What is public confession?

If brothers or sisters in faith have fallen into manifest sin, it is necessary that they receive spiritual care and that the resulting offense to the congregation be removed. If they have not in any other way come to a knowledge of their sin and its damning nature, the pastor must lead them to this knowledge. When they come to a knowledge of their sins, the pastor pronounces God’s and the congregation’s forgiveness to them, and receives them as beloved brothers or sisters in faith back into the fellowship of the other pardoned children of God.

1 Tim. 5:20: Them that sin, rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

2 Sam. 12:13: David said unto Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David: The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

What is general confession?

General confession takes place in connection with the worship service of the congregation, when we join our fellow-believers in the confession of sins and then hear the pronouncement of the absolution.

What is private confession before the pastor?

In private conession we can confess our sins and everything that is pressing heavily upon our heart to God in the presence of the pastor. We receive pastoral advice, the comfort of God’s Word and, above all, absolution. This type of confession is a voluntary matter. We may use it also when no particular sin is causing us distress. But it offers great comfort especially to the sin-burdened soul. It must be available in the congregation at all times.

Matt. 9:2: Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.

Luther: “Where, therefore, there is a heart, that is aware of its sin, and longs for comfort, such a heart has a sure refuge in confession. In confession it finds and hears God’s Word, as God, through men, frees it from sin.”

Assignment: Read from the Small Catechsim, Luther’s brief instruction concerning the use of private confession.

What is the confession of love before our neighbor?

Before our neighbor we must confess those sins with which we have sinned against him, and ask his forgiveness. If we do not want to do this, we are not truly sorry for our sins before God either.

James 5:16: Confess your faults one to another.

Matt. 5:23-25: Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Luther: “The first confession occurs before God... the second confession occurs before our neighbor and is a confession of love, whereas the first, on the other hand, is a confession of faith. As it is written in the Epistle of James: ‘Confess your faults one to another.’ (James 5:16) In the confession of love, he who has sinned against his neighbor, must confess his sin to his neighbor, as Christ says: (Matt. 5:23-25, see above). Here Christ makes a demand to both parties: He who has offended, must seek forgiveness, and he, who has been offended, must forgive. This confession too is necessary and commanded by God, as is the other. For God does not want to be gracious or forgive sins to anyone, who does not forgive his neighbor. So too faith cannot be genuine, unless it produces the fruit of forgiveness and of asking for forgiveness. Otherwise a person cannot come before God. If this fruit is lacking, neither faith nor the first confession is genuine.” (Sermon on Confession and the Sacraments, 1524).

What do we mean by continuous confession before God?

By continuous confession before God we mean, that we are always before God, and confess that we are continually guilty of all sins, even those of which we are unaware; we pray for forgiveness and in faith accept forgiveness on the basis of God’s promises of grace, even though omeone else does not proclaim it to us. In other types of confessions, a person is also before God.

Ps. 32:5: I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

Ps. 19:12: Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.

How many kinds of Confession are there?

There are five kinds of confession: continuous confession before God, the confession of love before our neighbor, private confession before the pastor, the public or general confession in the worship service, and the public confession of manifest sinners before the congregation.

Do hypocrites, who hear the absolution, receive forgiveness for their sins?

It is possible that hypocrites are present when the absolution is pronounced, for a pastor cannot see into a person’s heart. God alone knows them. But a hypocrite does not receive forgiveness for himself, because he does not through faith accept the grace offered and pronounced to him. The absolution is not automatically effective without faith.

Heb. 4:2: Unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Is. 62:10: Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

May some other Christian besides the pastor grant the absolution?

Yes, especially in an exceptional situation. However, it is the pastor’s duty, on the basis of his office in the congregation, to hear the confession of manifest sinners and to grant them absolution.

Do we receive forgiveness of sins if the pastor is an unbeliever?

Yes, we do. For even though the good will of God is that the pastor be a believer, in receiving the absolution, we must not think of the pastor’s faith and the condition of his heart, but must rather concentrate on the words of absolution and believe them. For because of his call, a pastor does not represent his own person, but Christ.

2 Tim. 2:9: The Word of God is not bound.

Can a pastor forgive sins?

What is Confession? Confession embraces two parts. One is that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution, or forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, and in no wise doubt, but firmly believe, that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven. What sins should we confess? Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even of those which we do not know, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess those sins only which we know and feel in our hearts? What are they? Here consider your station according to the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, servant; whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, slothful; whether you have grieved any person by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, or wasted aught, or done other injury.

Only God has the power and authority to forgive sins, but because a pastor serves as God’s instrument, God Himself acts through his office. A pastor, therefore, grants the absolution on the basis of Christ’s completed work of atonement, by God’s command.

2 Cor. 5:20: We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us.