To Florus 3.38

But perhaps someone will be so obtuse as to demand explicit statements proving that God does not judge differently from the way he commanded judgment to be given. The demand itself is a wicked contention. Still, truth supplies weapons sufficient to satisfy every demand for proof, and I will gladly produce the strongest witnesses to this very point. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the prophet Ezekiel therefore says:

‘The Lord’s word came to me: Son of man, what do you mean by using this proverb in the land of Israel: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no longer be spoken in Israel. All souls are mine: the father’s soul and the son’s soul alike—all souls are mine. The soul that sins shall itself die.

‘But a man who is just, who practices judgment and justice, does not eat on the mountains or lift his eyes toward the objects of desire of the house of Israel; he does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a menstruating woman. He does not oppress anyone; he returns the debtor’s pledge and commits no robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the naked. He does not lend his money at interest or take an excessive return. He keeps his hand from injustice and judges fairly between a man and his neighbor. He has walked in my commands and kept my ordinances by carrying them out. This man is just; he shall surely live, says the Lord God.

‘But suppose he fathers a corrupt son who sheds blood and commits sins. This son has not walked in the way of his just father; instead he has eaten on the mountains, defiled his neighbor’s wife, oppressed the needy and poor, committed robbery, and failed to return a pledge. He has fixed his eyes on idols and acted wickedly; he has lent at interest and taken an excessive return. This man shall not live. He has committed all these wicked deeds; he shall surely die. His blood shall be on himself.

‘But suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, is afraid, and does not act in the same way. He has not eaten on the mountains or lifted his eyes toward the objects of desire of the house of Israel. He has not defiled his neighbor’s wife or oppressed anyone. He has taken no pledge and committed no robbery. He has given his bread to the hungry and clothed the naked. He has kept his hand from wrongdoing, has taken neither interest nor an excessive return, has done justice, and has walked in my commands. This man shall not die for his father’s iniquities; he shall surely live. His father, however, because he inflicted suffering, committed robbery, and acted wrongly among my people, died in his own iniquity.

‘You have said: Why has the son not borne his father’s iniquity? Because the son has practiced justice, judgment, and mercy; he has kept all my statutes and carried them out. He shall surely live. But the soul that sins shall itself die. The son shall not bear his father’s injustice, nor shall the father bear his son’s injustice. The just person’s justice shall rest on himself, and the wicked person’s wickedness shall rest on himself.

‘If a wicked person turns away from all the iniquities he has committed, keeps all my commands, and practices judgment, justice, and mercy, he shall surely live and shall not die. None of the offenses he committed shall be remembered. Through the justice he has practiced he shall surely live. Do I really desire the wicked person’s death, says the Lord God, rather than that he turn from his evil way and live?

‘But if the just person turns away from his justice and commits iniquities, acting according to all the iniquities the wicked person has committed, he shall not live. None of the righteous deeds he has done shall be remembered. In the offense by which he fell, and in the sins he committed, he shall die.

‘You have said: The Lord’s way is not right. Listen now, house of Israel: Is my way not right? Rather, your way is not fair. When the just person turns away from his justice and commits an offense, he shall die in the offense he committed; in that very offense he shall die. And when the wicked person turns away from the iniquity he committed and practices judgment and justice, he has preserved his soul and lives. Because he turned from all the iniquities he committed, he shall surely live and shall not die.

‘The house of Israel says: The Lord’s way is not right. Is my way not right, house of Israel? Is it not rather your way that is not right? Therefore I will judge each of you according to your own ways, house of Israel, says the Lord God’ (Ezekiel 18:1–30).