As we continue to look at worship—what it is and why we do what we do when we gather on Sunday mornings—we now come to the confession of sins. Our corporate confession and absolution (just a fancy word for “forgiveness”) is the briefest snapshot of what worship is all about. It is poor sinners confessing their sins and receiving God’s forgiveness.
We confess to God two main categories of sin: original sin and actual sin. First we confess, “We are by nature sinful and unclean.” This is what we call “original sin.” It is what we inherited from Adam. We are sinful from birth—even from conception—and there is nothing we can do about it. In biblical language, we are “by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).
But there is more to our guilt than just original sin. Our sinful condition leads us to commit actual sins. And we subdivide actual sin into three categories when we confess, “We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed.” These three subcategories of actual sin cover all the specific sins that trouble our consciences. As we pray this confession together, you can place those specific sins that you know in your heart into these categories.
So we confess to God the reality that we are poor sinners. But confession is not self-deprecation. According to the catechism (which I hope some of you still remember at least a little bit),
“Confession consists of two parts: the one is that we confess our sins; the other, that we receive absolution or forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself, in no way doubting, but firmly believing that our sins are thereby forgiven before God in heaven.”
You may think that sounds too Roman Catholic, especially the part about receiving forgiveness from the pastor. I admit, the first time I read this as an adult, I thought the same thing. In junior high, when I was required to read and memorize it in confirmation class, I didn’t think much of it at all (the only things I thought much about then were sports, cars, and fighter jets). But when I read it again for the very first time, I thought, “Wait a minute. Only God can forgive sins.” And this statement troubled me until I understood it in light of John 20:23.
On the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection, he came and appeared to his disciples,[1] and he sent them out as preachers of his Gospel, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:22-23; cf., Matt. 16:19, 18:18).
It is true that only God can forgive sins. Jesus is the only person who was crucified and raised for our justification. But here we see that he gave to his Church the authority and responsibility to proclaim that forgiveness to individual people, not as a mere possibility, but as a reality. When pastors (or any other Christians) declare to you the forgiveness of your sins, they speak not on their own authority, but on Christ’s authority.
This gift of absolution, which follows the confession of sin, is a gracious gift from Christ to his saints so that we might have confidence that the atonement of Jesus Christ is for us. When you hear Christ’s words to you, you know that your sins are forgiven.
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Pastor Dan
P.S. Since we confess our sins in a very general way during public confession, there may be specific sins that still trouble your conscience. For this reason, we also retain the practice of private confession. But our practice is different than in Roman Catholicism. We don’t have a booth, I won’t prescribe works of penance for you to pay off your sins, and it is not mandatory.
You can come to church at your convenience. I am typically in the office Tuesday-Friday, I do some visitation in the afternoons, but I am often in the office too. You can also make an appointment to fit your schedule. Call, email, or text me at any time.
If you come for private confession, this is what will happen: We will go up to the chancel. I will have you kneel (a posture of humility before God), and I will stand behind the altar rail. I will give you something you can read as your confession, or you can use your own words. You can name specific sins or be as general as you want. Then I will forgive your sins in the name of Jesus, and never speak a word of it to anyone.
[1] Comparing John 20:19-23 with Luke 24:33-39, we see that it was more than just the eleven disciples present when Jesus appeared to them. This is an important indication that Jesus gave this commission not just to the apostles, but to all his disciples. It was a commission for the Christian Church.