An Aversion to Private Confession and Absolution and the Forgiveness Spoken to Us by Every Christian
To ponder…from a book that if you don’t have, you simply must have.
"Many upright Lutherans have an aversion to private confession and absolution. This is because, first of all, they regard its institution partly as something new and partly as a return to papal institutions. But this is not true. Private confession was in use long before the rise of the papacy, and until the 18th century, it existed in all Lutheran congregations in all countries. Only a few enthusiasts openly rejected it, and only after the Rationalists (that is, the preachers of reason of the new age) had increased in the Lutheran churches was private confession abolished and the general confession introduced in its place.
"A second reason why so many inveigh against private confession derives from their belief that the Christian Church does not have the power to forgive sins on earth. These individuals have become just like the Pharisees, who, after hearing of One who forgives sin, thought, “This Man is blaspheming!” (Matthew 9:3), for “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). Either such people do not believe in God’s Word or they do not consider that forgiving sins in their own name and in the name of God are two different things. In His own name, of course, only Christ could speak the absolution, for only to Him did God say, “Sit at My right hand” (Psalm 110:1), but in God’s and Christ’s name, the servants of the Church also loose and bind, for Christ Himself has commanded them to do so. Therefore, Saint Paul offers the words of today’s text. What further proof does one need?
"A third reason why so many fail to recognize the special comfort that lies in private absolution is that they do not vividly recognize their sins. They may say: “I have no need of this. I can sufficiently comfort myself with the general absolution.” However, is it not possible that a true Christian would not at times be so weighed down by his sins that from his heart he would gladly hear the voice, “your sins are forgiven you”? Or are there today Christians with the kind of strong faith that people sought in vain at the time of the Reformation? Indeed, is there anything more lacking today than strong faith? Everyone who wants to be sufficiently comforted should examine himself closely to see if this contentment has arisen from the strength of his faith or if it has resulted from his own disregard for his sins. It is no wonder that thoughtless Christians do not desire private absolution. The wounds of their sins do not burn them, and thus they do not desire the soothing balm.
"A fourth reason why so many do not want to use private confession is because it was not generally introduced into the contemporary Church. Instead, private absolution was granted mostly to gross sinners who returned penitent. “Therefore,” one may say, “is not every Christian free to use or not to use the human institution of seeking private absolution before every use of the Holy Supper?” This is truly a part of Christian freedom. Therefore, no Christian should and can be compelled. But we might well ask ourselves if that which a person can do is also godly.
"A fifth and final reason why so many oppose the use of private absolution is because they suppose that it must be preceded by a detailed confession of their sins. “How,” they say, “should I uncover to a man the secrets of my heart, in whose experience or honesty I perhaps have no confidence at all? Must I not fear that a dishonest father confessor would misuse my confession?” There is no demand that the special absolution be preceded by a special confession of sin. Does not Christ absolve the paralytic without such a confession? Was it not enough for Him that the paralytic came to Him as a poor sinner with a believing heart? In the same way, an enumeration of sins is never demanded by a right-believing servant of Christ. Indeed, it is forbidden, as the words of the 25th article of the Augsburg Confession make clear: “And it is taught about confession, that one should not compel anyone to specify the sins.”
Note also:
"It is not appropriate for a person to fold his hands in his lap and say, “Now then, if the absolution was so richly poured out for us, if the whole world is full of it, we have nothing else to do but to enjoy this and to hope for heaven.” That is not so! What would it help a prisoner if he heard that he is pardoned but then refused to leave the prison and exercise his freedom? It would not help him at all. So it is with the forgiveness of sins, which can be spoken to us both by every preacher of the Gospel and by every Christian. If we want to use this forgiveness rightly, we must depart from the prison of our sins. We do this by heartily accepting our absolution, by comforting our self in it. In other words, it is by maintaining a firm and certain faith. If we hear the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, let us believe that this preaching is God’s forgiveness for us. If we hear a Christian comforting us with the forgiveness of sins, let us accept this as God’s comfort. If a servant of the Gospel speaks forgiveness to us, let us receive this as a word from God Himself."
Source:
CFW Walther
God Grant It
CPH: 2006, p. 787-789, 792-293
My pastor has on several occasions, when extolling the virtues of private confession and absolution, remarked to the congregation, somewhat offhandedly and a little sardonically, how those offering him private confession are often less than specific.
‘I lied’ they tell me. ‘I gossiped.’
Well, having been one who’d made just such a confession, in just such words, I felt I’d probably not done the proper corrective for my sin; that Pastor was less than pleased with my effort, that his absolution had perhaps been, if not conditional, less than heartfelt. As if he had less faith in that particular moment of absolution than I did. And that maybe I wasn’t sincerely confessing after all and just playing a game, or flirting with possibilities.
This is not to indict my pastor of anything, but just to say that private confession remains a hard thing, but only because we make it so.
When I have introduced individual confession and absolution at my present church, I, also, was met by stern objections…yes, some of them theological as in the citation from the book. But also,the theological fueled possibly by the personal and sociological. My staff (my wife, a retired colleague and an active colleague) all said to me the same thing after one particularly long discussion in a Bible study: “They(church members) don’t want you to find out exactly the wrong they have done.” In spite of my assurances of confidentiality: they know that I know they are sinners (as I am), but they don’t want the pastor know how much and with whom. As the retired colleague said to me,”They think you’ll be in bed with your wife discussing what they said.”
As a member of a congregration I experienced private confession and absolution when I was at a stuck point in the middle of a divorce. My pastor counseled me on a somewhat regular basis and suggested private confession. At that time (1987) I didn’t know Lutherans did that –thought it was Roman Catholic thing. I was skeptical about the whole thing — but decided to give it a try. I made my list of things that I had done that contributed to the problems in our marriage and we used the order for private confession and absolution. It was very hard to read through my list, but when my pastor pronounced absolution it was very powerful. It was one of the most important things I could have done. I am so gratefully to my wise pastor. The marriage ended, but in looking backward it was good that I did it. The sins are not forgotten, but they are forgiven. My pastor at the time was an ELCA pastor — I’ve since moved on the LCMS.
Walther is quite on the mark here. There are, of course, other reasons why people do not avail themselves of the personal form of absolution – shame, embarrassment, the pride of the old Adam (Loehe had some interesting things to say about this one), mistrust of the pastor or church institutions in general.
The best ambassadors for personal absolution are penitents who regularly use it, not the pastors, as the exhortation to come to confession can sound self-serving coming from the pastor.
Another problem is that many pastors are not regular penitents themselves and do not practice this discipline with a confessor. (This leads to remarks like the one cited above.) Kenneth Korby remarked that one cannot be a confessor without first being a penitent. These are wise words. Sadly, our judicatories do not provide confessors for our pastors. The local Roman priest in town told me that they have monastic priests, not under the jurisdiction of the bishop, assigned to hear the confessions of parish priests. We Lutheran pastors are left to our own devices to find suitable confessors, either in fellow pastors or in ministers outside of our synodical judicatory.
Ditto about private confession and absolution.
But also about “God Grant It”.
What a magnificent daily devotional. Every day, it directly addresses something going on with me, or something going on in Lutheranism as if it were written yesterday, or something I ought to be thinking about but was not.
It’s right up there with my ESV (Concordia Edition of course!) and BOC (“McCain” edition of course!) and the 1943 and 1991 synodical LC editions (I particularly like the illustrations in the current 2005 edition) on my “desert island” list of books (list of books I’d take to a desert island ie most important to me).
Now if only CPH could publish “Three Treatises” — an old volume from Fortress with Babylonian Captivity, Christian Nobility, and Freedom of a Christian.
Hopefully my kids will have their “My First Catechism” on their desert island lists. I became Lutheran a little late for that, at age 46. My childhood catechism was the Baltimore Catechism!
Rev. Cwirla,
You are quite right in saying, “The best ambassadors for personal absolution are penitents who regularly use it.” One of your people (some guy from Brasil) has been encouraging me to take up this practice, and he’s pretty convincing. Lifelong Lutheran that I am, I’m close to seeking out private confession and absolution for the first time.
For all:
Here is a helpful overview of private confession and absolution, with FAQ, by Rev. Cwirla: http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/9012.htm