For the Lord your God is
God of gods and Lord of lords,
the great God, mighty and awesome,
who is not partial and takes no bribe. Deuteronomy 10:17
Bribery was one of things that stirred Martin Luther and the Reformation.
But who was getting bribed?
Leaders in the Medieval church developed a theory. They figured that the Saints -- like Peter and Paul and James and John -- were so good, that they had extra goodness leftover when they died.
Now ... we know that we are saved by grace -- not works (see Rom 3:22ff and the rest of the New Testament). But their Medieval reckoning concluded that if it took, for example, 10,000 good works to get in heaven, these Saints were so good that they each had millions of left over.
They imagined it, therefore, as a bottomless treasure chest of blessings, and for a price -- a bribe -- you could buy some of a Saint's goodness and be forgiven.
It was a great money-making scheme.
It was not good theology.
God takes no bribes!
And it's more than that. Sin is so unholy that we can't bribe him with even a treasure chest full of our best works. There's only one way to God. Indeed, he provides the way. It is through his Son and our relationship with him through faith.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who has a treasure chest
-- not of good works, but of God's grace
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