Ezekiel 3:20

20 "Again, those who do right may turn away from doing good and do evil. If I make something bad happen to them, they will die. Because you have not warned them, they will die because of their sin, and the good they did will not be remembered. But I will hold you responsible for their deaths.

Ezekiel 3:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 3:20

Again, when a righteous [man] doth turn from his
righteousness
This is to be understood not of one that is truly righteous, or is justified by the righteousness of Christ; for such can never turn from that righteousness, or be in an unjustified state; seeing that is the righteousness of God, and an everlasting one; but of one that is denominated righteous, from "his" own righteousness, from a righteousness "which he hath done", as is afterwards expressed; one that is outwardly righteous before men, that is outwardly reformed, that has a righteousness of his own, consisting of a little negative holiness, and a few moral performances; from such righteousness a man may apostatize, and go into a vicious course of life: and commit iniquity;
live in sin, make a trade of it; lead a life, the whole series and course of which is nothing else but sin; in this sense, one that is born of God, and has the righteousness of Christ revealed from faith to faith unto him, and lives by faith upon it, cannot commit sin, ( 1 John 3:9 ) ; and I lay a stumbling block before him;
the Targum renders it, "the stumbling block of sins"; which designs either an occasion of sinning, which God permits, leaving him to his own lusts, and suffering him to fall thereby; and by this means he is discovered to be what he is, not a truly righteous man, but only one in appearance; that looked like a righteous person, but secretly a sinner, and now the Lord by such means exposes him openly; so Jarchi and other Jewish Rabbins; but Kimchi's father interprets the stumbling block of prosperity in this world F21: or rather the punishment of sin is meant, as Kimchi himself observes; and the Septuagint renders it "torment"; since this follows up on his turning from righteousness, and committing sin; and seems to be explained by the next clause: he shall die;
the second death: because thou hast not given him warning:
of the dreadful evil of apostasy, and the sad estate of apostates, and the danger they are in, their last estate being worse than the first: he shall die in his sin;
of apostasy, and for it, being never to be recovered and brought to repentance: and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered;
according to the "Keri" or marginal reading it is, "his righteousnesses"; all his works of righteousness which he hath done; and which reading is followed by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and the eastern versions; these shall not be remembered, neither in this world nor in that to come; no account shall be taken of them, nor shall they be reckoned as a righteousness unto him: but his blood will I require at thine hand; (See Gill on Ezekiel 3:18).


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Vid. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 86. 2.

Ezekiel 3:20 In-Context

18 When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' you must warn them so they may live. If you don't speak out to warn the wicked to stop their evil ways, they will die in their sin. But I will hold you responsible for their death.
19 If you warn the wicked and they do not turn from their wickedness or their evil ways, they will die because of their sin. But you will have saved your life.
20 "Again, those who do right may turn away from doing good and do evil. If I make something bad happen to them, they will die. Because you have not warned them, they will die because of their sin, and the good they did will not be remembered. But I will hold you responsible for their deaths.
21 But if you have warned those good people not to sin, and they do not sin, they will surely live, because they believed the warning. And you will have saved your life."
22 Then I felt the power of the Lord there. He said to me, "Get up and go out to the plain. There I will speak to you."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.