Summary
Confession in the Lutheran Church
Confession is a gift Christ gives to His Church—the appointed way that troubled sinners are unburdened of their guilt and given the certainty that, for Jesus' sake, they stand fully forgiven before God. It moves through a clear pattern: recognizing sin, sorrow over sin, acknowledging sin before God, turning from sin, and receiving the absolute word of forgiveness in Christ. Far from a heavy obligation, confession exists so that the conscience may be set free.
The Sin We Confess
Scripture defines sin plainly: "all wrongdoing is sin" 1 John 5:17, and "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. The underlying picture is "missing the mark"—God's holy Law is the target, and we fail to hit it. Christians distinguish between original sin and actual sin. Adam and Eve were created in God's image Genesis 1:27, but after the Fall, Seth was born "in his own likeness, after his image" Genesis 5:3. We inherit this corrupt nature from our first parents; from that nature flow the actual sins we commit in thought, word, and deed. Through Christ and the new birth in faith, we are made new creations and re-formed in the image of God.
Attrition vs. Contrition
Not every sorrow is the sorrow God desires. Attrition is being sorry only because one fears punishment—like a child who regrets only that he has been caught. The wrath of God is real and not to be dismissed Psalms 21:8-12, and fear of it can be a rightful first step. But what God seeks is contrition: heartfelt grief over having sinned against Him. David models this when he cries, "my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me" Psalms 38:3-4, and again, "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" Psalms 51:17. The prophet Joel calls God's people to "rend your hearts and not your garments" Joel 2:13—God wants the heart, not a performance. The teaching on this distinction is unfolded carefully in Confession: Repentance and Forgiveness - Lesson 2.
Confession and Repentance
To confess is to acknowledge before God that we have indeed sinned. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9. David's testimony captures the relief of unburdening: while he kept silent, his bones wasted away, but when he acknowledged his sin, the Lord forgave the iniquity of his sin Psalms 32:3-5. James commands, "confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" James 5:16. Confession takes both corporate form—the church together saying "we are sinners and ask for mercy"—and private form, when a particular sin is named to a faithful pastor and specifically absolved.
Repentance follows: a change of mind and a turning around. When Jesus and John the Baptist began their ministries, the call was the same—"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17; Luke 3:3). The repentant sinner says, "I am sorry; give me the strength not to fall again." The unrepentant sinner says, "sorry, not sorry"—and to come to God's altar in that posture is to drink judgment on oneself. The struggling Christian, by contrast, even one fighting the same sin again and again, comes precisely because he knows he needs forgiveness and strength.
Why There Is No Penance
Some traditions teach that the sinner must perform an act—prayer, fasting, service—to make satisfaction for sin. Scripture rules this out. Christ's once-for-all sacrifice has done what no repeated offering ever could: "we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" Hebrews 10. "By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" Ephesians 2:8-9. Making things right with a neighbor we have wronged is right and good, but it is never the ground of our forgiveness before God. That ground is Christ alone.
Absolution: Set Free in Christ
After confession comes the heart of the gift: absolution. The word literally means to loosen, to set free, to cancel. It comes from outside us—we cannot absolve ourselves. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" John 8:36. "Through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" Acts 13:38-39. "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" Psalms 103:8-12.
The forgiveness pronounced in absolution is absolute—guaranteed, complete, certain. The pastor declares it not on personal authority but by the authority Christ gave to His Church: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven" (John 20:22-23; see also Matthew 18:18). This is the Office of the Keys: the authority Christ gave His Church to forgive the sins of those who repent and to declare to those who do not repent that their sins are not forgiven. The Church carries on this "ministry of reconciliation" as Christ's ambassadors 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Once sin has been laid at Christ's feet and forgiven, it is not to be picked back up; trying to "steal back" sin God has already taken away is itself a refusal of His gift. The full unfolding of this teaching is given in confession lesson 3 final.
Confession and the Lord's Supper
Confession and Holy Communion are inseparably linked. Every Divine Service begins with corporate confession, because the Supper is given for repentant sinners. Paul warns that whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup in an unworthy manner is "guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord," and so "let a person examine himself" 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. Yet Paul also teaches that "godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret" 2 Corinthians 7:8-10. The one truly worthy and well prepared is the one who has faith in Christ's words, "given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins."
The Sacrament is therefore not a reward for the strong but medicine for the weak. The struggling believer who cries with the father in the Gospel, "I believe; help my unbelief!" Mark 9:24, hears Jesus' promise: "whoever comes to me I will never cast out" John 6:37. Anyone who feels no need for the Sacrament need only check whether he still has flesh and blood—because "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves" 1 John 1:8-9. The full integration of confession, absolution, and the Supper is laid out in Confession: Repentance and Forgiveness - Lesson 4.
A Gift to Be Received
Lutheran teaching on confession holds together honesty about sin and joyful confidence in grace. We name our sin—known and unknown—without minimizing it. We hear God's Law work godly grief in us. And then we hear, in the very voice of the Church Christ founded, that we are forgiven, fully and absolutely, for Jesus' sake. That word washes over us, and the body and blood of Christ place that same forgiveness on our tongues. Go forth and sin no more—and when you do sin, confess, and be certain of the word of forgiveness Christ Himself has guaranteed.
Video citations
- Confession: Repentance and Forgiveness - Lesson 2 — Have a good Lord with them, so much, with them for your grace, with them for your love, with them for your mercy. Lord, we know that, left to our bottom, device that is left to our bottom, that the…
- confession lesson 3 final — Thank you so much for the gift of confession. Because with confession, we know that absolution is soon to follow. We thank you that you give us an opportunity to confess our sins to you with one…
- Confession: Repentance and Forgiveness - Lesson 4 — Thank you. Heavenly Lord, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you that we are in the season of Advent looking towards the celebration of the time in which you entered into humanity into…