Absolution and the Necessity of the Church

To most Protestants the Lutheran practice of public confession and absolution is either considered weird, unbiblical, too Catholic, or dangerous (or perhaps a combination of the above), but as I’ve asked various Lutheran pastors about the purpose of confession and absolution I’ve never received an answer that was weird, unbiblical, or too Catholic (in my estimation, that is). But every answer I’ve heard has been dangerous. It is the practice of nearly every confessional Lutheran parish to offer a prayer of confession following which the pastor publicly absolves the parishioners of their sins for Christ’s sake. Many Lutherans also observe the practice of private confession and absolution by confessing their sins to an elder or pastor and receiving absolution. The Book of Concord, referring to Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew 16, call this practice the “office of the keys.” Many who read this will no doubt wonder what right a pastor has to do this. Who is this man who thinks he can forgive sins? Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Admittedly, this is a provocative and daring practice, and in this sense the practice of absolution is dangerous. That forgiveness is placed into human hands is a powerful thing and one which can certainly lead to abuse. But the practice cannot remain significant while also avoiding the danger involved in it. Church should not be a “safe” place. That is, it must not be a lecture hall, where we are told all about God and what he can do. It must be a place where God is at work in and through his people, a place where the old self dies and the new self comes to life in Christ, a place of confrontation between God and sinners where real death and real resurrection occurs. If this describes what takes place in the church then it is certainly a dangerous place (As an aside, this point alone is sufficient to demonstrate why it is so asinine and glib for a pastor to wear a Hawaiian shirt and sandals to church). The work of forgiveness is the most dangerous work there is. The destructive wrath of God is removed from sinners, and all the love he has for his Son is poured out on them instead – right in front of us! This can hardly be called safe.

It is precisely because Christians recognize the danger involved in forgiveness that they often seek to domesticate God in the church. Pastors put forward a domesticated God when they simply talk about the forgiveness of God, and describe it to people without ever actually giving it to them. Out of fear that they might mishandle forgiveness, they consider it better just to leave the matter between God and the sinner and not get involved. With it’s message of encouraging the sinner to find forgiveness in private time with God (such as in an “altar call” or ”the sinner’s prayer”) the church has outsourced the work of forgiveness. We do not need a church that simply describes to us the forgiveness that can be found. People can more easily find this in a book, sermons downloaded on their iPod™ or conversations with Christian friends – all without getting dressed up or rearranging their Sunday morning schedule (and in my experience these three avenues have better described forgiveness than most of the sermons I’ve heard).

By simply announcing forgiveness found elsewhere the church works itself out of a job. It has chosen to “play it safe” with forgiveness and let the danger of mishandling it fall to the individual. But in doing so, the church becomes the one who mishandles forgiveness, and consequently reinforces the trend of privatized religion and personal spirituality. People simply don’t need a church that is only in the business of explaining and singing, and people are awakening to this realization in increasing number.

The apostles did not avoid the dangerous work of forgiving sin. Paul saw absolution as his business. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:18-20).

But forgiveness is not only the business of the apostles; forgiveness is our business, too. God has outsourced forgiveness to us, and we must be so bold as to forgive others as Christ’s ambassadors. The Corinthian church was the vehicle of God’s punishment (2 Cor 2:6) and fittingly they were the means of God’s forgiveness too (2:7). “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive”, says Paul (2:10). The authority to absolve sins did not die with the apostles. Christ makes clear that the office of the keys is neither the sole work of Peter nor exclusively that of the first-century apostles, but an ongoing responsibility of the church (Matt 18:18-20).

Certain scribes in Jesus’ day sought to make forgiveness a private affair and the work of God alone. When Jesus forgave a paralytic man all of his sins, they accused Christ of blasphemy, for “who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk 2:7). Jesus response to them was that forgiveness was within his jurisdiction. But he has also put forgiveness within the church’s jurisdiction as well. According to John, by virtue of the fact that we have the Spirit of God if we “forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if we withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld” (Jn 20:23). The keys to the kingdom belong to the church and this is a ministry that cannot be found in any book or audio sermon.

So why do Lutherans practice confession and absolution? For numerous reasons:

1. Without public absolution we treat sin as though it is an entirely private affair and only the business of the sinner. Our sin takes place in a community, thus it is fitting that our confession and pronouncement of forgiveness take place in community (Matt 18:15-20).
2. Absolution helps to ensure that we are mindful of our sin and confessing it regularly. It doesn’t take for granted that Christians are taking care of confession of sin on their own (1 Jn 1:9).
3. Absolution helps to ensure that we do not treat forgiveness as something that is available only outside the church but can’t be found in the church (2 Cor 5:18-20)
4. By neglecting absolution, we assume that people are strong enough to seek forgiveness. Absolution brings forgiveness to those who are so beaten down by sin that they can’t believe that they can be forgiven (Mk 2:1-5).
5. Absolution returns us to our baptism by declaring that a new life has come and we are not slaves to sin but alive to God. It reminds us that our identity is not in ourselves but in our union with Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom 6:3-6; 2 Cor 5:16-17).
6. Absolution ensures that we do not simply talk of the gospel triumphing over the law but that we actually see and experience the triumph of the gospel (2 Cor 2:5-11).

But the question remains, “Can’t someone be forgiven just by privately confessing to God?” Sure. But why would we want to limit it to that? This question betrays a minimalist understanding of confession and forgiveness. It seeks to get by on as little as possible rather than to seek as much forgiveness as possible. Those in need of forgiveness should run to any place where forgiveness can be found and not bark that they’re getting by on their own. We should not have as our goal to get by on as few means of forgiveness as possible but to rejoice in the abundance of God’s forgiveness. God has richly provided for our forgiveness, and only a heart of ingratitude balks at the abundance of it.

Perhaps when people discover that forgiveness can actually be found in the church, they will correspondingly discover the relevance of the church. In the meantime, however, Christ’s ambassadors must be so bold as to receive the same accusation spoken to the one they represent: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”