preview

Martin Luther Private Confession

Decent Essays
Open Document

The placement of corporate confession in the Sunday liturgical service would diminish the significance of observance Private confession. This would cause an unending debate on practicing private confession and whether private confession should also be considered a sacrament within the Lutheran church. Private confession was a rite introduced by the Celtic missionaries and mandated by the Council of Trent to be observed once a year especially before receiving communion. However, the abuse of penance through the selling of indulgences caused Martin Luther to seek reform on the corrupted practices of the papacy of the Catholic church, therefore leading many believers of the new church skeptical of continuing the practice of private confession. However, Luther argued that observance of private confession was an imperative of every Christian to taken part in, evidenced in many of Luther’s writings, specifically the Babylonian Captivity and The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ-Against the Fanatics.
Due to this …show more content…

In Luther’s The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ-Against the Fanatics, Luther lists private confessions as one of the three most important confessions Christians should observe in their spiritual journey. Luther strongly believed that Private confession “ serves a good purpose for the simple childlike people because it gives an opportunity to instruct the people, hear what they believe and to teach them to pray” Luther’s view on Private confession led him to revise the practice of this rite, which included the reflection of one’s faith and external behavior, an admission of one’s sinfulness leading to penitent's willful confession of sins and the minister’s

Get Access