# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1846 05 02_S71
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

preacher, and have carried it on to this day by God's grace and help. . .

In sum, the sneaks and backstreet preachers are the devil's apostles, of whom St. Paul everywhere complains, "how they creep into houses and lead them astray, always teaching and yet never knowing what they are saying or what they assert." 2 Timothy 3:6. Therefore let the spiritual office be warned and admonished, let the temporal authority be warned and admonished, let everyone who is a Christian and is meant to be obedient be warned, that one should be on guard against them and not listen to them. Or whoever tolerates and listens to them should know that he is hearing the wretched devil himself in the flesh, speaking no differently than when he speaks out of a possessed person. I have done my part, and have also spoken of this above, on Psalm 82; I am excused. The blood of everyone who does not follow this good and faithful counsel be upon his own head.

Holy Absolution, Vindicated against the Slanders of the Methodists.
(Continued.)

A second objection commonly raised against the doctrine of the power of absolution is this, as Mr. Mulfinger presents it (crudely and clumsily enough): "How is it possible for an ignorant man to look into his fellow sinner's heart and test his sincerity and repentance, which is nevertheless necessary for the pronouncing of absolution?"

This objection proves nothing except that whoever raises it does not know what absolution is. For if absolution were the absolver's judgment on the spiritual state of the one confessing — namely, that he is now capable of, or worthy of, the forgiveness of his sins — or if absolution could only be a proclamation of something that had already taken place with God in heaven, then indeed whoever wished to pronounce such an absolution upon another would have to be able to see either into the heart of the one seeking absolution, or into the heart of God. But God's Word teaches nothing of such an absolution. Christ does not say: What I loose in heaven, that you shall also loose on earth; but rather the reverse: "Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven also."

In order to rightly grasp the true meaning of this doctrine, in its connection with the whole pattern of Christian teaching, we must consider the following. Christ, true God and true man in one person, died on the cross as the substitute for all sinners, and on the third day rose again from the dead. His death and his atonement were the death and atonement of all sinners; his return to life, and the justification thereby obtained, were the return to life and justification of all sinners. For thus speaks the holy apostle: "We conclude that if one died for all, then all died." 2 Corinthians 5:14. Further: "As through one man's sin condemnation came upon all men, so also through one man's righteousness the justification of life came upon all men. For as through one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also through one man's obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:18–19.

Through Christ's death and resurrection, therefore, the case of all sinners has now been made right with God; all sins are now blotted out; for all, reconciliation, forgiveness, righteousness, life, and salvation have been won. Nothing remains but that all should now also come into actual possession and enjoyment of this, and that it should now actually be appropriated to all, for whom an equal right to it has already been obtained. But all the treasures of grace are offered, delivered, and appropriated to men by God through the preaching of the Gospel and the holy sacraments, which are its seals. For Christ, after the work of redemption was accomplished, says: "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name among all nations." Luke 24:46–47.

To all people, then, repentance must first be preached, that is, their lost condition must be shown to them from the Law, and God's wrath over their sins must be testified to them, so that they are struck in their conscience, terrified, and, in the sense of their soul's distress, learn to ask: "What must we do to be saved?" After this, the forgiveness of sins must also be preached to them, that is, their salvation in Christ must be shown to them out of the Gospel, and the grace, righteousness, and salvation that Christ has won for them must be revealed, so that they accept this in faith and are thereby made alive, born again, sanctified, and renewed.

But besides the preaching of the forgiveness of sins in general, Christ has also instituted the preaching of the forgiveness of sins for each individual sinner who desires it (because Christ well knows how hard it is for a terrified sinner to believe that the grace proclaimed to all sinners applies to him as well); and this preaching of the forgiveness of sins for the individual sinner is precisely what is called absolution, which Christ instituted with the words: "Whosesoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them."

Now just as all those terrified by their sins — when it is preached in general: "You terrified sinners, be comforted, Christ has borne your sins!" — come to forgiveness by believing this general proclamation, so too each individual troubled sinner comes to it when it is called out to him in particular: "Be comforted, your sins are forgiven you!" — if he believes this. And just as, further, every hearer must and should believe the general preaching of the forgiveness of sins on pain of losing his salvation, so too must each believe the particular preaching. And finally, just as every servant of Christ must preach God's grace out of the Gospel to the whole assembly of his hearers, to whom he has preached God's wrath out of the Law, even though he is not divinely certain who, or indeed whether anyone, among that assembly is penitent — so too must every servant of Christ speak forgiveness in particular to each one who confesses to him that the Law has struck him, that his sins weigh upon him, that he wishes to be rid of them, and therefore desires absolution — even though no human minister can ever know, with infallible divine certainty, how the heart of the individual penitent truly stands.

The one who receives absolution must indeed know his own heart, but not the one who grants it. To be sure, a faithful steward of the mysteries of God should not absolve those of whom he has clear evidence that they are impenitent, for that would be to make a mockery of absolution and knowingly cast the holy thing before dogs. It is precisely for such people that the key of binding was instituted.

From the above, it will now be clear to the dear reader that absolution, spoken by a human being, is not thereby unreliable simply because that person cannot look into the heart of the one confessing; for absolution, although it is spoken by a human being, is not the judgment of that human being, but the judgment of God. It is a pardon that Christ brought about through his death and resurrection, and which he has ordained, instituted, and earnestly commanded to be spoken to all terrified sinners — a pardon that he therefore wants accepted and believed as his own act of grace.

The one confessing, therefore, must not think: What good does it do me that a human being pronounces absolution over me, when he cannot see into my heart? Must I not always be in doubt as to whether this person is not mistaken about me? Might he not perhaps loose me when he ought to bind me? How can he know whether God in heaven is even willing to forgive me my sins? What comfort, then, can so uncertain a forgiveness from a human being give me? The comforting voice of a person on earth, I hear well enough, but oh, that I could hear the voice of him who alone can loose and condemn me! — No, the one confessing must not think this way. He must instead reason thus: Had Christ not won forgiveness for all people, and had he not commanded his servants to preach forgiveness to all terrified sinners, then indeed their absolution would be without comfort; but Christ, according to his Gospel, has actually given his servants this command, together with the promise that what they loose on earth shall also be loosed in heaven. To this command and to this promise I hold fast in faith, and through it I am therefore certain, in spite of devil and hell, that I too have forgiveness, for God cannot lie.

But, someone might perhaps say, absolution may well be comforting to those who are conscious that they are penitent; but since human beings cannot see into anyone's heart, they