Do these verses mean you can buy your way into Heaven?

Question

I have been looking through the deuterocanonicals a bit. The verses here in Tobit seem to say you can buy forgiveness of sins. Is that how it reads to you?

Tobit 4:11 For alms deliver from all sin, and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness.
Tob 4:12 Alms shall be a great confidence before the most high God, to all them that give it.

Tobit 12:9 For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting.

Answer 1

Jesus already paid.So that's all in vain.

Answer 2

Only if your definition of alms is very narrow and is a financial term.

But that is inaccurate.

An alm is a good work performed in cooperation with God's grace. No work is good unless God's grace works it in us. And yes, we cooperate with God to bring forth fruit in good works that can save us and others.

Protestants misunderstand Catholic teaching and are fighting a straw man. "Buying your way into Heaven" was an abuse at the time of the Reformation. It was not and never has been a Catholic teaching.

The sinful practices of men needing reforming - not the doctrines of the Church.

And by the way, the Protestants here have no knowledge of bible history and the reason those books are part of the official canon. They were included by the earliest Christians and it was the misguided reformers who took them out simply because the Jews did not include them.

Answer 3

Alms or almsgiving exists in a number of religions. In general, it involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.

I see 2 meanings in this scripture:
-To play with Tobit 4:11 a bit, Christ delivered us from sin and from death not suffering our souls to go into darkness... by giving up his material body to his crucifiers.

-Alms represent charity given beyond standard tithing, going beyond financial aspects. We all agree that salvation comes through faith in Christ, but faith is the motivator in all that we do. Charity is a fruit of the spirit and an outward sign of our faith being exercised that strengthens us spiritually in the process.

Either way, as Simon the magician learned, the wonders of God cannot be bought by filthy lucre.

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Side note to all answerers:
Whether your church accepts the Apocryphal books as scripture or not, they and other doctrinally loaded works, ie. the Shepherd of Hermas, are good reading to understand early Christian philosophy and doctrine. Heck, Columbus' journey to the new world was inspired by a passage that he read in Esdras!
No one should discourage the study of the faith or canon of another. It promotes mutual understanding.

Answer 4

Actually, charitable work, including giving alms, is part of the Christian way, which does deliver us from sin and death.

Matt 25:34: "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Jesus taught that charitable work was an essential requirement of Christians to "take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world."

Tobit is good teaching, like the rest of the Bible. As Paul wrote, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Pretty shocking to see the Protestants here throwing out the books in the Old Testament that don't support their false gospel of faith alone.

James 2:24: "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 5

I guess it depends on your definition of alms, and whose alms those verses are talking about. It seems that they can be read either that the alms you give will deliver you from sin and death, or that alms given for you i.e. Jesus Christ's ultimate sacrifice, will deliver from sin and death

Answer 6

Alms given, through the grace of God, deliver us from sin.

That is not buying salvation. It is depending upon the grace of God and aplying His salvific work on the cross to sinners.

Note to those who made uninformed comments about the "Apocrypha": The New Testament frequently cites deuterocanonical scriptures. Originally ALL Christians had the same Old Testament canon (list of books), the Greek version of the Jewish Scriptures known as the "Septuagint." Martin Luther first separated and later removed these from his German version of the Bible in 1534 and called them "apocrypha," since he determined they should not be part of the canon of Scripture. That's right HE determined - one man who could not claim to be under the guidance or inspiration of the Holy Spirit - as the early Church clearly was when she assembled the canon.

Whose word will you take? A fallible man like Luther - or the Church which Jesus Christ established and promised would be "the pillar and foundation of truth."

Pax Vobiscum+

Answer 7

Regardless of these verses, they are pre-New Testament. Why is this important? Because in pre-New Testament, there are still attempts to use substitution, sacrifice, and justification to recify man's position with God. With the advent of Christ, ALL previous practices to justify mankind to God was "satisfied" in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. He didn't "nullify" the need for justification, He SATISFIED it, completely and totally.

Quote ALL you want, but know that after Jesus' gift of salvation on the cross, there is then only ONE way, ONE avenue to salvation, and that is through Jesus.


Have a blessed day.

Answer 8

The OT Apocrypha, or "deuterocanonicals" were never considered "scripture" by the Jews. Their inclusion in "catholic Bibles" is essentially an accident of history. The books had been bundled with the Old Testament books when they were translated into Greek 1 to 2 centuries before the birth of Jesus. The Greek "Old Testament," called the Septuagint and denoted "LXX," later became the primary basis for Jerome's Latin Vulgate, the "official" Bible of catholicism.

Answer 9

No, paying for heaven is possible. Jesus is the only Way. Better stay with the Truth.

Answer 10

john 14:6 say's: Jesus speaking " I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto to the Father but by me".

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works, lest any man shall boast.

So, nobody can earn salvation, neither with money, nor by doing good deeds.

Answer 11

Tobit is apocryphal

"Peter told Simon, "May your money be destroyed with you because you thought you could buy God's gift!"
- Acts 8:20