Ezekiel 36:25–27

Context

This passage is part of a prophecy of restoration that Ezekiel delivered to the people of Judah who had been carried into exile in Babylon. Beginning in 36:16, God charges that Israel defiled its own land and profaned his name even among the nations to which it was scattered. God then declares that he will gather the people from the nations and bring them back to their homeland. He states that he will do this not for Israel's sake but "for mine holy name's sake" (Ezekiel 36:22). Verses 25–27 describe, in sequence, the inward transformation that accompanies this return: verse 25 speaks of cleansing by washing with water, verse 26 of a new heart and a new spirit, and verse 27 of God's Spirit entering the people and enabling them to keep his statutes. The promise leads into the vision of the valley of dry bones in chapter 37, and a similar promise appears in Ezekiel 11:19–20.

Interpretation

• Historical reading: Old Testament scholars generally read the passage first as a prophecy of the return from exile and the restoration of the Israelite community. The sprinkling of water in verse 25 is understood against the background of the purification rites of the Law. In the Hebrew text, the contrast is between a "heart of stone" and a "heart of flesh," reflected in the KJV's "stony heart" and "heart of flesh"; Korean translations render these as "hard heart" and "soft heart."
• Reading in light of the New Testament: Christian tradition reads this passage together with the new covenant promise of Jeremiah 31 and regards it as fulfilled through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Many interpreters cite these verses as background to Jesus' words to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit" (John 3:5).
• Reformed reading: Presbyterians and others in the Reformed tradition point out that it is God who removes the stony heart and gives a new one, and on this basis they explain that regeneration occurs by God's sovereign grace. Chapter 10 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, "Of Effectual Calling," also echoes the wording of this passage, speaking of God taking away the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh.
• Wesleyan and Holiness reading: Methodists and Holiness churches agree that God's grace works first. At the same time, noting that in verse 27 the Spirit causes the people to "walk" in God's statutes, they read the passage as a promise of purity of heart and sanctification.

Debates and Issues

• Mode of baptism: The word "sprinkle" in verse 25 is sometimes cited as Old Testament background supporting baptism by sprinkling. Baptists hold that the verse is simply a figurative depiction of inward cleansing and does not establish a mode of baptism. For further discussion, see the article Baptism by Sprinkling and Immersion.
• Recipients of the fulfillment: Dispensationalism tends to hold that the promise will be literally fulfilled in a future restoration of national Israel. Covenant theology tends to read it as a new covenant promise fulfilled in the church in Christ.
• Translation: Interpreters are divided over whether the "new spirit" of verse 26 refers to the renewed human spirit or to the Spirit of God. In Korean Bibles, the phrase "my spirit" in verse 27, rendered with the older term sin in the Korean Revised Version, was changed to yeong in the New Korean Revised Version.

Perspective: Korean Protestant practiceHow this idea is used in Korean churches, kept from the original Korean article.

In Korean churches, the passage is frequently used as a text for sermons and Bible studies on regeneration, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, repentance, and making a new beginning.

Related Passages

• Jeremiah 31:31–34
• Ezekiel 37:11–14
• John 3:5
• Titus 3:5
• 2 Corinthians 3:3–6