Therefore, in the communion of saints, our sins are continually forgiven us by the ministry of he church itself when the priests or bishops to whom this office has been committed strengthen godly consciences by the gospel promises in the hope of pardon and forgiveness. This they do both publicly and privately as need requires. For many on account of their weakness need personal consolation.
(answer)
What’s the source for that?
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.1.22
There’s another portion of this section of the Institutes that’s
pretty amazing:
“[the forgiveness of sins] is dispensed to us through the ministers
and pastors of the church, either by the preaching of the Gospel or
by the administration of the sacraments; and herein chiefly stands
the power of the keys, which the Lord has gifted to the society of
believers. Accordingly, let each one of us count it his own duty to
seek forgiveness of sins only where the Lord has placed it.” (Inst.
4.1.22, p. 1035-36).
Or these from Book III:
“Therefore, let every believer remember that, if he be privately
troubled and afflicted with a sense of sins, so that without outside
help he is unable to free himself from them, it is part of his duty
not to neglect what the Lord has offered to him by way of remedy.
Namely, that for his relief, he should use private confession to his
own pastor; and for his solace, he should beg the private help of him
whose duty it is, both publicly and privately, to comfort the people
of God by the Gospel instruction.” (Inst. 3.4.12, Vol. 1, p. 637).
And more: “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 it’s absolution [2 Cor. 5:20]” (Inst.
3.4.14, Vol. 1, p. 638).
He goes on to say: “The entire power [of the keys] rests in the fact
that, through those whom the Lord had ordained, the grace of the
Gospel is publicly and privately sealed in the hearts of
believers” (Inst. 3.4.14, Vol. 1, p. 639).
And from his Commentary on John. 20:21, pp. 265-266:
“When Christ enjoins the Apostles to “forgive sins,” he does not
convey to them what is peculiar to himself. It belongs to him to
forgive sins. This honor, so far as it belongs peculiarly to
himself, he does not surrender to the Apostles, but enjoins them, in
his Name, to declare the forgiveness of sins, that through their
instrumentality he may reconcile men to God. In short, properly
speaking, it is he alone who forgives sins through his apostles and
ministers” (p. 271).
“We now see the reason why Christ employs such magnificent terms, to
commend and adorn that ministry which he bestows and enjoins on the
Apostles. It is, that believers may be fully convinced, that what
they hear concerning the forgiveness of sins is ratified, and may not
less highly value the reconciliation which is offered by the voice of
men, than if God himself stretched out his hand from heaven. And the
church daily receives the most abundant benefit from this doctrine,
when it perceives that her pastors are divinely ordained to be
sureties for eternal salvation, and that it must not go to a distance
to seek the forgiveness of sins, which is committed to their
trust” (272).
Dig it.
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