Pastor Walter Snyder at Ask the Pastor has a great post on confession and absolution. I've been arguing with family members who say we should confess our sins only to God, but our faults, well, those we need to confess to one another. I've tried to point to John 20:23 with no success. As a Lutheran I confess that Christ really means what he says. If Christ says His servants of Word and Sacrament have the authority to forgive sins then that is what I believe. He isn't starting off this command like He would with a parable"the kingdom of heaven is like this or that." He is not using metaphorical or symbolic language here.
I was informed, by said family member that a commentary they had on hand stated that this is one of the misunderstood passages of Scripture. I'm sorry but Scripture trumps a commentary. Of course, oh lucky me, Calvin was quoted as saying Jesus didn't really mean what he said. After reading the quote to me, said person asked "who's Calvin?" I didn't have the heart to tell a family member that Calvin was a serial killer, who killed nine people in upstate New York and found Jesus in prison. For more on Calvin go here. I'm sorry, but I'll take the word of an apostle over Calvin any day. It just seems to be a safer bet.
5 comments:
no one told them Calvin was a serial killer?
Some people "get" Scripture. Some people "get" the joke. Some people "get" both. Some people "get" neither.
I dig the props, dude.
Xrysostom,
You are very welcome. I hope all is going well.
Pax,
We only need to confess to our Lord Jesus Christ.....he is who we ask forgiveness.
Anonymous, So when Christ, who says all authority was given to him by God the Father, says "If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld" He's not giving the apostles the authority to forgive sins? And how are they to forgive or withhold the sins without first hearing a confession? I don't see how we can all call Jesus Lord and Savior and then go and tell Him what he can and can't do.
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