יחזקאל, פרק י״ח, פסוק ל״א

A person is never bound by their past, even if their life has been filled with wrongdoing. There is no need to hold onto a tainted history; anyone can break free, change internally, and secure life [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This transformation begins by actively discarding past wrongs, a process achieved through genuine remorse. The moment a person truly regrets their actions, their offenses and the resulting punishments are lifted away [רד״ק, מצודת דוד]. Casting off these sins is much like unloading a heavy physical burden. Even if someone has not yet reached the ideal state of repenting out of pure love for God, they should at least repent out of a fear of consequences. This basic level of repentance is highly effective, as it immediately reduces the severity of past wrongs, downgrading them from acts of intentional rebellion to mere accidental mistakes [מלבי״ם].

Fully completing this return to God, however, requires a deep internal shift: the creation of a new heart and a new spirit aimed at drawing closer to Him [מצודת דוד]. In this context, the spirit represents a person's will or desire [מצודת ציון]. A delicate internal dynamic exists between the heart and the spirit. The heart serves as the ultimate decision-maker that rules the individual, while the spirit acts as the engine that supplies thoughts and images to the heart. In the past, the spirit may have offered sinful ideas, which the heart then chose to act upon. The goal now is to retrain the spirit to supply only positive thoughts focused on Torah and the fear of God. With the spirit providing the right material, the heart can effectively exercise its rule and choose the good [מלבי״ם].

Clinging to a destructive path when a way out exists is ultimately absurd. If the opportunity to turn back is readily available, it makes no sense for people to willingly bring about their own ruin [מצודת דוד]. The urgent call to change is designed to awaken repentance, even if it is initially driven by the fear of punishment. God willingly accepts this fear-based return for two fundamental reasons. First, He simply has no desire for human destruction. Second, He holds out hope that a return motivated by fear will eventually grow into a return motivated by love. It is this higher level of love that possesses the power to transform past wrongs into actual merits, ultimately granting a person eternal life [מלבי״ם].