Saving the Bad for the Good?

Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" - Genesis 18:23-25

In a bold stance on behalf of a people he has saved before (see Gen. 14), Abraham presents an interesting stream of logic to the Lord. His train of thought is something like this:

1. Sweeping away the righteous with the wicked is wrong, because...

2. Treating the righteous and wicked alike is wrong. THEREFORE,

3. Don't judge the city. Which is really,

(4. Treating the righteous and wicked alike.)

The merciful irony of this is that God will not destroy the righteous because of the wicked, but will save the wicked because of the righteous. What a glorious double standard! And we, broken failures, are so prone to dismiss someone because of a single flaw. We throw out all the good because of the bad. O, I don't like the way she dresses. I hate the way he is so full of himself. Why don't we go with God on this one and let the good outweigh the bad.

After all, He did it for us in Christ Jesus.