Walther's Seventeenth Evening Lecture is a most lovely look at absolution.  Had I known this, I definitely would have skipped ahead just to revel in his words on this Word of forgiveness.

Reading my beloved Walther has been harder this evening for my heart rate has been so low I am struggling not to worry.  It is this strange sensation to feel your heart rate slowing.  I honestly cannot think of a single adjective to describe it, to paint a picture of the experience for you.  Even after seeing two different cardiologists, I am not sure if the pressure I feel in my neck that accompanies the drop in heart rate is magnified by MS wonky nerves or not.  In any case, I slipped on the pulse oximeter and watched my heart rate settled back down after moving to 43.  43.  43.  That is very, very low for a couch slob.  I am thinking in this moment that the test on Friday cannot come soon enough.

And then there is something that I have been trying to ignore for weeks, but just cannot seem to set aside.  There is a swath on the left side of my forehead from hair line to brow that is tingling and numb.  I know...that seems a contradiction, but the surface is numb and there is a tingling sensation crawling beneath my skin.  It does not hurt and is no real bother.  However, it is very distracting. 

But then there is Walther!  A few tidbits before the meat:

• The Spirit is not obtained except by simple trust in God's Word.  Even when void of any feeling, the person who declares: "God has said so, therefore I shall believe it,"  will find that the Holy Spirit has entered his heart, filling it with His peace and joy. (164)
• I trust that even you have passed through some spiritual experiences that have taught you the true comfort in every affliction and its only source, the Word of God, which, whenever you feel worried, assures you of your salvation. (165)
• The characteristic mark of our Church is unquestioned submission to the divine Word, while our sectarian teachers are continually tossed about like the waves of the sea and betray the fact that they are not founded upon the rock of the Word of God.(167)

What I found most interesting was set a ways into the chapter:  this exposition of the doctrinal basis of absolution!

1.  Christ, the Son of God, took upon Himself by imputation all sins of every sinner, counting them as His own.  Accordingly, John the Baptist, pointing to Christ, says: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."  John 1,29.

2.  By His life in abject poverty, by His suffering, crucifixion, and death, Christ has wiped out the record of the worlds' sin and procured remission of all sins.  no man living, from Adam to the last human being that will be born, is excepted from this plan.  For St. Paul writes, 2 Cor. 5,21 "God hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."  Even Isaiah, chapter 53,5:  "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."  And even in an Old Testament prophecy still earlier than that of Isaiah we hear the Messiah wail: "I restored that which I took not away."  Ps. 69,4.

3.  By raising His Son Jesus Christ from the dead, God the Father confirmed, and put the stamp of approval on, the work of reconciliation and redemption which Christ finished on the cross.  For by the resurrection of Christ He has, in the presence of heaven and hearth, angels and men, declared: "As My Son has cried on the cross, 'It is finished.' so do I announce, It is finished indeed!  Ye sinners are redeemed.  Forgiveness of sins is prepared for everyone body; it is ready; it must not first be acquired by you."

4.  By His command to preach the Gospel to every creature, Christ commanded at the same time to preach forgiveness of sins to all men, hence to bring to them the glad tidings:  "All that is necessary for your salvation has been accomplished.  When asking, What must we do to be saved? do but remember that all has been done.  There is nothing more to do.  You are only to believe all that has been done for you, and you will be relieved."

5.  Christ did not only issue a general command to His apostles and their successors in office to preach the Gospel, hence the forgiveness of sin, but to minister to each individual who desires it this comfort:  "You are reconciled to God."  For if forgiveness of sins has been procured for all, it has been procured for each individual.  If I may offer it to all, I may offer it to each individual.  No only may I do this, I am ordered to do it.  If I fail to do it, I am a servant of Moses and not a servant  of Christ.

6.  Now that forgiveness of sin has been procured, as stated, not only has a minister a special commission to proclaim it, but every Christian, male or female, adult or child, is commissioned to do this.  Even a child's absolution is just as certain as the absolution of St. Peter, yea, as the absolution of Christ would be, were He again to stand visibly before men and say:  "Thy sins are forgiven then."  There is no difference; for, mark you! it is not a question of what man must do, but what has been done by Christ."  (169-170)

When you look at it that way, step-by-step, I cannot help but think you would come to believe the precious gift of absolution ought to be cherished and championed and preserved at all costs in our Church this day.  I also believe his comment about being a servant of Moses instead of Christ is key.  Always...always we humans want to do, to be responsible for our own destinies. 

When talking about Luther's remarks on the basis of the Papacy actually also including the other sects of the church, he says, "for they all, without exception, teach that forgiveness of sins must be obtained by praying, struggling, and wrestling with God until one feels the soothing sensation that grace has been infused in him.  However, that is a sheer delusion; for grace cannot be infused into men, since it is the disposition of God outside ourselves, in heaven.  It can only be proclaimed to us.  True rest, therefore, can be given us only through the Word, either when we hear it preached or when we read it.  (177)

True rest, therefore, can be given us only through the Word.  How absolutely, utterly true this is for me!  How I long to hear it.  How I long to have it poured over me.  How it stills my anxious thoughts, dries my tears, calms my soul.

Walther finishes by tearing apart the false teaching of absolution by the papacy, a teaching that bases absolution on the work of man, not the work of Christ.  Set aside the fact that they teach the power of absolution is a mystery given to priests and not really something that can be understood (that ought to be a red flag there!).  There are three parts that are simply not about faith, and therefore not about Christ crucified.  The penitent is told to be contrite, crushed, and to confess.  If his confession is not complete, he is not truly absolved.  And to be absolved is contingent upon satisfactions, penances that are works the penitent is set to do to fully earn absolution.  The system is simply about man, not God.

Lutheran doctrine teaches absolution is already given...by Christ.  Absolution is already earned...by Christ.  Absolution is already satisfied...by Christ. 


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!