The revelation by the European Union that corruption and bribery is rife in Europe has come as a shock to many. But it ought not to be a surprise to anyone who takes the Bible seriously.
I remember being shocked the first time I came across this. I worked as a journalist reporting on Middle-East affairs for many years, and stories of bribery and corruption in contracts with Arab states were rife - and often hilarious. One evening I asked a businessman who specialised in medical equipment which country he thought was the worst for corruption. I expected him to mention somewhere in Africa or the Middle East.
"Germany" was his instant, unqualified response.
When I pressed him further, he described in detail the massive bribes he had to pay regularly across European countries to sell his life-saving machines into private and state-owned hospitals. And it wasn't just the scale of corruption that shocked me, it was the shrug-of-the-shoulder acceptance that the practice had among many of the others I interviewed on this subject back in the 1980s. It would be great to think that democracy, law, and news reporting has removed the corrupt from positions of power and influence. It clearly has not.
The fact that I was dumbfounded said more about my innocence in this regard. An innocence shared widely in our culture, I suspect - where we assume that this kind of stuff happens in distant lands, not closer to home. Wrong.
Bribery and corruption on a social level are roundly condemned in the Scriptures:
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. - Exodus 23:8.
Those who rail and fight against corruption will always be fighting a losing battle, because that is the nature of our fallen world. Paul tells us that creation is in bondage to corruption (Romans 8:21) - it is the inevitable decay that comes when we cut ourselves off from the only source of life and health - the Living God. We will always have corrupt politicians, businessmen, police forces, public servants and journalists. Yes, we want to fight against bribery and corruption, because it is loving to do so. The injustice, poverty and blindness it brings with it are corrosive to our lives. But as believers we know it can never be cured. Instead, we know that the gospel is the ultimate freedom, and the liberty and freedom we crave will only find their full flower in the new creation.
...the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. - Romans 8:21
Tim Thornborough is the founder and Publishing Director of The Good Book Company. He is series editor of Explore Bible-reading notes, the author of The Very Best Bible Stories series, and has contributed to many books published by The Good Book Company and others. Tim is married to Kathy, and they have three adult daughters.
