Ezekiel 18:4, commentary and pictures

Every soul belongs to God, father and son alike, and each person answers to Him for his or her own sin without guilt passing from parent to child or child to parent. He owns every soul both by creation and by redemption, so no parent owns a child and no person may treat another as property. The death threatened to the soul that sins reaches farther than the death common to all and means the second, everlasting death with no hope of a resurrection. The soul does not possess natural immortality, and the verse does not teach that the sinner lives forever in misery. God does not desire anyone's death but at great cost gave His Son to bear the penalty of transgression and die in the sinner's place, so that everyone who looks to Him and turns from sin may receive life, while in contrast the just person who does what is lawful and right in keeping His law shall surely live.

God Owns Every Soul

Behold, all souls are God's, the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son. Every human person belongs to Him without exception or degree. People are His property, and their handling by those entrusted with them is to honor Him.

He owns every soul both by creation and by redemption. Therefore no father or mother owns a child, soul and body. No person has right to treat another as property or to act tyrannically toward anyone under authority. Those entrusted with others are to treat them with mercy, kindness, patience, and forbearance, and not to oppress them or lay heavy burdens upon them.

Each Answers for Sin

Every soul belongs to God and stands accountable to Him for its own sin, and the soul that sins will die. Father and son alike are answerable to Him, with no one able to excuse oppression or wrongdoing that He sees and will judge. Guilt is not passed from parent to child or from child to parent, and a child does not bear the father's guilt merely because of the father's wrongdoing. The old proverb that children must bear guilt for their fathers' wrongdoing is rejected, for God judges each person according to that person's own ways.

Children who have reached years of accountability are responsible for their own actions and must cooperate with God in working out their own salvation. When the commands of parents conflict with the commands of God, who is the heavenly Father, children must obey God, standing firmly as a rock to principle yet humbly and respectfully without hating their parents, and trusting Him to open ways to do righteousness. If minor children are compelled to transgress plain commandments, the sin is charged to the parents who caused it.

Selfishly transferring stewardship of property to wife or children to conceal covetousness and excuse neglect of advancing God's cause does not remove accountability, for God reads the motives and purposes of the heart and holds each one answerable despite the transfer. Though visible displeasure may not fall at once as it did on Ananias and Sapphira when in trying to deceive men they lied to God, the final punishment for such deceit will be in no case lighter.

Death the Sin Penalty

Transgression brings death upon the one who sins, for the law's sentence against disobedience is death and apart from the plan of redemption all stand doomed to die under that condemnation. The law exposes wrongdoing but cannot rescue the transgressor, and its claim requires complete obedience. Christ is the remedy not by abolishing the law but by condemning sin in the flesh, and at Calvary He bears the penalty of transgression and dies in the sinner's place so that the transgressor may receive life. He gave His life to save sinners from that sentence and make it possible for them to live, and those who receive Him are given power to turn away from what would otherwise lead back to disloyalty, condemnation and punishment, so that every sinner may look to Him and live while those who obey God's requirements are promised life.

The death threatened reaches farther than the death common to all, meaning the second death. That death for sin is an everlasting death that lasts forever, with no hope of a resurrection, and then the wrath of God is appeased. After the wicked are destroyed the fire that consumes them also purifies the earth. The verse does not teach that the sinner lives forever in misery, for life remains life whether accompanied by pain or happiness, while death is without pain, joy or hatred.

Continued disobedience to God's commandments ends in death, and to choose sin rather than obedience is to believe Satan's word before God's word. The same deceiving, bewitching power that came to Adam and Eve in Eden still works to make sin agreeable and to keep souls from returning to allegiance to God in keeping His commandments, so that the perverted natural heart loves the lie that disobedience will not bring death more than the truth that it will. God declares the penalty, yet He does not desire anyone's death. At great and infinite cost He gave His Son, His only-begotten Son, to open a second probation, that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life, since Adam's sin had forfeited eternal life for the whole race and left all under that sentence.

Soul Not Naturally Immortal

The soul does not possess natural immortality, for the soul that sins dies. In that light the dead sleep until the resurrection.
There is not an immortal sinner, for after Adam and Eve sinned they were barred from the tree of life whose fruit would have perpetuated immortality, and no descendant of Adam has passed the flaming sword to partake of it. Adam and Eve were driven from Eden lest they eat and become immortal sinners, and not one of Adam's family has eaten from that tree. This exposes Satan's first deception in Eden that disobedience would not bring death.
No one has independent spiritual life apart from Christ, because He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Man is only mortal, and while he feels too wise to accept Jesus he remains only mortal. Nothing in man elevates him before God, not money or brilliant intellect or natural endowments, for all are given by his Maker. That Maker can scatter entrusted treasures faster than man can gather them, and can remove reason in a moment and degrade man to the level of beasts when man acts as though wisdom and power were gotten independently of Him, and those who in fancied efficiency triumph in their own power and follow Satan's lead will perish.
At death the Christian does not go immediately to heaven nor the sinner immediately to hell, and there is no eternally burning hell. The dead sleep in the grave with the entire being slumbering until the resurrection. This makes the resurrection of the body and the final judgment necessary and gives them new importance, for if souls already received eternal happiness or misery at death there would be no need for resurrection of the moldering body and a final judgment would be confused and useless. The hope of the bereaved looks forward to the day when the Life-giver breaks the tomb and clothes the righteous dead with glorious immortal life, and this truth wins sinners through love rather than driving them by fear of eternal torment. After the wicked are destroyed, the fire that consumes them also purifies the earth.

Christ Saves from Death

Sin brings death upon the sinner, and at Calvary the sinner sees Christ bearing the penalty of transgression and dying in the sinner's place, so that the transgressor may receive life. Every sinner may look to Him and live. Apart from the plan of redemption human beings are doomed to die under that sentence, but Christ gave His life to save sinners from it and to make it possible for those who receive Him to live. Those who receive Him are given power to turn away from what would otherwise lead them back to disloyalty, condemnation, and punishment.

The death sentence pronounced against every transgressor of God's law had to be executed against Christ as He bore the world's sin. On the cross He received no relief from that sentence, but experienced the terror and darkness of death without divine aid or assurance. The law's condemnation is death, and the law exposes sin but cannot save the transgressor. Christ is the remedy for sin, not by abolishing the law, but by condemning sin in the flesh.

Every transgressor must die, so the law cannot be changed or set aside without removing the consequence of sin. It makes its claim on every person at all times, and complete obedience is its requirement. Those who obey God's requirements are promised life and reward, while disobedience brings death. Jesus came to deliver people from the penalty of the broken law by offering complete pardon, by which those who accept it may be saved, while those who reject it will be lost.

Living Justly Toward Others

In contrast to the death of the soul that sins, the just person shall surely live by doing what is lawful and right in accordance with God's law and keeping His statutes and judgments. Every soul belongs to God and each is accountable for its own sin, so guilt is not borne by a child merely because of a father's wrongdoing, but God judges each person according to that person's own ways. Father and son alike are accountable to Him, and the one who sins is answerable for that sin and will die.

Living rightly as the just person who lives is defined by concrete duties toward God and neighbor. It includes rejecting idolatry and oppression, refusing violence, returning a debtor's pledge, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, dealing fairly, avoiding usury and unjust gain, judging fairly, and keeping God's statutes and judgments.

Because all human beings belong to God as His property by creation and ownership, no person has the right to treat another as property or to act tyrannically toward someone under authority. Those entrusted with others must treat them with mercy, kindness, patience, and forbearance, and must not oppress them or lay heavy burdens on them, honoring God in their treatment. Those who abuse people under their authority will be dealt with by the Creator as they have treated them.

That ownership covers the souls of parents and children alike, and it covers also the souls of patients receiving a physician's care. In council meetings and audits God is present, knows how each person is treated, and keeps a record of it, so those handling sacred matters must deal justly with people.

God's ownership of every soul lays upon workers the duty to serve Jesus, the owner of every soul, and to work for the conversion of souls. Those who have the light of present truth must place themselves in close connection with God and use their capabilities to save souls, imparting their understanding of the Scriptures and dispensing the blessings and comfort they have received. They are to consecrate themselves to the special work of proclaiming the Third Angel's Message, for which Christ gave His life to open a second probation that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life.