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the righteous will certainly live

Ezekiel 18:5-9 (JDV)

Ezekiel 18:5 “Suppose a man is righteous and does what is just and right:
Ezekiel 18:6 He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual impurity.
Ezekiel 18:7 He doesn’t oppress anyone but returns his collateral to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
Ezekiel 18:8 He doesn’t lend at interest or for profit but keeps his hand from injustice and carries out true justice between men.
Ezekiel 18:9 He follows my prescriptions and keeps my rules, acting faithfully. Such a person is righteous; he will certainly live.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.

the righteous will certainly live

If we just take this passage out of its context, we would be tempted to suggest that anyone could avoid death by simply living right. That is the case, but it is more complicated than that. None of us continue to do right, thus we all deserve death. But the LORD’s point in sharing this truth is that God “has a heart for every being who has fallen away from him” (Lange,185)*. There is a right way to live, and if we were to live that way consistently, we would not see the second death. But since we all fail to live that way, enter Christ. He is the way to live apart from the righteousness of the law.

LORD, thank you for your mercy in giving us a way to live, apart from the law, which we have broken.

*Lange, Johann Peter, and Philip Schaff. A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical, with Special Reference to Ministers and Students. New York: C. Scribner & Co, 1865.