY
Ezekiel 18:1-9, 25-29
Each person is responsible for his/her life. Ezekiel here stresses individual responsibility for sin. Heretofore the emphasis was upon community, the nation. Now Judah is in bondage and the community (nation) exists no more. The old proverb said that the children suffer for the sins of their parents. Those now in exile holding to this view could feel no responsibility for their plight and could accept the situation as fate. Ezekiel corrects this one-sided view by preaching that every person is responsible for his/her sin. If the person does right, the person lives; if the person sins, the person dies. The person has the freedom to change: the good person can do evil; the evil person can do right and live. The corporateness of humanity and the passing of s…