And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18,23.25)
Abraham was bound to Sodom by two events. He once went on his first (and probably last) military campaign for the city. He remembered God's help, confirmed by the arrival of the mysterious messenger Melchizedek, the humble plea of the king of Sodom, when the whole city lay at Abraham's feet as a spoil of war, with its wealth which he had refused to allow to become rich. And now he was bound to it for the second time through the fate of his nephew Lot. The one who had once chosen the better part, without showing him the least natural respect, but nevertheless his kinsman, the inhabitant of Sodom, for whose sake he would again try to do something to save the city. But to deliver the city from the invaders is different from wresting it from the judgmental hand of the living God...
And now Abraham paused, became quiet, inwardly composed, and spoke to the Lord. But it was not an overload of words, explanations and requests as to what should happen and how. Abraham decided to urge God. Whenever we want to urge someone, we must be inwardly convinced that there is a real basis, some fact or quality about the person that will make it work. Otherwise, we would have to remain in the position of supplicant, waiting to see if perhaps the other party would have mercy, but having no certainty of it beforehand.
Not so Abraham! Notice with what a strong appeal he approaches God here. One cannot help but ask the question: and who actually told Abraham that his God was righteous? And that this righteousness is so inseparable a part of God's nature that Abraham can count on it as an absolute given, the basis of God's action? For if God is God, he can do anything, and no one can call him to account. There were then and are now religions in the world that worship gods of evil!
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Abraham had no one beside him to teach him and was theologically one step ahead of him. No one he could ask when he was in doubt. All his knowledge of God was based on revelation accompanied by personal experience. And yet he came to the unwavering realization that his God was - unlike the surrounding models - the sovereign, universal ruler of the whole earth and did not stand in a line with the other "gods" of the world. As we have already mentioned, there is a spiritual Law that the revelation of God in a person's life grows as he or she walks in God's path, and, conversely, shrouds itself in a veil of dust when one strays from it. This is also why we can be sure of Abraham's pursuit of God - it is obvious that he is being revealed more and more about God.
Our God is "the God of Abraham..." and therefore God, the Judge of all the earth. Therefore, even when we come to know "the mystery that is Christ" (Col. 2:2), we do not thereby become primarily Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist, or Pentecostal. Either we have come to know the one, true God or we have not, embracing in essence the one, universally valid religion (albeit temporarily clothed in the garb of a denomination) or just one of many false religions. There is nothing in between.
