Ezekiel 33:15 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed It is a necessary condition of obtaining pardon, that men make restitution of what they have unjustly gotten from others. The law is express to this purpose, Leviticus 6:5, where the offender is required to add a fifth part to the principal, and give it to him to whom it appertaineth; see the note there. To the same purpose is that received rule among the Christian casuists, taken from St. Augustin, Epistle 54., Non dimittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum. The sin is not forgiven, unless what is taken away be restored. Lord Clarendon's observations on this subject are peculiarly excellent: “Robbery and violence would be too gainful a trade, if a man might quit all scores by repentance, and detain all he hath gotten; or if the father's repentance might serve the turn, and the benefit of the transgression be transmitted as an inheritance to the son. If the pledge remained it must be restored; the retaining it is committing a new iniquity, and forfeits any benefit of the promise. If he hath it not, nor is able to procure it, his hearty repentance is enough without reparation: but to enjoy the spoil, and yet to profess repentance, is an affront to God Almighty, and a greater sin than the first act of violence, when he did not pretend to think of God, and so did not think of displeasing him. Whereas now he pretends to reconcile himself to God, and mocks him with repentance, while he retains the fruit of his wickedness. He who is truly penitent restores what he hath left to the person who was deprived of it, and pays the rest in devout sorrow for his trespass.”