Martin Luther's Writings

13. Those, however, who do not desire peace think then that they have produced adequate contrition and works beyond that, they make Christ a liar and flirt with the sin against the Holy Spirit, in addition to treating the most worthy sacrament of penance unworthily. So they receive their deserved reward: they build on sand [Matt. 7:26], trusting themselves more than God. The result must necessarily be an ever greater uneasiness of conscience, a vain striving after impossible things, a quest for assurance and comfort that they never find. Such a perversion issues finally in despair and eternal damnation. For what else are they seeking but a certainty achieved by their own efforts? As though they wanted by their own works to reinforce God's word, through which they are supposed to be strengthened in faith and begin to buttress heaven, to which they should be clinging for their own support. That is, they will not let God be merciful. They want him only for judge, as if he should not forgive anything freely unless it were first recompensed to him. Yet in the entire gospel we read of no one of whom God required anything but faith; out of grace he bestowed all his benefits full and free upon the unworthy, bidding them afterward to live aright and to go in peace, etc.

14. Do not worry about whether a priest in his absolution errs, is himself bound [Matt. 16:19] or is merely jesting.If you just receive the words sincerely and believe them, as long as you neither know nor despise his error or bond, you are nevertheless absolved and have the full sacrament. For as already indicated, this sacrament does not depend on the priest, nor on your own actions, but entirely on your faith; you have as much as you believe. Without this faith you could have all the contrition in the world, but it would still be only the remorse of Judas that angers rather than reconciles God. For nothing reconciles God better than when one does him the honor [of acknowledging that] he is truthful and gracious; and no one does this except the one who believes his words. Thus David praises him,'Lord, thou art slow to anger, merciful, and truthful. And this same truth saves us from all sins, if we cling to it by faith.

15. It follows that the keys or the authority of St. Peter is not an authority at all but a service; and the keys have not been given to St. Peter but to you and me. The keys are yours and mine. For St. Peter, insofar as he is a pope or a bishop, does not need them; to him they are neither necessary nor helpful. Their entire virtue lies rather in this, that they help sinners by comforting and strengthening their conscience. Thus Christ ordered that [the exercise of] authority in the church should be a rendering of service; and that by means of the keys the clergy should be serving not themselves but only us. For this reason, as one sees, the priest does no more than to speak a word, and the sacrament is already there. And this word is God's word, even as God has promised. The priest, moreover, has sufficient evidence and reason to grant absolution when he sees that one desires it from him. Beyond that, he is not obligated to know anything. I say this in order that the most gracious virtue of the keys should be cherished and honored, and not despised because of abuses by some who do little more than threaten, annoy, and pronounce the ban. They create nothingbut tyranny out of this lovely and comforting authority, as if Christ were thinking only of the will and dominion of the priests when he instituted the keys and did not even know to what use they should be put.

16. Just so no one accuses me again of forbidding good works, let me say that one should with all seriousness be contrite and remorseful, confess and do good works. This I maintain, however, as best I can: that in the sacrament we let faith be the chief thing, the legacy through which one may attain the grace of God. After that we can do a lot of good [works]to the glory of God alone and to the benefit of our fellow-men, and not in order that we might depend upon that as sufficient to pay for our sin. For God gives us his grace freely and without cost; so we should also serve him freely and without cost. Besides, everything that I have said about this sacrament is said to them whose conscience is troubled, uneasy, erring, and terrified, who would gladly be loosed from their sin and be righteous, but who do not know where to begin. For these are the ones who likewise have true contrition, indeed they are too contrite and fainthearted. God comforts people like these through the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40,Cry to the fainthearted and say to them, consolamini,be comforted, you faint of heart; behold your God. And in Matthew 11 [:28], Christ says,Come to me, you who are burdened and troubled, I will comfort you, etc. The hardhearted, however, who do not asyet seek comfort for their conscience, have likewise not yet experienced this tormenting anxiety. To them this sacrament is of no use. One must first soften them up with the terrible judgment of God and cause them to quail, so that they too may learn to sigh, and seek for the comfort of this sacrament.