The Voice of God: Toward Retaining Private Absolution, Part II (Dying to Live)
We live by dying. This is the foolishness of the preaching of the Cross and the radical contradictoriness of the Gospel. Life, true life, is found only in dying. When the prophet Nathan confronted the adulterous king David with his sin, the man after God’s own heart had two options: die in his sin or die to his sin. The first would bring eternal death. The second brought true life. David confessed his sin. And Nathan, speaking in the stead and by the command of God, said, The LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die (2 Samuel 12:13). David was put to death by the Ten Commandments, for he had transgressed all of them. And the Word of life, the Word of resurrection for David, was the Holy Absolution, spoken by the servant of the Lord, Nathan. It was a word of comfort to the burdened conscience of the king.
It is precisely for this reason that the Lutheran Church of the Reformation has retained the Gospel practice of private absolution: the sake of troubled consciences. The conscience is the devil’s playground. He can no longer accuse us before God in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil as come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short! (Rev 12:9, 12). He now prowls the earth like a roaring lion, scaring and startling timid consciences, terrifying them with their own sins. He strikes fear into the hearts of guilty consciences, never letting them have a moment’s peace.
We feel guilty because we are guilty. The Small Catechism asks, “What sins should we confess?” Answer: “Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer” (Confession). We daily sin much, in thought, word, and deed and deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment. The Law, which brings death to us, convicting us of our sin, our Lord uses for our good. See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god beside Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand (Dt 32:39). He slays us with the sword of the Spirit in order, killing the Old Adam again, in order that He may raise us with the breath of life, even Jesus Christ the resurrection and the life!
Thus we are called to examine ourselves according to the Ten Commandments, considering our place in life in the mirror of God’s holy word and will. “Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words of deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?” (The Small Catechism, Confession)
The Christian conscience, then, which is plagued by sins of this nature, has at his disposal, our Lord’s blessed word of forgiveness spoken through the mouth of his pastor, which is forgiveness as from God Himself (cf. The Small Catechism, Confession; Jn 20:22-23; Mt 18:18). You see, no one can be forced to go to private confession and absolution. But the gift is retained for the sake of burdened consciences, Christian hearts and minds that know and feel their sins, and need the assurance of our Lord’s personal forgiveness. “If there is a heart that feels its sin and desires consolation, it has here a sure refuge when it hears in God’s Word that through a man God looses and absolves him from his sins” (The Large Catechism, Brief Exhortation 14).
We live by dying. Dying to ourselves and our sin; knowing that out of death there is life, even as Christ Jesus brought life and immortality to light through His own death (2 Tim 1:10). He has abolished death, imparting His life to us through His evangelical (i.e. Gospel) word. Thus do we live daily by dying, so that like the prodigal son, we may return to the father, pleading guilty of our recklessness, throwing ourselves on his mercy, and trusting that his word restores us to fellowship as his true and dear child.
Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed His blood for me,
Died that I might live on high,
Lives that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine,
I am His, and He is mine (LSB 611:1)
The words which absolution give
Are His who died that we might live;
The minister whom Christ has sent
Is but His humble instrument.
Your unworthy servant,
Pastor Mierow
Wednesday of Trinity 9
Painting: Rembrandt “The Prodigal Son”
We live by dying. This is the foolishness of the preaching of the Cross and the radical contradictoriness of the Gospel. Life, true life, is found only in dying. When the prophet Nathan confronted the adulterous king David with his sin, the man after God’s own heart had two options: die in his sin or die to his sin. The first would bring eternal death. The second brought true life. David confessed his sin. And Nathan, speaking in the stead and by the command of God, said, The LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die (2 Samuel 12:13). David was put to death by the Ten Commandments, for he had transgressed all of them. And the Word of life, the Word of resurrection for David, was the Holy Absolution, spoken by the servant of the Lord, Nathan. It was a word of comfort to the burdened conscience of the king.
It is precisely for this reason that the Lutheran Church of the Reformation has retained the Gospel practice of private absolution: the sake of troubled consciences. The conscience is the devil’s playground. He can no longer accuse us before God in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil as come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short! (Rev 12:9, 12). He now prowls the earth like a roaring lion, scaring and startling timid consciences, terrifying them with their own sins. He strikes fear into the hearts of guilty consciences, never letting them have a moment’s peace.
We feel guilty because we are guilty. The Small Catechism asks, “What sins should we confess?” Answer: “Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer” (Confession). We daily sin much, in thought, word, and deed and deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment. The Law, which brings death to us, convicting us of our sin, our Lord uses for our good. See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god beside Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand (Dt 32:39). He slays us with the sword of the Spirit in order, killing the Old Adam again, in order that He may raise us with the breath of life, even Jesus Christ the resurrection and the life!
Thus we are called to examine ourselves according to the Ten Commandments, considering our place in life in the mirror of God’s holy word and will. “Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words of deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?” (The Small Catechism, Confession)
The Christian conscience, then, which is plagued by sins of this nature, has at his disposal, our Lord’s blessed word of forgiveness spoken through the mouth of his pastor, which is forgiveness as from God Himself (cf. The Small Catechism, Confession; Jn 20:22-23; Mt 18:18). You see, no one can be forced to go to private confession and absolution. But the gift is retained for the sake of burdened consciences, Christian hearts and minds that know and feel their sins, and need the assurance of our Lord’s personal forgiveness. “If there is a heart that feels its sin and desires consolation, it has here a sure refuge when it hears in God’s Word that through a man God looses and absolves him from his sins” (The Large Catechism, Brief Exhortation 14).
We live by dying. Dying to ourselves and our sin; knowing that out of death there is life, even as Christ Jesus brought life and immortality to light through His own death (2 Tim 1:10). He has abolished death, imparting His life to us through His evangelical (i.e. Gospel) word. Thus do we live daily by dying, so that like the prodigal son, we may return to the father, pleading guilty of our recklessness, throwing ourselves on his mercy, and trusting that his word restores us to fellowship as his true and dear child.
Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed His blood for me,
Died that I might live on high,
Lives that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine,
I am His, and He is mine (LSB 611:1)
The words which absolution give
Are His who died that we might live;
The minister whom Christ has sent
Is but His humble instrument.
Your unworthy servant,
Pastor Mierow
Wednesday of Trinity 9
Painting: Rembrandt “The Prodigal Son”
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