NOTES for Gen 7:11-24

What can a righteous person do? And what is righteousness worth? On the one hand, he can do little, almost nothing. In any case, Noah is not able to stop the flood; events take their course. He was, of course, able to build the ark, but without God's direct instruction it would not have occurred to him, just as nothing of the kind occurred to his contemporaries.

On the other hand, it is precisely through Noah and his ark that the world is saved. This is not about the former world, which is passing away forever, but about a new world whose history will begin after the flood. This is probably the task of the righteous and the role of righteousness. No righteous person can prevent a catastrophe produced by human sinfulness; that is simply beyond human power. But a righteous person can give a chance at new life to those who trust him and follow him, a chance that certainly does not guarantee that the new world will become ideal, but at least guarantees everyone who has to live in it the possibility of making one more attempt to live life as God commands.

This chance, however, is not something the righteous person gives on his own, but together with God. Strictly speaking, it is God who gives the world another chance through the righteous person, using human righteousness as an instrument for achieving His purposes. Of course, He could have done everything Himself. But He created the human person so that the human person would become His helper. And He takes this absolutely seriously. Therefore, even to save the world, He needs at least one righteous person. More would be better, of course. But less than one will not do.