A Short Summary of the Sermon of
Dr. M. Luther Delivered on
Reminiscere Sunday
March 16, 1522
Martin Luther
Preacher at Wittenberg
Now we have heard all the things which ought to be considered here, except confession. We speak about it now.
In the first place, one form of confession, founded on the Scriptures, occurs when someone commits a sin publicly, or with other men’s knowledge, and is accused before the congregation. If he abandons his sin, they intercede for him with God. But if he will not hear the congregation, he is excluded from the church and cast out, so that no one will have anything to do with him. This form of confession is commanded by God in Matthew 18:15, “If your brother sins against you (so that you and others are offended), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”
There is no longer even a trace of this form of confession to be found. In this particular case, the Gospel is put aside He who could reestablish it would perform a good work. Here is where you ought to have taken pains and reestablished this kind of confession, and let the other things go. For by this no one would have been offended, and it would have been accomplished without disturbance. It should be done in this way: When you see a usurer, adulterer, thief or drunkard, you should go to him in secret and admonish him to give up his sin. If he will not hear, you should take two others with you and admonish him once more, in a brotherly way, to give up his sin. But if he scorns that, you should tell the pastor before the whole congregation, have your witnesses with you, and accuse him before the pastor in the presence of the people, saying:
”Dear pastor, this man has done this and that, and would not receive our brotherly admonition to give up his sin. Therefore I accuse him, together with my witnesses who were present.” And then, if he will not give up and willingly acknowledge his guilt, the pastor should exclude him and put him under the ban before the whole assembly, for the sake of the congregation, until he comes to himself and is received back again. This would be Christian. But I cannot undertake to carry it out single-handed.
Secondly, a confession is necessary for us, when we go away in a corner by ourselves, and confess to God Himself and pour out before Him all our faults. This confession is also commanded. From this comes the familiar word of Scripture: “Facite judicium et justitiam.” (Genesis 18:19) Judicium facere est nos ipsos accusare et damnare; justitiam autem facere est fidere misericordiae Dei. As it is written, “Blessed are they that keep judgment and do righteousness at all times.” (Psalm 106:3) The judgment is nothing else than a man’s knowing and judging and condemning himself, and this is true humility and self-abasement. The righteousness is nothing else than a man’s knowing himself and praying to God for mercy and help through which God raises him up again. This is what David means when he says: “I have sinned; I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,” (Psalm 32:5 ff.) and, “You forgave the iniquity of my sin; for this all your saints shall pray to You.”
Thirdly, There is also a confession when you take another aside, and tells him what troubles you, so that you may hear from him a word of comfort. This confession is commanded by the pope. It is this urging and forcing which I condemned when I wrote concerning confession, and I refuse to go to confession just because the pope wishes it and has commanded it. For I wish him to keep his hands off confession and not make of it a compulsion or command, which he has not the power to do. Yet I will let no man take private confession away from me, and I would not give it up for all the treasures in the world, since I know what comfort and strength it has given me. No one knows what it can do for him except one who has struggled much with the devil. Yes, the devil would have slain me long ago, if confession had not sustained me. For there are many doubts which a man cannot resolve by himself, and so he takes a brother aside and tells him his trouble. What harm is there, if he humbles himself a little before his neighbor, puts himself to shame, looks for a word of comfort from him, and takes it to himself and believes it, as if he heard it from God himself, as we read in Matthew 18:19 “If two of you shall agree about anything that they shall ask, ill shall be done for them.”
We must have many absolutions, so that we may strengthen our timid consciences and despairing hearts against the devil and against God. Therefore no one should forbid confession nor keep or drive any one away from it. And if any one wrestles with his sins, is eager to be rid of them and looks for some assurance from the Scriptures, let him go and confess to another in secret, and receive what is said to him there as if it came directly from God’s own lips. Whoever has the strong and firm faith that his sins are forgiven, may ignore this confession and confess to God alone. But how many have such a strong faith? Therefore, as I have said, I will not let this private confession be taken from me. Yet I would force no one to it, but leave the matter to every one’s free will.
For our God is not so miserly that He has left us with only one comfort or strengthening for our conscience, or one absolution, but we have many absolutions in the Gospel, and are showered richly with them. For instance, we have this in the Gospel: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14) Another comfort we have in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses,” etc. (Matthew 6:12) A third is our baptism, when I reason thus: See, my Lord, I am baptized in Your name so that I may be assured of Your grace and mercy. After that we have the private confession, when I go and receive a sure absolution as if God Himself spoke it, so that I may be assured that my sins are forgiven. Finally I take to myself the Blessed Sacrament, when I eat His body and drink His blood as a sign that I am rid of my sins and God has freed me from all my frailties. In order to make me sure of this, He gives me His body to eat and His blood to drink, so that I shall not and cannot despair: I cannot doubt I have a gracious God.
Thus we see that confession must not be despised, but that it is a true comfort. And since we need many absolutions and comforts, because we must fight against the devil, death, hell and sin, we must not allow any of our weapons to be taken away, but keep intact the whole armor and equipment which God has given us for use against our enemies. For you do not yet know what work it is to fight with the devil and to overcome him. I know it well. I have eaten salt with him once or twice. I know him well, and he knows me well, too. If only you knew him, you would not in this manner drive out confession.
I commend you to God. Amen.
Copyright: Public Domain
Translated by A. Steimle. Edited and Language Modernized by Robert E. Smith
From: The Works of Martin Luther. Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1915, 2:387-425.
