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Originally Posted by clstamper  Absolution in Calvin's services was a dud, People jumped out of their seats to stop him because it smacked of superstition. He took the hint. Notice that absolution was not imported by the Church of Scotland or the Marian exiles.
BTW, this was not absolution in the sense that some priest has magic powers to forgive sins. In this sense, it reminds the believer of God's loving-kindness and "to assure our consciences of the forgiveness of sins.". Calvin also said "we are always to use moderation, lest in a matter as to which God prescribes no certain rule, our consciences be burdened with a certain yoke." (Ins Bk3 Ch. 4) |
What Calvin actually said to the point that in Geneva his parishioners arose after kneeling for confession, thus interupting the absolution, was, "I yielded too easily" (
Opera Calvini, X.213).
According to John Calvin, this formal pronouncement comes in three types, or, aspects: 1) public absolution in worship, 2) private absolution when one has offended another and has come to be reconciled, and, 3) private absolution when a weak conscience needs assurance.
Of this first type of absolution, Calvin said,
"For when the whole church stands, as it were, before God’s judgment seat, confesses itself guilty, and has its sole refuge in God’s mercy, it is no common or light solace to have present there the ambassador of Christ, armed with the mandate of reconciliation, by whom it hears proclaimed its absolution (2 Cor 5:20)" [Institutes, 3.4.14].
He used it in the worship of the French-speaking congregation in Strasbourg under the influence of Martin Bucer, who, in 1524, wrote a manual on Reformed liturgy on behalf of Strasbourg’s college of pastors entitled
Grund und Ursach. There he explained the opening of public worship in Strasbourg, when he said,
"When the congregation comes together on Sunday, the minister admonishes them to make confession of their sins and to pray for pardon; and he confesses to God on behalf of the whole congregation, prays for pardon, and proclaims the remission of sins to those that believe."
What is significant for the historic Reformed liturgies is that confession and absolution was made a corporate and public act of worship, not a private act between parishioner and priest. The magisterial Reformers took the Medieval
confiteor, the private confession of the priest in preparation for the Mass, and put it on the lips of the laity. They reformed the medieval practice that had become a private sacrament and made it a corporate liturgical element of worship. Diebold Schwarz was the first to do this, when on February 16, 1524 he included a corporate confession and absolution in his
German Mass. First person pronouns were kept, but by 1530 Martin Bucer had offered an alternative prayer with the plural “we,” which became the only form of confession in his 1537
Psalter mi aller Kirchenübung. Then they took absolution out of the confessional and placed in the hearing of all. Thus no longer was forgiveness based upon the people’s ability to remember and confess every one of their sins in the private hearing of the priest, who then had to make a judgment about their contrition; instead, confession and absolution was a liturgical act.
Bucer's Liturgy of Strasbourg (1539) Public Confession of Sins
Make confession to God the Lord, and let everyone acknowledge with me his sin and iniquity: Almighty, eternal God and Father, we confess and acknowledge unto You that we were conceived in unrighteousness and are full of sin and transgression in all our life. We do not fully believe Your Word nor follow Your holy commandments. Remember Your goodness, we beseech You, and for Your Name’s sake be gracious unto us, and forgive us our iniquity which, alas, is great Amen.
Public Absolution of Sins
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Tim. 1:15)
Let everyone, with St. Paul, truly acknowledge this in his heart and believe in Christ. Thus, in His name, I proclaim unto you the forgiveness of all your sins, and declare you to be loosed of them on earth, that you be loosed of them also in heaven, in eternity. Amen.
Calvin's Liturgy of Strasbourg (1545) Invocation
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Amen. (Ps. 124:8)
Public Confession of Sins
My brethren, let each of you present himself before the face of the Lord, and confess his faults and sins, following my words in his heart:
O Lord God, eternal and almighty Father, we confess and sincerely acknowledge before Your holy Majesty that we are poor sinners, conceived and born in iniquity and corruption, prone to do evil, incapable of any good, and that in our depravity we transgress Your holy commandments without end or ceasing; therefore we purchase for ourselves, through Your righteous judgment, our ruin and perdition. Nevertheless, O Lord, we are grieved that we have offended You, and we condemn ourselves and our sins with true repentance, beseeching Your grace to relieve our distress. O God and Father, most gracious and full of compassion, have mercy upon us in the name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And as You do blot out our sins and stains, magnify and increase in us day by day the grace of Your Holy Spirit; that as we acknowledge our unrighteousness with all our heart, we may be moved by that sorrow which shall bring forth true repentance in us, mortifying all our sins, and producing in us the fruits of righteousness and innocence which are pleasing to You, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Public Absolution of Sins
Let each of you truly acknowledge that he is a sinner, humbling himself before God, and believe that the heavenly Father wills to be gracious unto him in Jesus Christ.
To all those that repent in this way, and look to Jesus Christ for their salvation, I declare that the absolution of sins is effected, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Liturgy of Heidelberg (1563) Declaration of Pardon
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe:
Thus says our Lord Jesus Christ, in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that all who would believe in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”
To as many of you therefore, beloved brothers, as abhor yourselves and your sins, and believe that you are fully pardoned through the merits of Jesus Christ, and resolve daily more to abstain from them and to serve the Lord in true holiness and righteousness, I declare, according to the command of God, that they are released in heaven from all their sins, as He has promised in His gospel, through the perfect satisfaction of the most holy passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Declaration of Judgment on the Impenitent
But as there may be some among you, who continue to find pleasure in your sin and shame, or who persist in sin against their conscience, I declare to such, by the command of God, that the wrath and judgment of God abides upon them, and that all their sins are retained in heaven, and final that they can never be delivered from eternal damnation, unless they repent.
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