While I was at one of our weekly Sunday night Senior High Youth Bible study and gatherings, much of our discussion circled around forgiveness.  The conversation was greatly enlightening, parts of which I'd like to share for everyone's benefit, and then I'd like to underscore why we believe what we do about forgiveness.

I began by asking "How do you know you're forgiven?"  The answers I remember were "The Bible says so", "God promises to forgive sins", "Jesus died for our sins"  I agreed, those are general truths for all people but I asked the question again, "How do you know that you are forgiven?  When were you forgiven?"  The answers became a little more specific, "Sunday morning" "Church", then I"m pretty sure someone mentioned, "the pastor forgives us"- that, in part, was the answer I was looking for!

How do you know that you're forgiven?  When can you be certain that God forgives your sins?  In part, when the pastor says the absolution, absolves, declares "...by [Christ's] authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins...."

The question that arose from the general consensus of almost everyone there was "What about when I pray or ask God for forgiveness on Tuesday, doesn't he forgive my sins?" 

My answer is: God certainly promises to forgive sins and he does.  The way God forgives sins is through pastors.  So they asked, "I have to wait until Sunday to be forgiven."  To which I responded, "Oh no, you can ask a pastor any time of any day of any week for forgiveness."  This only caused a little more consternation and confusion, but...

Remember, I said "in part" the answer I was looking for was "the pastor forgives us."  The other part is this; not only can/may/does the pastor forgive sins, each Christian individual may forgive sins and there is no difference in the forgiveness that is offered.  Both are just as true, just as certain as the other.  The only difference between a pastor forgiving sins and a Christian individual forgiving sins is that the pastor forgives publically, corporally, for all the people who form a congregation.  A Christian individual forgives the person who has wronged them specifically.

And so instead of receiving forgiveness from a pastor you may receive forgiveness that is just as sacred and sure from the Christian individual you have wronged.

After hearing all this one student said, "I've never heard this before.  I've been going here my whole life and haven't heard this type of talk before."  That took me aback and I really didn't have a good answer.  Here's an attempt at a good answer.

This person, any Lutheran reading this has heard this kind of talk before.  "The means of grace" is the Lutheran jargon for this type of talk. 

Lutherans believe that God shows, offers and gives us his forgiving grace through "means"-through objective, external, concrete instruments or things.  The external, objective and concrete evidence of baptism- actual water running on your head, actual, external words being spoken to a child- is a means an instrument through which we receive God's forgiving grace.  The Lord's Supper- actual bread and wine that you eat and drink, again actual external words that says this is for your forgiveness- is another means through which God gives us his forgiving grace.  Individual Christians or pastor who, (whether absolution is considered a sacrament or not), who say "I forgive you" are external and concrete instruments- voices and people- through whom God is giving his forgiving grace.  Lutherans have long held from the beginning that prayer is not a means of grace.

So how can you be certain, how can you sleep, how can you know God will forgive you the sin confessed on Tuesday night?  Ideally, either on that same Tuesday or Wednesday the next day, you apologize to the person you wronged and they announce to you no less than God's own words of forgiveness, which may sound something like "Oh, thanks for apologizing, I forgive you" or "don't sweat it, it's all good" or something like that.  And you can be certain that God forgives your sins on Tuesday because you heard the pastor announce his forgiveness the Sunday two days ago and many before that, and the Sunday after he will do the same and many after that-- God doesn't change his mind from Sunday to Tuesday.  However, if you stop hearing those words from a pastor or an individual Christian your certainty is dubious at best.

The reason Lutherans hold to and focus on such externality is that it removes all doubt.  You can point to, listen to, remember exactly when this objective and external occurance from our God who controls all things, initiates all things; as he did with creation; who does not lie, has said to you, for anyone and for all to hear, "don't sweat it, it's all good" or "I forgive you." 

This is what Lutherans mean when we talk of God's "means of grace."