How simple people are to be taught to confess83
What is confession? Answer:
Confession consists of two parts. One is that we confess our sins. The other is that we receive the absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the confessor as from God himself and by no means doubt but firmly believe that our sins are thereby forgiven before God in heaven.
Which sins is a person to confess?
Before God one is to acknowledge the guilt for all sins, even those of which we are not aware, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer. However, before the confessor we are to confess only those sins of which we have knowledge and which trouble us.
Which sins are these?
Here reflect on your walk of life84 in light of the Ten Commandments: whether you are father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, servant; whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, lazy,85 whether you have harmed anyone by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, wasted, or injured anything.
Please provide me with a brief form of confession! Answer:86
You are to say to the confessor:
“Honorable, dear sir, I ask you87 to listen to my confession and declare to me forgiveness for God’s sake.”
“Proceed.”
“I, a poor sinner, confess before God that I am guilty of all my sins.88 In particular I confess in your presence that although I am a manservant, maidservant, etc., I unfortunately serve my master unfaithfully, for in this and that instance I did not do what they told me; I made them angry and caused them to curse; I neglected to do my duty and allowed harm to occur. I have also spoken and acted impudently. I have quarreled with my equals; I have grumbled about and sworn at my mistress, etc. I am sorry for all this and ask for grace. I want to do better.”
A master or mistress may say the following:
“In particular I confess to you that I have not faithfully cared for my child, the members of my household, my spouse89 to the glory of God. I have cursed, set a bad example with indecent words and deeds, done harm to my neighbors,90 spoken evil of them, overcharged them, and sold them inferior goods and shortchanged them,” and whatever else he or she has done against the commands of God and their walk of life, etc.
However, if some individuals91 do not find themselves burdened by these or greater sins, they are not to worry, nor are they to search for or invent further sins and thereby turn confession into torture.92 Instead mention one or two that you are aware of in the following way: “In particular I confess that I cursed once, likewise that one time I was inconsiderate in my speech, one time I neglected this or that, etc.” Let that be enough.
If you are aware of no sins at all (which is really quite unlikely), then do not mention any in particular, but instead receive forgiveness on the basis of the general confession,93 which you make to God in the presence of the confessor.
Thereupon the confessor is to say:
“God be gracious to you and strengthen your faith. Amen.”
Let the confessor say [further]:
“Do you also believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?”
[Answer:] “Yes, dear sir.”
Thereupon he may say:
“‘Let it be done for you according to your faith.’94 And I by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ95 forgive you your sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace.”96
A confessor, by using additional passages of Scripture, will in fact be able to comfort and encourage to faith those whose consciences are heavily burdened or who are distressed and under attack.97 This is only to be an ordinary form of confession for simple people.
83 In 1531 par. 15–29 replaced the earlier Short Order of Confession (1529) (WA 30/1: 343–45; LW 53:116–18), which was found in one Latin version of the Small Catechism from 1529 in this spot and in one German version of the Small Catechism from 1529, following the Baptismal Booklet. In 1532 Luther defended this addition and the use of private confession among Evangelicals in a letter to the town council and congregation in Frankfurt, in “An Open Letter to Those in Frankfurt on the Main, 1533,” trans. John D. Vieker, Concordia Journal 16 (1990): 333–51 (= WA 30/3: 565–71).
84 Stand.
85 The Book of Concord (1580) and the Wittenberg editions of 1535 and following omit “ill-tempered, unruly, quarrelsome” after “lazy.”
86 Much of this form builds on medieval practice.
87 Luther uses here and throughout the formal form of address.
88 This is the general confession referred to below in par. 25. It prefaces the particular confession here and is the implied beginning of the confessions in par. 23 and 24. In other cases the “general confession” refers to words spoken at the conclusion of the sermon in worship. Cf. SA III, 3, 13.
89 German: “wife.”
90 German: singular.
91 German: singular.
92 See A Discussion on How Confession Should Be Made (1520) (WA 6:157–69; LW 39:27–47) and CA XXV, 7–12.
93 See above, n. 88. Luther could have in mind expanding this with the words of the fuller version of general public confession spoken after the sermon by the preacher.
94 Matthew 8:13*.
95 Matthew 16:19*; 18:18*; John 20:23*.
96 Mark 5:34*; Luke 7:50*; 8:48*.
97 angefochten.