V. How One Should Teach the Uneducated to Confess

Q. What is confession?

A. Confession has two parts:

First, a person admits his sin

Second, a person receives absolution or forgiveness from the confessor, as if from God Himself, without doubting it, but believing firmly that his sins are forgiven by God in Heaven through it.


http://www.ccel.org/ccel/luther/smallcat.text.v.1.html