Ezekiel 33:12-16: a reflection

12“You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. 13When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. 14Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, 15if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he will surely live. He will not die. 16None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

God speaks a clarifying word about righteousness and repentance. The righteousness of the righteous, he says, will not save him if he turns to sin and trusts in his past goodness; and the wickedness of the wicked will not condemn him if he turns from it. Two truths stand together. No one can coast on a good record while sinning, and no one is trapped by a bad record if they truly turn. What matters is where the heart is now, not only where it has been.

The good news in this passage is striking. When the wicked turns from his sin, restores what he has wronged, and does what is right, God declares: none of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him; he will surely live. This is a picture of complete forgiveness. The one who genuinely repents is not merely put on probation; his sins are wiped away, remembered no more. However dark a person's past, the door of repentance is open, and beyond it lies a full and gracious pardon.

This holds a warning and a great hope. The warning: do not presume on past goodness while drifting into sin, for a good record cannot excuse a straying heart. The hope, and it is the greater word: it is never too late to turn. However much you have done wrong, if you genuinely turn from it and do what is right, God will not hold your sins against you; he will remember them no more. Do not despair over your past. The door of repentance stands open, and God's forgiveness of the one who turns is full and free.

Lord, you promise that the one who turns from sin will live, and that none of his past sins will be remembered against him. Thank you that it is never too late to turn, and that your forgiveness of the repentant is full and free. Guard me from presuming on past goodness while drifting into sin, and where I have done wrong, give me the grace to turn. Wipe my sins away, and let me live in the pardon you so freely give. Amen.