De Poenitentia
The Promise of Return
Forgiveness is offered to those who fall after Baptism when they repent, and the Church is to grant absolution to those who return.
Regarding repentance, they teach that forgiveness of sins can come to those who have fallen after Baptism, whenever they turn back. And that the Church should grant absolution to such persons when they return to repentance.
The Two Parts of Repentance
Repentance consists of contrition that awakens the conscience and faith that trusts Christ's forgiveness, followed by good works as its fruit.
Now repentance properly consists of these two parts: the one is contrition, or the terrors inflicted on a conscience that has recognized its sin.1 The other is faith, which is conceived from the Gospel or from absolution, and believes that sins are forgiven on account of Christ, and consoles the conscience and frees it from terrors. Then good works ought to follow, which are the fruits of repentance.
Guarding the Doctrine of Grace
The confession rejects errors that deny the loss of the Spirit, claim sinless perfection, refuse absolution, or substitute human satisfaction for faith.
They condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that those once justified can lose the Holy Spirit. Likewise, those who claim that such great perfection comes to some in this life that they're unable to sin. The Novatians are also condemned, who refused to absolve those who had fallen after Baptism and returned to repentance. And those are rejected who don't teach that forgiveness of sins comes through faith, but tell us to merit grace through our own satisfactions.
Read the original Latin
De poenitentia docent, quod lapsis post Baptismum contingere possit remissio peccatorum, quocunque tempore cum convertuntur. Et quod Ecclesia talibus redeuntibus ad poenitentiam absolutionem impertiri debeat.
Constat autem poenitentia proprie his duabus partibus, Altera est, contritio seu terrores incussi conscientiae agnito peccato. Altera est, fides quae concipitur ex Evangelio, seu absolutione, et credit propter Christum remitti peccata, et consolatur conscientiam, et ex terroribus liberat. Deinde sequi debent bona opera, quae sunt fructus poenitentiae.
Damnant Anabaptistas, qui negant semel iustificatos posse amittere Spiritum sanctum. Item, qui contendunt quibusdam tantam perfectionem in hac vita contingere, ut peccare non possint. Damnantur et Novatiani, qui nolebant absolvere lapsos post Baptismum redeuntes ad poenitentiam. Reiiciuntur et isti, qui non docent remissionem peccatorum per fidem contingere, sed iubent nos mereri gratiam per satisfactiones nostras.
Notes
- 1 ↩The syntax of 'incussi conscientiae agnito peccato' is compressed: the terrors are 'inflicted' (incussi) on the conscience, with sin 'acknowledged' (agnito peccato) as an ablative absolute. The rendering preserves the causal link between recognized sin and the conscience's terror.
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