---
title: Ezekiel 18:4
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/ezekiel-18-4/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/ezekiel-18-4.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Ezekiel 18:4
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Ezekiel 18:4

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

## JW Usage

Ezekiel 18:4 — "the soul that sins is the one that will die" — is a central Watchtower proof-text for soul mortality. If souls can die, the Watchtower argues, they cannot be immortal and must cease to exist at physical death. This is paired with Genesis 2:7 ("man became a living soul") to argue that the soul is simply the whole person, not a separable part.

## Protestant Usage

Jesus himself distinguishes between what can and cannot be done to the soul. Matthew 10:28 (NWT): "Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." Two categories of agents, two categories of reach. Men can kill the body; men *cannot* kill the soul. Only God can destroy both. Ezekiel 18:4 and Matthew 10:28 fit together cleanly: the soul is not intrinsically immortal (God can destroy it), but it is not killed when the body dies (men cannot reach it). The Watchtower's reading collapses the categories — if soul = body = life, then killing the body *would* kill the soul, and Matthew 10:28 contradicts itself. Jesus's distinction preserves both verses. The soul survives the body's death; only God has authority over its final state.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Soul and Body Are Distinct](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/matthew10-28-soul.md) — Matthew 10:28 [Soul & Hell]