When you can do good, defer it not, because “alms delivers from death.” — Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians 10
I would refer you to what Paul said of giving/remembering the poor. Could Polycarp be referring to alms can prevent starvation? Could Polycarp be referring to the Bema Seat of Christ in Heaven?
Paul taught and the Apostles wrote that clearly, faith/faithing in Jesus as Savior saves from spiritual death, that fiathing in Jesus results in being born from above.
The book of the Acts of the Apostles records clearly that upon believing in Jesus as Whom God has sent for our Salvation, these were immediately born from above, not saved later after striving to be worthy of God's Grace. To infer one must in any way earn that Grace is to insult the Gift of Jesus for when we are Saved by His Sacrifice it is He Who is due all the glory, not any act by us, so alms do not save a Saved, born from above member of the Ekklesia.
Therefore, search for another way to understand that passage, because Polycarp was directly taught by John and would not place any salvific value in behaviors, just the Grace of God in Christ. Polycarp's trust in this salvific reality was so great that as an old man he WALKED from Smyrna to Rome to oppose the heresies arising there and defend keeping the Lords TAble celebrated on Nisan 14 and not changed to the pagan holiday observance that was done on the Sunday called then by the pagans, Easter.
Mary clarified it:
"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem,
no matter how difficult it is, wheter temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families...that cannot be solved by the Rosary.
There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."
Sister Lucia dos Santos
The 15 promises(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche)
1 Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces. 2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies 4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. 5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. 6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying Himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise Him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. 11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities. 13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death 14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15. Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Tobit is a spurious fantastic tale, with a a women, Sarah, who has lost seven husbands because Asmodeus, the demon of lust, and ‘the worst of demons’, abducts and kills every man she marries on their wedding night before the marriage can be consummated! (The women at the well had nothing on her.)
And about a man, Tobias, who was sleeping with his eyes open while birds dropped dung into in his eyes (sound sleeper!) and blinded him. And who later is attacked by a fish leaping out of the river to devour him! But Raphael has him capture it and later he burns the fish’s liver and heart to drive away the demon Asmodeus away to Upper Egypt, enabling him and Sarah to consummate his marriage. .
The officially approved NAB Bible says in its intro to Tobit that it is folklore, ass if that was not obvious, and in rejecting this, thank God, we have not followed "cunningly devised fables", "Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth." (Titus 1:14)
When you can do good, defer it not, because “alms delivers from death.” — Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians 10
In the sense that God may have mercy on a virtuous and penitent soul who does good,
The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: (2 Timothy 1:16)
But not as purchasing redemption:
Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. (Proverbs 11:4)
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. (Proverbs 10:2)
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) (Psalms 49:6-8)