Those who condemn the Word of Absolution in favor of their own words are enthusiasts...

All this is the old devil and old serpent, who also turned Adam and Even into enthusiasts.  He led them away from God's outward Word to spiritualizing and self-pride.  And yet, he did this through other outward words.  In the same way, our enthusiasts today condemn the outward Word.  Yet they themselves are not silent.  They fill the world with their babbling and writings, as if the Spirit could not come through the apostles's writings and spoken Word, but has to come through their writings and words.  Why don't they leave out their own sermons and writings and let the Spirit Himself come to people without their writings before them, as they boast that He has come into them without the preaching of the Scriptures?
~BOC, SA, III, VIII, 5-6

Absolution, a Sacrament of repentance...

Furthermore, the Power of the Keys administers and presents the Gospel through Absolution, which is the true voice of the Gospel.  We also include Absolution when we speak of faith, because "faith comes from hearing," as Paul says in Romans 10:17.  When the Gospel is heard and the Absolution is heard, the conscience is encouraged and receives comfort.  Because God truly brings a person to life through the Word, the Keys truly forgive sins before God.  According to Luke 10:16, "The one who hears you hears Me."  Therefore, the voice of the one absolving must be believed no differently than we would believe a voice from heaven.  Absolution can properly be called a Sacrament of repentance, as even the more learned scholastic theologians say.  Meanwhile, in temptations this faith is nourished in a variety of ways: through the declaration of the Gospel and the use of the Sacraments.  For these are signs of the New Testament, that is, signs of the forgiveness of sins.  They offer the forgiveness of sins as the words of the Lord's Supper clearly testify, "This is My body, which is given for you.  This is the cup of the New Testament," and so on.  So faith is conceived and strengthened through Absolution, through the hearing of the Gospel, through the use of the Sacraments, so that it may not give in to the terrors of sin and death while it struggles.  This method of repentance is plain and clear.  It increases the worth of the Power of the Keys and of the Sacraments. It illumines Christ's benefit and teaches us to make use of Christ as Mediator and the Atoning Sacrifice.

~BOC, AP, XII (V), 39-43

Absolution is the very voice of the Gospel...

It is well known that we have made clear and praised the benefit of Absolution and the Power of the Keys.  Many troubled consciences have derived comfort from our teaching.  They have been comforted after they heard that it is God's command, no, rather the very voice of the Gospel, that we should believe the Absolution and regard it as certain that the forgiveness of sins is freely granted to us for Christ's sake.  We should believe that through this faith we are truly reconciled to God.  This belief has encouraged many godly minds and,  in the beginning, brought Luther the highest praise from all good people.  This believe shows consciences sure and firm comfort.  Previously, the entire power of Absolution had been kept under warps by teachings about works.
~BOC, AP, XI, 59

Everything in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal...

We further believe that in this Christian Church, we have forgiveness of sin, which is wrought through the holy Sacraments and Absolution and through all kinds of comforting promises from the entire Gospel.  Therefore, whatever ought to be preached about the Sacraments belongs here.  In short, the whole Gospel and all the offices of Christianity belong here, which also must be preached and taught without ceasing.  God's grace is secured through Christ, and sanctification is wrought by the Holy Spirit through God's Word in the unity of the Christian Church.  Yet because of our flesh, which we bear about with us, we are never without sin.

Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal: we shall daily receive in the Church the forgiveness of sin through the Word and the signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here.  So even though we have sins, the grace of the Holy Spirit does not allow them to harm us, for we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but continuous, uninterrupted forgiveness of sins.  This is because God forgives us and because we forgive, bear with, and help one another.
~BOC, LC, II, 54-55

Absolution as an aid against sin and consolation for anguished sinners...

Absolution, or the Power of the Keys, is an aid against sin and a consolation for a bad conscience; it is ordained by Christ in the Gospel.  Therefore, Confession and Absolution should by no means be abolished in the Church.  This is especially for the sake of timid consciences and untrained young people, so they may be examined and instructed in Christian doctrine.

But the listing of sins should be free to everyone, as to what a person wishes to list or not to list.  For as long as we are in the flesh, we will not lie when we say, "I am a poor man, full of sin"; "I see in my members another law"; and such (Romans 7:23).  Since private Absolution originates in the Office of the Keys, it should not be despised, but greatly and highly esteemed, along with all other offices of the Christian Church.
~BOC, SA, III, VIII, 1-2

Only through the Word...

In issues related to the spoken, outward Word, we must firmly hold that God grants His Spirit or grace to no one except through or with the preceding outward Word. This protects us from enthusiasts (i.e., souls who boast that they have the Spirit without and before the Word). They judge Scripture or the spoken Word and explain and stretch it at their pleasure, as Munzer did. Many still do this today, wanting to be sharp judges between the Spirit and the letter and yet they do not know what they are saying.
~BOC, SA, III, VIII, 3

God's voice sounding from heaven...

Our people are taught that they should highly prize the Absolution as being God's voice and pronounced by God's command. The Power of the Keys is set forth in its beauty. They are reminded what great consolation it brings to anxious consciences and that God requires faith to believe such Absolution as a voice sounding from heaven.
~BOC, AC, XXV, 3-4