The Salvific Efficacy of Almsgiving in Early Christianity

While attempting (lamely) to try to find patristic support for Lutheran soteriology, Peter Daniel Fawcett wrote that:

The difficulty presented in attempting to find Lutheran soteriology is not one of sacramentology or eschatology; . . . The true difficulty lies in attempting to find the doctrine of justification by faith alone and in dealing with the seemingly excessive amount of confidence that is placed in good works. For example, in his treatise Works and Almsgiving, Cyprian speaks of almsgiving a way of safeguarding salvation:

 

The infirmity of human frailty would have no resource nor accomplish anything, unless again divine goodness came to the rescues and by pointing out the works of justice and mercy opened a way to safeguard salvation, so that by almsgiving we may wash away whatever pollutions we later contract. (Cyprian, Work and Almsgiving, in Saint Cyprian: Treatises, trans. Roy J. Deferrari [Washington, DC: The Catholic University of American Press, 1958], p. 228)

 

He then quotes Proverbs, saying that “by alms and faith sins are cleansed” (Prov. 16:6). Ambrose takes this language even further, saying

 

We have more resources by which we may redeem our sins. You have money; redeem your sins. It is not that the Lord can be bought and sold. No, you yourself are venal and have sold yourself to your sins. Therefore, redeem yourself with your deeds and with your money, for sins are redeemed by almsgiving. (Martin Chemnitz, “On Almsgiving,” trans. James A. Kellerman, LCMS.org). (Peter Daniel Fawcett, “’Payment for the Works of Charity’: Finding Lutheran Soteriology in the Early Church,” in Jordan Cooper and Matthew Fenn, eds., The Doctrine of Justification: Theological Essays from the Weidner Institute [The Weidner Institute, 2021], 161-80, here pp. 162-63)

 

The salvific efficacy of almsgiving pre-dates Cyprian (and Ambrose). Indeed, we find it in Polycarp.  In his Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 10 ("Exhortation to the practice of virtue") we read:

 

Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one. When you can do good, defer it not, because "alms delivers from death." Be all of you subject one to another "having your conduct blameless among the Gentiles," that ye may both receive praise for your good works, and the Lord may not be blasphemed through you. But woe to him by whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed! Teach, therefore, sobriety to all, and manifest it also in your own conduct. (ANF 1:35)

 

The note following the quotation in bold reads “Tobit iv. 10, Tobit xii. 9.” Let us quote from these texts from the book of Tobit:

 

For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness. (Tobit 4:10 NRSV)

 

For almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life. (Tobit 12:9)

 

There is a variation in the Greek of Tobit 12:9. The NETS (S) renders the verse as:

 

For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who practice almsgiving and righteousness will have fullness of life.

 

It is clear that Polycarp is teaching that almsgiving is an instrumental means of God purging away our sins, all the more strengthened by the use of Tobit which explicitly teaches this. This flies in the face of various formulations of Sola Fide!

In 1 Pet 4:8, we read:

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. (NRSV)

Commenting on the reception of this passage in early Christian texts, David Downs wrote the following about the Didascalia Apostolorum (c. AD 230):

Didascalia Apostolorum

A link between 1 Pet 4:8, the forgiveness of sins, and the provision of material assistance to the needy is also forged in the Didascalia Apostolorum. The material contained in this pseudonymous church order, probably of Syrian provenance, is extremely difficult to date, not least because it is a composite text, the result of a complex and lengthy editing process, a development finally completed in the third or fourth century. The relevant passage, Didacs. 2.3-4, articulate some of the necessary qualifications for the Christian bishop:

[2.3] And he [i.e., the bishop] should be examined to determine whether he is without blemish in the affair of the world, and also in his body, for it is written: “Observe that there be no blemish in him who stand up to be priest (Lev 21:17).” 2. He should also not be prone to anger, for the Lord says: “anger even destroys the wise” (Prov 15:1). And he should be merciful, compassionate and full of love, for the Lord says: “love covers a multitude of sins” (cf. 1 Pet 4:8). [2.4] And his hand should be stretched out to give, and he should be compassionate to the orphans together with the widows, and compassionate to the poor and to the stranger. He should be illustrious in his ministry and faithful in the ministry. He should have contrition in his soul, and not shame. And he should now who deserves to receive, 2. For if there is a widow who has possession, or has the means by which she might provide for the nourishment of her body, and another who, though not a widow, is in need, whether through sickness, or through raising children, or through bodily infirmity, it is to her that he should stretch forth his hand. 3. But if there should be someone who is dissolute, or drunken, or idle, and is in need of bodily nourishment, he is not worthy of charity, and not from the church. (2:3.1-2.4.3)

The virtues expected of a bishop include mercy, compassion, and love, the last of which evoke a citation of the phrase “love covers a multitude of sins.” Given the statement is attributed to “the Lord,” it is possible that the Didascalia Apostolorum is citing a Christian proverb, understood here as a dominical tradition, instead of 1 Pet 4:8. Nevertheless, the saying is related to the practice of merciful deeds for the needy, even if the notion that compassion for the poor redeems sin is not explicitly developed in this text: “And his hand should be stretched out to give, and he should be compassionate to the orphans together with the widows, and compassionate to the poor and to the stranger.” While it is not expressly stated that giving to the powerless and poor atones for sin, the act that this assertion immediately follows at citation of the saying “love covers a multitude of sins” makes the connection possible. At the very least, the bishop’s material care for the marginalized demonstrates that “he is without blemish in the affairs of the world.” (David J. Downs, Alms: Charity, Reward, and Atonement in Early Christianity [Waco, Tex: Baylor University Press, 2016], 191-92)

Cooper, Webster, White, Fawcett et al., can try their best to find various Protestant soteriologies in the patristics, but it is all doomed to exegetical failure.