What difference do we make in this world? (Gen 18:16-33)

Memorial services often make me feel humbled. A dearly loved person is remembered by relatives and friends, events are fondly recalled, quirky habits draw an affectionate laugh from those who knew him or her. Achievements are recounted, a person’s impact on individuals or groups is noted. Through such reminiscences, someone’s life takes on shape. In moments like these I wonder, what will my life amount to in the end? As Christians, that question can be particularly confronting. Do we, as children of God, make a difference in the world? This question is at the heart of our passage today.

The switch from the promise about Sarah’s child to Sodom is sudden. Why is this event recounted here? If we were to skip to Genesis 20, we would not know that anything was missing. Further, God’s reasons for revealing His plans to Abraham may seem unrelated to each other and to Sodom’s fate (Gen 18:18-19), but the key link is between blessing and doing righteousness. Throughout the OT but especially strongly emphasised in Deuteronomy, living God’s way and doing what is right brings the Lord’s blessing on a person (e.g. Deut 30:15-16). Since Abraham is to train his descendants in a godly life (which will ultimately lead to blessing), it is important that he learns about God’s standards, His justice, and the difference a righteous (i.e. a godly) attitude makes.

The ensuing conversation between God and Abraham probes this question. What does justice mean for God? While the language is anthropomorphic (human-shaped, i.e. describes God as if He were a human), the point is to emphasise that God’s judgment is based not on hearsay but on first-hand evidence (Gen 18:20-21). But what if there are godly people in the city, wonders Abraham. Surely, God who is the Judge of all cannot sweep away the righteous with the wicked (Gen 18:23-25)![1] Indeed, God affirms that He will not (Gen 18:26). This, of course, does not mean that the wicked permanently get away with it on the merit of the righteous. Rather, it creates a delay and a breathing space for the wicked to repent (cf. 2 Pet 3:9-10).

John Walton, on whose interpretation my reflections here are based, sums up the issue well.

In this chapter we discover another way in which Abraham’s family will serve as a channel of grace: Their presence as a righteous minority in a wicked world will still God’s hand of destruction. But the issue is not necessarily simply a question of “acquit or destroy” – more subtly, it may involve the question of “now or later.” When does God decide that no more time will be given for reform?

If there were fifty righteous, would God spare the city for a time to see if that righteous minority could have an impact in the city and turn it around? What opportunity will be given for the minority to bring about change? How small can the minority be and still be allowed to have an impact? This is an important issue for Abraham to explore because his family is to be that righteous minority among the nations, with Sodom standing as a representative microcosm.[2]

Like Abraham in a sea of Gentiles, we may wonder today what impact we might have in the world that is increasingly disinterested if not downright hostile to our faith. Do we live lives that stand out among our contemporaries as being different and yielding the fruit of joy, peace and love? Or do we feed from the same trough as the world, seeking happiness in the same sorts of things that others do? Our blessings from God will not necessarily be material but when our fulfilment comes from Him and the relationship with Him, people will notice a difference in the quality of our lives. We do not know why Abraham’s conversation with God stops at ten people (God simply leaves after He responds to Abraham, Gen 18:32-33), but the point is that even a tiny minority can make a difference. Our life matters when we live it for God.

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[1] God’s justice in this world is not always so clear-cut, of course. Even in the Bible, the righteous may be caught up in the judgment on the wicked, such as the godly people who went into exile with Judah. Natural disasters, as well as human evil (murder, wars, etc.) can claim the lives of the innocent as well as the guilty, so that even if these are not directly God’s judgment, the simple scheme of ‘the righteous will prosper and the wicked will perish’ is not straightforward in this life. Nevertheless, our passage affirms God’s justice, even if we will only see this fully in the end. In the meantime, we trust God’s wisdom that the suffering of the godly is not in vain and that God knows what is happening and can work all things for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28).

[2] John H. Walton, Genesis, NIVAC, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 482-483.

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