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You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Christianity - Protestantism > Methodists > Penance.
Expert: Wayne Tucker - 11/4/2009
Question
Dear Pastor,
I am a non-practicing Catholic and my husband is a non-practicing Methodist. We are in agreement to have our son baptized. We are planning on attending and becoming members of a local Methodist church. I've done some research on the differences in faith and have a general idea. However,I am wondering what Methodists feel about penance. Is it believed that no matter what a person does they are forgiven or is there a consequence??? Is there confession?
Answer
Jeanette,
Working backwards, answering the last question first: We do not hold confession to be a sacrament. We do believe it is necessary as a first step to receiving forgiveness. Given those two positions, the next question is: "Then to whom do we confess?" We confess to God and to the person against whom we have sinned, when to do so will not bring them greater harm. We hold with the passage that says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins ..." Is there a consequence for sin? Yes, there is; a guilty conscience. Is there anything we can do to atone for our sins? No, there is not. "The wages of sin is death ..." Christ already died for our sins. There is nothing left for us to do. We do suggest that a faithful response to God's gracious salvation is to live an honorable life. Such a life should include restitution of damages where possible. It is not possible for us to know the damage our sins do to God. Therefore it is not possible for us to know how to make restitution to God. Since we can never know, nor make restitution, we must rely on the grace of God and the shed blood of Christ; and not on anything we can do.
You will see much of this if you attend membership classes. Not every congregation, not every pastor handles new members in the same way. But in general, we like to know that our new folks have a thorough understanding of what they are getting themselves out of, and into. I hope this helps some. Feel free to follow up as necessary.
Respectfully,
Wayne Tucker
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