Remission of guilt (Luther's 95)

6. The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.


This one is closely linked with #5, but we can expound a little more on it.  There was some in the Roman church that believed that as God's representative, the pope could remit sins as though he were God himself.  I won't go so far as to say that the pope thought of himself as God (like Roman emperor worship in the time of Christ), but there was some blurring of the lines when the pope himself would declare the innocence or guilt of someone without the caveat that it is in fact God who forgives.  Because the pope had the ability to discipline (along with the priests) in certain cases granted in the Bible, he could remit those charges (much like a judge in the court system) or press them for trial.  Apart from this, a person's guilt before God is still there, unless they have been renewed by the Holy Spirit and come to saving faith.  This is alone the responsibility of God himself, and cannot be usurped by his 'representative' here on earth.  He can declare that those who have come to saving faith are forgiven, and that they can rest assured in their forgiveness (another point that Luther will bring up later on) but he is unable to declare one saved, as though he were the one saving them.

Again, this was not popular among the priests and the pope, as it was a direct attack against the throne of the pope and his earthly authority.  To this day, the pope is on par with scripture, and what the pope says is considered just as authoritative as scripture.  This point was made abundantly clear in the Council of Trent, the Roman church's reaction to the Reformation movement started in large part by Luther.


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Dr. Oz Lorentzen will be continuing to exposite the scriptures for us this upcoming Sunday at Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Rec. Centre.  Coffee is served at 10, the service begins at 10:30.  Come and join us.