The
righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness
of the wicked man will be charged against him. (Ezekiel 18:20)
It
was a commonly held belief that a child was liable for the sins of his father. The fathers eat sour grapes, and the
children’s teeth are set on edge (v. 2). Here, God makes it clear, through
his prophet Ezekiel, that a man is responsible for his own choices, but not for
the choices of his parents.
He
goes through an extensive treatise on a righteous man who makes good choices
and his son who makes bad choices and then a grandson who again chooses well.
The grandson will not be punished because he had a wicked father, and the
wicked son cannot escape judgment by saying, But my father was a respected member of the church! Each
individual, each generation has to live with the consequences of its own choices.
The
prophet goes on to describe a man who turns from his wicked ways to live a good
life: None of the offenses he has
committed will be remembered against him (v. 22). God is not looking for
excuses to punish anyone.
The
lesson seems to be that our present and not our past determines our destiny.
Though we cannot change the past, we certainly do have control over our
present. There’s always a right choice to make right now.
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