How One Should Teach the Uneducated to Confess

I. Q. What is confession?
A. Confession has two parts:

First, a person admits his sin

Second, a person receives absolution or forgiveness from the confessor, as if from God Himself, without doubting it, but believing firmly that his sins are forgiven by God in Heaven through it.

II. Q. Which sins should people confess?

A. When speaking to God, we should plead guilty to all sins, even those we don't know about, just as we do in the ``Our Father,' but when speaking to the confessor, only the sins we know about, which we know about and feel in our hearts.

Q. Which are these?

A. Consider here your place in life according to the Ten Commandments. Are you a father? A mother? A son? A daughter? A husband? A wife? A servant? Are you disobedient, unfaithful or lazy? Have you hurt anyone with your words or actions? Have you stolen, neglected your duty, let things go or injured someone?

This section is found only in the Small Catechism. Confession is not addressed in the Large Catechism.

Many Lutherans have learned of this as the "Ministry of Keys and Confession." The Ministry of Keys refers to Christ's command to the disciples to forgive sins in his name, that whosever sins are forgiven are forgiven in heaven, but whosever sins are retained (because of valid spiritual reasons) are retained in heaven.

Luther considered Confession important to the Christian's life. He considered it one of three sacraments (Baptism and Lord's Supper being the other two). His reasoning was that confession was instituted by God and imparts forgiveness of sins in the Absolution.

In the Lutheran church we confess our sins every week. In the beginning of the service is the Confession and Absolution. Here we experience objective justification. This means that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Each and every sin has been paid for. When we take this promise as our very own, we call that subjective justification. That means that we accept forgiveness as a fact and condition through Jesus' sacrifice.

Sometimes a Christian is tormented by guilt or by the knowledge of a sin. It is in these instances that the Christian can approach his or her pastor and, in confidence, confess that sin and guilt and receive assurances from God's word that "therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).

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