Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope – part 43

Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope – part 43

Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Scripture Text: John 20:19–23

Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions

Today’s Scripture Jigsaw

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From the Confessions: Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope 

The pope exercises a twofold tyranny: he defends his errors by force and with murders, and he forbids judicial examination. The latter does even more injury than any executions, because when the true judgment of the Church is removed, godless dogmas and profane forms of worship cannot be removed, and therefore, countless souls are destroyed for many ages.

Pulling It Together

The Office of the Keys does not refer to imposing punishments but to absolution and withholding of the forgiveness of sins. When this office is disabled by requiring certain services, the works of human beings, instead of being freely offered through faith responding to God’s grace, then souls are denied his grace. The Keys are God’s voice to the human ear and heart — through the church, not the rule of a particular person. The Keys belong to the whole church, not an individual, which is clear in the plural usage of “you” in the original language (second person plural in the Greek, John 20:23).

Prayer: Thank you, Lord Christ, for your gift of forgiveness. Amen

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