God proceeded to adopt a dialogical teaching style in which He both asked and answered questions about individual responsibility.
18:19-20 The Israelites were claiming that a righteous son (themselves) would die for his father's (their ancestors') wickedness, but this was not true. Individuals who practiced righteousness would experience God's covenant promise of blessing on their lives even though their fathers practiced wickedness. People die for their own sins, not for the sins of their fathers or the sins of their sons.262Likewise people who behave righteously experience the consequences of their personal conduct just as people who behave unrighteously do.
18:21-22 However if a wicked person repented of his wickedness and pursued righteous behavior, he would live and not die. God would pardon his sins because he had turned from them and practiced righteousness. For the Jews still in Jerusalem this might mean deliverance from death at the hands of Babylon's invading soldiers.
This did not mean that doing good works would atone for past sins eternally. It meant that doing good works could preclude God's judgment of premature physical death, a judgment promised under the Mosaic Law for those who practiced wickedness. This whole chapter deals with the consequences of good and bad conduct in this lifeunder the Mosaic Covenant. It does not deal with the subject of eternal life. Eternal life has always come to a person by faith alone (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9).
"The stipulations of the Mosaic covenant were given to a people who were already in a trusting relationship with God. These stipulations provided a concrete, practical outworking of faith in the God who redeemed Israel from Egypt and gave the people his law. . . . If they obeyed these commands, they would show their righteousness, receive God's blessings, and live. But if they failed to live according to God's ways as revealed in the law, the Mosaic covenant declared that even thosewho had believed . . . would die physically (cf. Deut 28:58-66; 30:15-20)."263
18:23 "Why would God allow a sinner who repented to avoid judgment? The answer lies in God's character."264
God explained that He took no delight in people dying because of their sins. What gave Him pleasure was their turning from their sinful conduct and so continuing to live.
"Such a longing should be shared by every preacher who ventures to speak about the judgment of God."265
