Saturday, January 21, 2023

Spencer W. Kimball on the Forgiveness of Sins and the Powers of Church Officers (cf. John 20:23; D&C 132:46)

  

Powers of Church Officers

 

Not every person nor every holder of the priesthood is authorized to receive the transgressor's sacred confessions of guilt. The Lord has organized an orderly and consistent program. Every member in the Church is answerable to an ecclesiastical authority. In the ward, it is the bishop; in the branch, a president; in the stake or in the mission, a president; and in the higher Church echelon of authority, the General Authorities with the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles at the head.

 

The function of each is much the same as that of the bishop, so we shall mention him particularly as showing the pattern. The order of heaven provides that the members of the ward will counsel with the bishop. A bishop is, by the very nature of his calling and his ordination, a "judge in Israel." (See D&C 107:72.) The Lord has given to the bishop, in his ordination, certain powers and authority:

 

And unto the bishop of the church, and unto such as God shall appoint and ordain to watch over the church and to be elders unto the church, are to have it given unto them to discern all those gifts lest there shall be any among you professing and yet be not of God. (D&C 46:27.)

 

Thus, none shall be exempted from the justice and the laws of God, that all things may be done in order and in solemnity before him, according to truth and righteousness. (D&C 107:84.)

 

The bishop will determine the merits of the case. He it is who will determine by the facts, and through the power of discernment which is his, whether the nature of the sin and the degree of repentance manifested warrant forgiveness. He may deem the sin of sufficient gravity, the degree of repentance sufficiently questionable, and the publicity and harm done of such considerable proportions as to necessitate handling the case by a Church court under the procedure outlined by the Lord. All this responsibility rests on the bishop's shoulders. Seminary teachers, institute directors and auxiliary and other Church workers can wield a powerful influence on people in distress by imparting wise counsel and sympathetic understanding, but they are without ecclesiastical authority and jurisdiction and will not attempt to waive penalties but will send the sinner to his bishop who should determine the degree of public confession and discipline that is necessary.

 

If careful consideration indicates the necessity, action for dis-fellowshipment is taken and this denies the blessings of Church activity and participation, though it does not deprive the sinner of membership or priesthood. When such action is taken, it remains for the repentant one to continue in his efforts to be faithful and prove himself worthy to do all that he would normally be permitted to do. When this is done sufficiently, to the satisfaction of the Church court which imposed the penalty, generally the hand of fellowship may be restored and full activity and participation be permitted the erring one.

 

But if, after all factors are considered, the nature and seriousness of the transgression seem to the bishop to require excommunication, the transgressor is required to stand trial before a proper Church court to have his case considered. In the cases of male members of the Church holding the Aaronic Priesthood or no priesthood, and all female members of the Church, the action of a bishop's court only is required in judgment, even including excommunication, though the higher courts may take original jurisdiction. For holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, a bishop's court may give first consideration and may disfellowship only; the court must remand the transgressor to the higher court if more drastic action is recommended.

 

After the stake presidency and high council have tried a case, if the defendant feels that justice has not been given, or that the hearing did not give him a fair trial, he may appeal his case to the First Presidency of the Church and the Council of the Twelve. (See Handbook of Instructions for more detail.) (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 327-28)

 

Power to Bind and Loose

 

There are cultists who claim that the Church might sever a person from the Church but could not affect his eternal status or take from him the Holy Ghost or his priesthood or temple blessings. This is but wishful thinking, for the Lord has pledged to acknowledge the acts of his servants, and his Church is his kingdom. And when the person is excommunicated by the bishopric, the high council, or the higher councils, it is as though the Lord had personally with his own voice pronounced the penalty.

 

That this kind of authority, reaching in its effects from this life into the future phases of eternity, was to be a feature of the Church of Jesus Christ is clearly shown by the Savior's words:

 

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 16:18-19.)

 

The Lord was speaking to Peter, who was the chief apostle, and it is the first apostle who holds all the keys of the priesthood. At a later time Jesus said:

 

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 18:18.)

 

The Prophet Joseph Smith explains:

 

Now the great and grand secret of the whole matter consists in obtaining the powers of the Holy Priesthood. For him to whom these keys are given there is no difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of facts in relation to the salvation of the children of men—.

Herein is glory and honor, and immortality and eternal life—. (D&C 128:11-12.)

 

Bishops Remove Penalties, Not Sins

 

Although there are many ecclesiastical officers in the Church whose positions entitle and require them to be judges, the authority of those positions does not necessarily qualify them to forgive or remit sins. Those who can do that are extremely few in this world.

 

The bishop, and others in comparable positions, can forgive in the sense of waiving the penalties. In our loose connotation we sometimes call this forgiveness, but it is not forgiveness in the sense of "wiping out" or absolution. The waiver means, however, that the individual will not need to be tried again for the same error, and that he may become active and have fellowship with the people of the Church. In receiving the confession and waiving the penalties the bishop is representing the Lord. He helps to carry the burden, relieves the transgressor's strain and tension, and assures to him a continuation of Church activity.

 

It is the Lord, however, who forgives sin. This point, and the position of the bishop and comparable officers in the matter, was brought out in the following instruction given to bishops of the Church by President J. Reuben Clark on April 5, 1946:

 

I have been very much interested in what the bishop has said about forgiveness. There is a great principle involved there, as he indicated, and we must not, I think, conclude that forgiveness can be obtained merely for the asking. It has come to our attention that in one of our foreign missions boys came to the presiding officer, admitted their sin, they confessed, they were sorry, I suppose they wept, and he forgave them. Then they went back into the ranks, came back a month or six weeks later, confessed again, and were again forgiven.

 

I do not understand that that is the law of the Church. Sin is a terrible thing. The Lord does forgive, and he requires us to forgive, because he has said, "I will forgive whom I will, but of you it is required to forgive all men." We forgive them as members of the Church and receive them back into membership and fellowship.

 

There is in the Church... the power to remit sins, but I do not believe it resides in the bishops. That is a power that must be exercised under the proper authority of the priesthood and by those who hold the keys that pertain to that function. Woo back every sinner. Forgive them personally. The Lord has said that. Do all you can, but short of that formal remission the matter then rests between the transgressor and the Lord, who is merciful, who knows all of the circumstances, who has no disposition but to aid his children, give them comfort, guide them, and help them. But the Lord has said, "I cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." So we leave it with him, and our prayers go with the prayers of the transgressor that God will forgive him, but the path of the sinner was never smooth and I believe never will he. We must pay the penalty, but God's mercy tempers his justice. His love is boundless, his desire to see us is infinite All of us have done something that would be better left undone. All of us need the mercy of God and his love, and we should look at all the others, our brothers and sisters, knowing that we, with them, have something for which to be forgiven, but we must remember we must pay whatever the price be that the Lord exacts.

 

Let it be said in emphasis that even the First Presidency and the Apostles do not make a practice of absolving sins. They waive penalties in the course of their ministrations. Thus the forgiveness or waiver of penalty is not something to be taken idly or thoughtlessly and is not to be given for a mere token effort or trial, but only for a genuine, wholehearted repentance. Little reward can be expected for a tiny effort to repent, for the Lord has said that it must be a total repentance "with all his heart" and the error must be forsaken fully and wholly, mentally as well as physically. The "filthy dreamer" of the day or night, or an adulterer who still has desires toward the object of his sin, who still revels in the memories of his sin, has not forsaken it "with all his heart" as required by holy scripture. But if the repentance is total, the scriptural "thou shalt forgive" not only is required of individuals but seems to unlock doors even for leaders. (Ibid, 331-33)