Ezekiel 18:29

"Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord Jehovah. Return ye, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Jehovah: wherefore turn yourselves and live."

"The way of the Lord is not equal ..." (Ezekiel 18:29). This was an unqualified slander on the part of apostate Israel. We cannot agree with Howie who said, "This kind of an outcry against the Lord is understandable when we remember how great was the suffering of the people."[17] The people were well aware of their consummate wickedness, but the national pride and arrogant conceit of ancient Israel knew no restrictions nor boundaries. They thought that God owed them the world with a ribbon on it, no matter how morally corrupt they became. They were not only totally wrong in this slander, God's response to it was prompt and positive. "Therefore, I will judge you!" (Ezekiel 18:30).

"Make you a new heart and a new spirit ..." (Ezekiel 18:31). O no, a man cannot create in himself a new heart; but he can so order his behavior that God will indeed create in him a new heart. God commands men to "Save yourselves from this wicked generation" (Acts 2:40); but men cannot "save themselves," except in the sense that they can comply with the conditions that will enable God to save them! Men cannot "create" a new heart in themselves, but they can repent of their wickedness and turn to God who will then "give them" a new heart. As Leal put it:

"Man cannot indeed create either a new heart or a new spirit; God only can give them to anyone. But a man can and should come to God to receive them; he can repent and turn to God and thus allow both heart and spirit to be renewed by the Spirit of God."[18]