What Lutherans Confess

[Nun_ofthe_Above]

matthias:

Oh… Also…
When you go to confession to a Lutheran Minister does he say the following…
“Do you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?
Let it be done for you as you believe. And I, by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace.”

I am no longer Lutheran but I’m real curious if any Lutherans practice this really “Catholic” behavior which is part of their faith?

Hi matthias,
As a soon-to-be Lutheran, I can say that whilst I am not baptized yet, and have not partaken of confession; I was talking to my Pastor only a few days ago and he said we still practice private confession, and many within the Parish partake of this. I intend to once I am baptized. (Which is only weeks away, praise the Lord!)
The part of confession you reference above (which is the 4th part of Lutheran Confession) goes-:
Tell the Pastor about the sins that are worrying you. At the end, say something like this:
I am sorry for what I have done.
I ask God to have mercy on me.
I will try not to do it again.
Your confessor asks you:
When I forgive you your sins,
do you believe that this forgiveness
comes from God?
Then you answer:
Yes I believe. (Only do this if you truly believe)
The confessor then says:
What you believe
will be done for you.
By the authority
of our Lord Jesus Christ
I forgive you your sins
in the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Peace be with you.

In love and peace, it may seem like Catholic behaviour, but you must remember Luther had no issue with certain things within the Church, including Confession, and Our Lady’s perpetual Virginity…
Lutherans are able to follow any tradition of the Catholic faith, (or any other denomination for that matter) which does not contradict the bible. If there is no reference either good or bad, you may also follow a tradition. (This was in accordance with one of the Early Church Fathers…possibly Irenaeus, but I am not 100% certain, so you may like to check that one.) This is why I still abide by many of the Catholic Church’s teachings, and still use the Deuterocanonicals. I believe in Purgatory, and I don’t believe the Catholic Church or the Pope is the anti-Christ. (You never know, one day I might ‘join’ the Catholic Church, but still have some issues to work out…)

Peace and love in Him.

 

[aria13]

Word on the Creeds: the word catholic has not been taken from the Nicene Creed. Some Lutheran churches did remove it many years ago, but every one that I have attended in the past 20+ years now have the word “catholic” back in the Nicene. It states, “…I believe in one catholic and apostolic church…” Apparently, when they removed it, people didn’t like saying the word “catholic” in church…it was “wrong.” The Lutheran church of that era didn’t want to acknowledge it’s Catholic roots. How completely ignorant of them. Somewhere along the way, someone looked up the meaning of “catholic” and saw that only if it’s capitalized does it mean the Roman Catholic Church; catholic, in lower case, means universal, unified. Now the word catholic is back in the Creed.

The Confession is right in the Order of Worship in the LBW. I don’t know how you got around it for so many years, matthias! Sometimes things become so familiar that we don’t realize what we’re saying or doing…just go with the flow, as they say. Glad to see that you’ve found that it’s there!

Blessings to all.

 

[TamaraS]

aria13:

The Lutheran church of that era didn’t want to acknowledge it’s Catholic roots. How completely ignorant of them. Somewhere along the way, someone looked up the meaning of “catholic” and saw that only if it’s capitalized does it mean the Roman Catholic Church; catholic, in lower case, means universal, unified. Now the word catholic is back in the Creed.

Who is this “someone” that looked it up along the way? And where was it looked up? That’s great that you acknowledge the Catholic roots, but then wouldn’t that also really mean that Catholic in the Nicene Creed meant the the Catholic church? I do believe that early on in Christianity there was only the one Catholic Church, so there there wouldn’t have been a need very early on in Church history to emphasize catholic with a little “c” versus Catholic with a big “C” to refer to a denomination. You yourself mentioned in your post that you acknowledge your Catholic roots with a big “C”. If that is to be acknowledged from your “Catholic” roots, then it meant the Catholic Church, only later on by Protestants to have emphasized a difference. I believe it was Ignatius writings, who learned from John himself, that first mentions Catholic Church, and the Church that he describes in his writings look overwhelmingly Catholic. I don’t think that there was anything implying a difference in one or the other that early on. I do agree that now there has been emphasized difference, but not by myself or anyone else I know unless they are not Catholic. I know of a Lutheran Church service where a pastor had the Apostle’s Creed up on a large screen for everyone to recite, and when they got to the part about Catholic, everyone stopped right away. He had to actually tell them “it’s okay” and proceeded to explain to then about catholic with a little “c” and Catholic with a big “C”. Please forgive me if I’m wrong and there is documentation out there that says different. If there is any PLEASE show me, as well as any other Catholics reading this thread, because I don’t want to be trying to put in my two cents worth when I don’t have the proper information. I’m still learning alot. I admit that I haven’t studied this issue a lot, this is just something that would make sense to me logically.
Thanks! Tamara

 

[littlesheep]

Brake out the books aria13, ask your pastor. Ask a Luthewran Pastor, that is what he is there for. Hay if you want ask me off line.

Yor dicussing on my thread now.

 

[littlesheep]

1Pe 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

 

[littlesheep]

Are ya studying aria13 ? Cus TamaraS is waiting patiently for an answer.

 

[Shibboleth]

For we know that church discipline was instituted by the fathers, in the manner laid down in the ancient canons, with a good and useful intention. . . . Furthermore, we wish here again to testify that we will gladly maintain ecclesiastical and canonical government, provided the bishops only cease to rage against our Churches. This our desire will clear us both before God and among all nations to all posterity from the imputation against us that the authority of the bishops is being undermined.
Apology XIV, 24

According to divine right, therefore (as said above), it is the office of the Bishop to preach the Gospel, forgive sins, judge doctrine and condemn doctrine that is contrary to the Gospel, and exclude from the Christian community the ungodly whose wicked conduct is manifest. All this is to be done not by human power but by God’s Word alone. On this account parish ministers and churches are bound to be obedient to the Bishops according to the saying of Christ in Luke 10:16, “He who hears you hears Me.”
Augsburg Confession XXVIII, 21-22

Professor Leonard Hutter of Wittenberg University (1596 - 1616):
Whatever God appointed, whatever was always observed by the apostles, was confirmed by the practice of the early Church, and finally was profitable and advantageous to the Church, that must be regarded as necesssary, and be firmly retained in the Church. But such government of the Church, with respect to bishops and teachers, was aristocratic. … Therefore it must be regarded as necessary, and be firmly retained, nor must it be changed in any way into a monarchy {or a democracy!).
Compendium Locorum Theologicorum