Why Do YOU Forgive Me?

Perhaps the last post begs a question:  "1 John 1:8-9 says that GOD will forgive sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness.  Why does the PASTOR forgive sins?"  It's a good question.  

First of all, recognize that God is always the one who forgives sins.  And He always (and only) does it for Jesus' sake.

But, second, recognize that our God often prefers to work through created people and things to accomplish His purposes.  In John 20:22-23, Jesus appears to His disciples after His resurrection and "breathed on His disciples and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'"

Now these words are directed to the disciples as Jesus' followers - that is, the church.  As the Reformers wrote it in the Catechism, we Lutheran Christians believe that "the Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent."

"But I'm asking why do YOU forgive me. If God gave the keys to the whole church, why can't I come to anyone in the church for confession and absolution?"

I'm going to give you two answers to this, and the first one might get me in trouble with some of my fellow pastors.

The first answer is this: You can. God gave the Office of the Keys to the church, and every member of the church is gifted with the Holy Spirit to carry out the Gospel ministry of the church. BUT BUT BUT...

The second answer is also true: The exercise of the Office of the Keys is not a "power" exercised by an "individual." It is given to the whole church. Just imagine the chaos that could result if every member of the congregation heard a person's confession and then, for any number of reasons, half of them absolved that persons' sins and the other half refused to do so. And so it is the case that God, through the church, calls men into the pastoral office to speak His Word to His people, including this word of forgiveness in absolution.

For this reason, you as an individual Christian may (and should) forgive sins committed against you. And you may (and should) announce the good news of the Gospel to the people around you. But you should NOT take it on yourself to speak for the Church to announce absolution, since God has seen fit to call a pastor to do this in His stead within the congregation already.