The Lutheran Confessions and Luther on Sacramental Confession and Absolution
“I will let no one take away private confession and would not exchange it for all the wealth of the world, for I know what strength and comfort it has given me.” - Luther On Confession
“Of private confession, which is now observed, I am heartily in favor, even though it cannot be proved from the Scriptures; it is useful and necessary, nor would I have it abolished; nay, I rejoice that it exists in the Church of Christ, for it is a cure without equal for distressed consciences.” Luther, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church
“We keep this method that a penitent relates certain sins that bother him the most. Even if thousands and thousands of worlds belonged to me, I would lose everything rather than give up the smallest part of confession in the church. Yes, rather would I accept the Papal tyranny on Fasts, Celebrations, Vestments, Cities, Plates, and Hats and whatever I could bear without destruction of the faith than that confession should be taken from the Christians.” - Luther, Warning to Certain People in Frankfurt am Main
“Private absolution is thus as necessary as baptism,” - Melancthon, Loci
Augustana XI: “Of confession they teach that Private Absolution ought to be retained in the churches, although in confession the enumeration of all sins is not necessary.”
Augustana XXV: “Confession in the churches is not abolished among us … Our people are taught that they should highly prize the absolution as being the voice of God, and pronounced by God’s command.” Again, “Confession is of human right only (not commanded by scripture, but ordained by the Church). Nevertheless, on account of the great benefit of absolution, and because it is otherwise useful to the conscience, Confession is retained among us.
Apology XI: “Certainly most men in our churches use the Sacraments, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper frequently in the year … These things are thus done both according to the gospel and according to the canons.
Apology VI: “For we also retain confession, especially on account of the absolution, as being the word of God which, by divine authority, the power of the keys pronounced upon individuals. Therefore it would be wicked to remove private absolution from the church. Neither do they understand what the remission of sins or the power of the keys is, if there are any who despise private absolution.
Apology XIII: “Therefore Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution, which is the Sacrament of Repentance, are truly Sacraments. For these rites have God’s command and the promise of grace, which is peculiar to the New Testament.”
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This is one of the three main reasons why left the Lutheran Church. How can Lutheran pastors swear to uphold the Augsburg Confession and the Catechisms–and believe that they keep it–when the grand majority of lay Lutherans have no idea what confession is (or, worse yet, think that the Brief Order is a suitable replacement…)?
Exactly. We are now advertising time to hear confessions as well as reminding people that they can schedule appointments for private confessions. Hopefully this will help, at least in this parish.
Although I’ve been a Lutheran my entire life (28 years), I don’t think I’ve ever experienced private confession. But I’ve always been a little curious about the process. How does one arrange for confession? When is it done? Is the script similar to the Catholic version? So many questions…
Incidentally, it also appears that private confession is on the decline in the Catholic world. See the following link: http://www.slate.com/id/2130589/
Is this a follow up on the last post?
But seriously, sacramental confession can be so important, and frankly, goes hand in hand with a lot of the healing in my own life.
What’s the history with the decline in the practice of private confession in Lutheranism? Was it practiced in Lutheran churches post-Reformation? Or, 25 years after Luther and the CA, was private confession essentially gone from Lutheran practice?
Interesting quotes. They made me wonder what would happen in this feel-good age if confession was reinstituted in the Lutheran Church. Do the WELS and LCMS still have “announcing” for communion? IF so, are people encouraged to “confess?”
More importantly, we need to hear the words of forgiveness and hear them as if they are meant for our ears alone.
This is why I am both hot and cold on liturgy. We NEED to do/say the parts of the liturgy and hear/receive what the pastor says that God in Christ has to say to us. YET when we do the same liturgy over and over, it can become rote or too comforting without being challenging first.
Sometimes our church has used a contemporary liturgy, not from any hymnal, but other sources. Sometimes that leads me to hear the same thoughts with fresh words and new ears. OTOH, sometimes these have contained a confession that states sins that I don’t think I have done. I don’t like to be surprised about what I am “confessing.”
One of my beefs with the Brief Order is that most pastors I’ve heard gove the congregation about 5 seconds of silence to consider their sins and misdeeds. C’mon–that’s barely enough time to warm up with some petty venial sins let alone getting into the good ones!
Before we bring back personal confession and absolution, I’d like some good teaching about sin in the first place. What kind of sins are we talking about?
I could fill more pages than the Encyclopedia Britanica with my sins - things done, things left undone, things done on my behalf by my government against which I haven’t protested, sinful systems that give benefit to white, educated guys like me just because we’re white educated guys, etc. etc.. In this sense, I like well-written corporate confessions that vary their articulation of sin, allowing us to reflect upon and confess sin in its variety. Perhaps a relationship with a confessor can do this, but . . .
On the necessity of sacramental confession from an evangelical-catholic Lutheran perspective, I commend to you this citation from Robert W. Jenson