Untitled Sermon
of the catechism. The German text, Wie man die Einfeltigen sot leren Beichten, is given in WA 30I, 383–387; the following translation is a revision of Joseph Stump’s translation in An Explanation of Luther’s Small Catechism (Philadelphia, 1907), pp. 24–25.
How One Should Teach Common Folk to Shrive Themselves
What is confession?
Answer: Confession consists of two parts: one is that we confess our sins, the other that we receive absolution or forgiveness from the father confessor as from God himself, in no wise doubting, but firmly believing that our sins are thus forgiven before God in heaven.
What sins ought we to confess?
Answer: In the presence of God we should acknowledge ourselves guilty of all manner of sins, even of those we do not ourselves perceive, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer. But in the presence of the father confessor we should confess only those sins we know and feel in our hearts.
Which are these?
Answer: Here consider your calling according to the Ten Commandments, namely, whether you are a father or mother, a son or daughter, a master, mistress, or servant, if you have been disobedient, unfaithful, slothful, angry, unchaste, or quarrelsome, if you have injured any one by words or deeds, if you have stolen, neglected, or wasted aught, or done any other evil.
Please give me a brief order of confession.
Answer: Thus you shall say to the father confessor: Reverend and dear sir, I beseech you to hear my confession and to declare unto me the remission of sins in the name of God.
Then say: I, a poor sinner, confess before God that I am guilty of all sins. Especially do I confess that as a manservant, maidservant, etc., I am not faithfully serving my master; for here and there I have not done what I was told, I have angered and provoked them to curse, I have neglected my work and caused loss. I have been unchaste in word and deed, quarreled with my fellows, grumbled and cursed against my wife, etc. For all this I am sorry and ask for mercy. From now on I will do better.
Thus a master or mistress may speak:
Especially do I confess before you that I did not faithfully rule my children, servants, and wife to the glory of God. I have cursed, given a bad example with vulgar words and deeds, hurt and slandered my neighbor, sold at too much profit, given poor or underweight merchandise …, and whatever else he did against the commandments of God and his own calling.
But if someone should not be bothered by such or still greater sins, let him not try to find or feign other sins and thus make confession a torment. Let him tell one or two sins that he knows, e.g., especially do I confess that once I cursed, once I was inconsiderate in my words, once I neglected this N., etc. And let it remain at that.
But if you know of no sin at all (which seems almost impossible), don’t confess any particular one, but receive forgiveness upon the general confession, which you make to the father confessor before God.
Then the father confessor shall say: God be gracious unto thee and strengthen thy faith. Amen.
And further: Do you believe that my absolution is God’s absolution?
Answer: Yes, dear sir.
Then let him [the father confessor] say: As thou believest, so be it done unto thee [Matt. 8:13]. And I, by the command of Jesus Christ our Lord, forgive thee all thy sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Go in peace [Luke 7:50; 8:48; Mark 5:34].
But the father confessor will know how to comfort with additional Bible verses those who are greatly afflicted in conscience or who are grieved or tempted, and how to incite them to faith.
This is intended only to serve as the usual order of confession for the common people.
THE ORDINATION OF MINISTERS OF THE WORD
1539
Translated by Paul Zeller Strodach
Revised by Ulrich S. Leupold
The rite of ordination Luther composed was an entirely new creation. It had no more than the name in common with the sacrament of ordination in the Roman church. Roman ordination was a sacrament, Lutheran ordination a rite. Roman ordination admitted a man to a special order or rank within Christendom. Lutheran ordination gave him certain functions. Roman ordination conferred on the candidate the power to conduct the sacrifice of the mass. Lutheran ordination set him aside for the work of preaching and administering the sacraments.
According to Luther every Christian was a priest, and baptism the true sacrament of ordination. But to exercise this priesthood publicly for the benefit of others, a man needed a call. That is why Luther often spoke of ordaining a minister in the sense of calling him. For a long time he was not too concerned about the public rite which might follow the call. He hesitated before he composed an order for it and did not even publish the one he devised, although it was ultimately printed in many church orders. Of course, in the beginning of the Reformation the need for an order of ordination was not very pressing. Most of the early preachers of the gospel were, like Luther himself, former priests, and the hope that the bishops would ultimately espouse the Protestant cause had not been given up. But as the gulf between Wittenberg and Rome deepened and most of the bishops sided with the pope, the need for an evangelical rite of ordination in which the ministers of the Word would have their call publicly attested became more and more urgent. The congregations had to know what men were qualified and properly certified to exercise the office of the Word, and the candidates needed a commissioning service on which to base their claim for authority.
13 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Preaching in Cyprus
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.
Jesus Christ. 22 And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
25 “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
A Good Servant of Jesus Christ
6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 11 These things command and teach.
Take Heed to Your Ministry
12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. 15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
Qualifications of Overseers
3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Qualifications of Deacons
8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. 11 Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.