# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1860_S50
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— Page 50 —

...to others the glorious Gospel and call out to them: You are
reconciled, do not be afraid, only believe, your sins are forgiven
you! If we are truly united on this, may our church, for its part,
remain what it is — the comforter of all who are troubled.

Against the objection often raised — that the preacher is himself a
sinful man, so how can he forgive the sins of others? — it was pointed
out: first, that Christ commanded preachers and all Christians to
proclaim the Gospel, that is, to grant absolution; and second, that
God's word — since the absolution spoken by human beings is indeed
God's word — remains God's word even on sinful lips.

A question was finally raised and answered as well: why does Luther
usually not restrict the absolution of Christians in general to cases
of necessity, as he does baptism, and yet in certain other passages
speak of it only for cases of necessity? The answer given was this:
both sacraments are by their nature public, so it lies in the nature
of the sacraments themselves that their administration always take
place publicly, whereas absolution is the Gospel, which all Christians,
as spiritual priests, are called to proclaim at all times. The
difference therefore lies in the nature of the two. But when Luther
nonetheless restricts absolution here and there to cases of necessity,
he is without doubt speaking of an absolution that has a certain
public character.

Fourth Thesis: Absolution does not consist in a judicial
verdict by the confessor, nor in an empty proclamation
or wishing of the forgiveness of sins, but in an
effectual communication of that forgiveness.

On this point the following explanation was given: the reason the
Lutheran church so often declares that absolution is not a judicial
verdict is that the papists claim it is. For in order to justify their
teaching that in auricular confession every sin must be disclosed, and
that the efficacy of absolution depends on one's having confessed
completely — that is, having told the confessor all one's sins — the
Roman party defends itself by arguing that any judge who wishes to
pass a verdict must know the wrongdoing of the accused, and not merely
the fact (the deed) but also the circumstances that make the sin
either greater or lesser. Just as a judge can pass no proper verdict
if he examines no witnesses and does not establish the facts of the
case precisely, so too, they argue, the priest in confession can pass
no verdict unless all sins are confessed to him with all their
circumstances. Lutherans, by contrast, do not hold absolution to be a
verdict by the confessor on the state of souls; rather, because it
belongs to all people, and because the sinner is converted to
righteousness only by receiving the Gospel with true faith of the
heart, this comforting Gospel is proclaimed to the poor sinner who
confesses his sin in repentance, and he is thereby absolved — so that
absolution is God's act of grace upon the poor sinner.

The remainder contained in the thesis has already been discussed
above.